Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Woo.
Speaker 1: How many thankful that you're feeling more than the air
Speaker 1: conditioning this morning? Come on, do you sense the presence
Speaker 1: of God in here? Y'all? To just look at your
Speaker 1: neighbor that you're kind of socially distanced from, and even
Speaker 1: right there on the e fam wherever you're watching us from,
Speaker 1: just look at your neighbor right in their face. Say, neighbor,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to receive everything that God's got for me.
Speaker 1: Oh come on, find you another neighbor. Find you another neighbor.
Speaker 1: Look at that other neighbor. Tell them I'm ready to
Speaker 1: receive everything that God's got for me. Whoo. See, you
Speaker 1: have to be expected to receive what he has because
Speaker 1: sometimes you don't even know what it is. That's why
Speaker 1: I like the o's in that saw, because the o's
Speaker 1: just articulate. I don't even know what you got for me,
Speaker 1: But I'm ready to receive. So whatever it is, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to receive it. Father. We honor you today. They say,
Speaker 1: have your way in this place. Do whatever you want
Speaker 1: to do, Shake whatever you want to shake, Move whatever
Speaker 1: you want to move. We do have great anticipation. Even
Speaker 1: in spite of what we've been through, We're still anticipating
Speaker 1: you to move because we know that you work all things,
Speaker 1: all things the good of those that love you, and
Speaker 1: are called according to your purpose. Speak to our hearts
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Everybody said, come on. Everybody said, amen,
Speaker 1: you may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1: How you're doing elevation, Oh, come on, you can do
Speaker 1: better than that. Are you glad to be in the
Speaker 1: House of God this morning? I tell you what. It
Speaker 1: is always a privilege to be an elevation church, but
Speaker 1: it's a special privilege to be invited back, be invited. Fact,
Speaker 1: this is like my sixth time here, and man, I
Speaker 1: never take it for granted. I am truly honored and
Speaker 1: humbled to be here, especially to be here this week.
Speaker 1: This week. You know, time is measured in minutes, but
Speaker 1: life is measured in moments. And I'll never forget this
Speaker 1: time last year, we were right here in this room,
Speaker 1: and the pandemic was upon us, and we didn't know
Speaker 1: what the future was gonna look like. But isn't it
Speaker 1: awesome to see that we're still here and we're still standing.
Speaker 1: Oh come on, don't act like you weren't scared this
Speaker 1: time last year. You didn't know what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But look at you. You're still standing. Come on, you
Speaker 1: still got a pulse. That's the beauty of our God.
Speaker 1: You didn't know this moment was hit on a comeback then,
Speaker 1: but look at you, you're still here. So I'm just
Speaker 1: thankful for God's goodness. I'm thankful for his grace, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited to preach the word to you. I want to,
Speaker 1: first of all, really and truly give honor to where
Speaker 1: honor is due. I'm so thankful for the life and
Speaker 1: really just the leadership pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick. Come.
Speaker 1: You know, y'all are crazy blessed. See y'all know them
Speaker 1: as great pastors, y'all know them as great leaders, But
Speaker 1: my wife and I just know them as great friends.
Speaker 1: And you can try to be better friends to the
Speaker 1: than they are to you. But it's impossible. It's impossible
Speaker 1: because they're incredibly loyal. They're just always there. They will
Speaker 1: show up when you need them. And I don't want
Speaker 1: you to ever take the gift that they are for granted.
Speaker 1: In fact, one more time, would you let them know
Speaker 1: how much you love them, how much you appreciate them.
Speaker 1: Come on, y'all, you're blessed, You're blessed. That's who I
Speaker 1: listen to to feed my soul. I listened to your pastor,
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen Ferdick, and try not to steal his stuff
Speaker 1: while I'm listening to him. And then during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: I realize it's two verdicts in that house that can
Speaker 1: preach because Pastor Holly have me shouting and throwing stuff
Speaker 1: at the TV screen. So I thank God for her.
Speaker 1: My wife and my family sends her love. I still
Speaker 1: live in the great country of Texas, still married to
Speaker 1: the finest woman on the planet, Taylor to do. We
Speaker 1: still have three little humans and they're doing good. But
Speaker 1: I guess there is one update. There is one update.
Speaker 1: My wife and I we started this gathering in Dallas
Speaker 1: called Social Dallas in twenty nineteen, just once a month
Speaker 1: gathering and I've told God. I told God, you have
Speaker 1: to tell God something. I told him this. I'm not
Speaker 1: a church planner, I'm not a pastor. That is just
Speaker 1: the gathering that I told him, that specifically told him.
Speaker 1: This is not a church plan I'm just having a gathering.
Speaker 1: Oh but surprise. I mean, you know, you can tell
Speaker 1: God your plan is, but he'll laugh at him. And man,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to announce. I guess for the first time
Speaker 1: on this stage that Social Dallas is now Social Church
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have our opening Sunday this Easter. Come on, somebody,
Speaker 1: so you're ever in the Dallas area, come check us
Speaker 1: out and Social Dallas. And man, we are excited and
Speaker 1: scared to death for all that God is gonna do.
Speaker 1: But man, I'm ready to preach the Word today, all
Speaker 1: ready to hear it. I got some good back up
Speaker 1: here to help me. Say Amen, So to turn with
Speaker 1: me to the Gospel of John today. John chapter three.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna look at verses twenty two through thirty. Well,
Speaker 1: also look at the Book of Revelation or somebody else
Speaker 1: say Revelations, even though that's not in the Bible. And
Speaker 1: we'll look at chapter four, verses nine through eleven. John
Speaker 1: Chapter three. We'll start at verse number twenty two. When
Speaker 1: you're ready to read it, say yeah. If you ain't
Speaker 1: ready to say hold up, come on, somebody that's on
Speaker 1: the screen. Look at what it says. It says. After this,
Speaker 1: Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judaan countryside,
Speaker 1: where he spent some time with them and baptized. Now,
Speaker 1: John also was baptizing at Anne near Seline. Because there
Speaker 1: was plenty of water, people were coming and being baptized.
Speaker 1: This was before John was put in prison. An argument
Speaker 1: developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew
Speaker 1: over the matter of ceremonial washing. And came to John
Speaker 1: and said to him, Rabbi, that man who was with
Speaker 1: you on the other side of the Jordan talking about Jesus,
Speaker 1: the one you testified about. Look, he is baptizing and
Speaker 1: everyone is going to him. Isn't it crazy the news
Speaker 1: that some people will bring to you like that. These
Speaker 1: are John's disciples talking about U. John, hold on, like
Speaker 1: people are actually focusing on Jesus more than you. This
Speaker 1: is a problem. That's what they came to say to John.
Speaker 1: And look at what John said. A person can only
Speaker 1: receive what is given to them from heaven. You yourselves
Speaker 1: can testify that I said it. I told you I'm
Speaker 1: not the Messiah, but I'm sent ahead of him. The
Speaker 1: bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the
Speaker 1: bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of
Speaker 1: joy when he hears the bridegrooms voice that joy is
Speaker 1: mine and it is now complete. He must become greater,
Speaker 1: and I must become less. Show that is good. Go
Speaker 1: to Revelation chapter four. Just a few verses here, starting
Speaker 1: in verse number nine, and it says, whenever the living
Speaker 1: creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits
Speaker 1: on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the
Speaker 1: twenty four elders fall down before him who sits on
Speaker 1: the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever.
Speaker 1: They lay their crowns before the throne and say, you
Speaker 1: are worthy, o, Lord and God, to receive glory and
Speaker 1: honor and power. You created all things, and by your
Speaker 1: will they were created and have their being. Can you
Speaker 1: say amen? John says he must become greater, I must
Speaker 1: become less, and the elders throw down their crowns before
Speaker 1: the throne. Oh God, I want to preach today, not long,
Speaker 1: about six and a half hours, just using this as
Speaker 1: a title, No crown, no crown. Would you help me
Speaker 1: preach and look at your neighbor one last time and say, neighbor,
Speaker 1: I know you think you cute, but no crowd, father,
Speaker 1: thank you for your word today speak to us a
Speaker 1: bad elevation. Fam. Before the service started, we had a
Speaker 1: pre service production meeting, little mini production meeting, And in
Speaker 1: the production meeting, they asked me a question that I'm
Speaker 1: actually often asked. Matter of fact, I've been preaching sixteen
Speaker 1: years now, and I am always asked this question before
Speaker 1: I preach, either through texts, through email, through facts on person.
Speaker 1: I asked this question. The question is, Pastor Robert, do
Speaker 1: you have any props or illustrations that you'll be using
Speaker 1: in your message today? Do you have any props or
Speaker 1: illustrations that you'll be using? And I think it's my
Speaker 1: familiarity with this question that's actually made me unaware of
Speaker 1: how nuanced that is to what I'm called to do.
Speaker 1: Some you know, preachers, we will use some props to
Speaker 1: prove a point. I mean, we will use some if
Speaker 1: you don't believe it, just scroll down your timeline tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Look at some preachers pages. You will see all kinds
Speaker 1: of pictures with foreign objects of them trying to illustrate
Speaker 1: some point. We will use some props. Preachers might be
Speaker 1: the only people that will call you up before service,
Speaker 1: call you for a service, say real quick, real quick,
Speaker 1: I need some dynamite, some matches, a bull horn, and
Speaker 1: a fire extinguisher, and nobody will question why in the
Speaker 1: world do you need these items. They'll be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: pastor Nesa, you're probably preaching on how you need to
Speaker 1: be a dynamite witness for Jesus. Don't let the devil
Speaker 1: extinguish your fire. I mean, people will just go get
Speaker 1: the stuff and not ask you a question. Because preachers,
Speaker 1: we use props. We love to use props to illustrate
Speaker 1: what God is saying to us. And it's funny the
Speaker 1: props that we use to illustrate what God is saying.
Speaker 1: And the reason we do it is not just to
Speaker 1: be cute. It's not just to be cute. It's because
Speaker 1: we have been given the task, the daunting task. If
Speaker 1: I might add, to articulate the gospel, the good news
Speaker 1: about Jesus, we have been given the task to express
Speaker 1: that which is inexpressible, to talk about the intangible, to
Speaker 1: talk about a kingdom that is so transcended, the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God, a kingdom whose ways are above your ways,
Speaker 1: and whose thoughts are above your thoughts. How in the
Speaker 1: world can you aulate something that really your mind can't comprehend,
Speaker 1: but your spirit has to comprehend it. Oh, it is
Speaker 1: a difficult task to try to articulate the ideas of
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God. Even Jesus, when he preached the
Speaker 1: Bible says, every time he preached to a crowd, he
Speaker 1: told stories. He told stories. He had to use things
Speaker 1: in the earth that you could understand to express a
Speaker 1: kingdom that you could never understand. Jesus use parables, and
Speaker 1: we use props. And so I'm just having fun with this.
Speaker 1: I actually made a list of all the props that
Speaker 1: I've used, like in my sixteen years of preaching. This
Speaker 1: is fun. This is not a comprehensive list, but all
Speaker 1: these props have been used in some shape or form.
Speaker 1: A ladder, toy train, basketball, barbies, barbells, hammer, nails and
Speaker 1: built sword, seeds, trolls, plants, dirt mannequins, buckspring, violin, cliometric boxes,
Speaker 1: cardboard boxes, gift boxes, brooms, shovel trees, dog bull, toilet,
Speaker 1: rug flowers, mirrors, magnifying glass, oversize sunglasses, candles, salt, dollar bill, dimes,
Speaker 1: tiger pulls, inflatables, oils, extension cords, bunge of cords, ropes, keys,
Speaker 1: Christmas tree, a cow tongue, cow tongk It's a long story.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you about it later. I'll tell you about
Speaker 1: it now. I was a O was school. I was school.
Speaker 1: I was preaching like a junior high camp, preaching like
Speaker 1: a junior high camp, and you know, you gotta do
Speaker 1: whatever you can a junior high And I brought in
Speaker 1: a cow tongue and I say, young people, sit up, said,
Speaker 1: in this bag, I have the most lethal weapon that
Speaker 1: you have ever seen. What is it? Oh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you what it is in this bag. It's something
Speaker 1: that is deadly, It is poisonous, and it will kill you.
Speaker 1: This bag has destroyed lives. What is it? Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna show you what it is. I pull out the
Speaker 1: cow tongue, put it everywhere, almost sudden like eh oh.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, that's nasty. That's gross. Not as gross
Speaker 1: as the things that come out of your mouth and
Speaker 1: the cafeteria every second time. Whatever it takes to get
Speaker 1: them to the altar that els use props, and I'm
Speaker 1: adding to my list today. I'm adding to my list
Speaker 1: of props today. I haven't used this one before. Anybody
Speaker 1: know what This is a smoke detector. Yeah, I'm so
Speaker 1: glad you said smoke detector. It looks like it's a
Speaker 1: smoke detector. Smoke detectors are good, but the reality is
Speaker 1: you can see smoke. Now, you can smell smoke. The
Speaker 1: beep is a little extra. You can see a fire.
Speaker 1: This is a This is a carbon monoxide detector. Carbon
Speaker 1: dioxide detectors are vital. They are critical. As matter of fact,
Speaker 1: you cannot build the building without having carbon monoxide detectors.
Speaker 1: Every building, by code has to have a carbon monoxide
Speaker 1: detector because carbon monoxide is lethally dangerous, always a lethally dangerous.
Speaker 1: I don't want to start off morbid, but you have
Speaker 1: to understand that almost twenty thousand people a year found
Speaker 1: themselves in the emergency room because of carbon monoxide. Four
Speaker 1: hundred people a year die because of carbon monoxide. And
Speaker 1: what makes carbon monoxide so lethally dangerous is because it
Speaker 1: is colorless and it is odorless. So it could be
Speaker 1: in the room right now and you wouldn't even know it.
Speaker 1: It could be in the room right now, seeping throughout
Speaker 1: this room, and it would slowly start to affect your body.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, you just get nauseous, and you
Speaker 1: would have a headache, and you would start feeling the symptoms,
Speaker 1: and before you know it, you would die from motoxin
Speaker 1: that you couldn't even see. The CDC calls carbon monoxide
Speaker 1: the silent killer. Obviously, I didn't come all the way
Speaker 1: to Charlotte today to talk to you about carbon monoxide,
Speaker 1: but I do want to talk about a silent killer.
Speaker 1: The silent killer is pride. Pride is the carbon monoxide
Speaker 1: of sin. Pride is the carbon monoxide slowly and secretly
Speaker 1: and subtly seeping into your spirit, suffocating the plans and
Speaker 1: the purposes of God. I'm telling you, Pride is the
Speaker 1: silent killer. Pride will destroy your life. Pride will stop
Speaker 1: God from doing exceedingly abundantly above all you may ask, think,
Speaker 1: or imagine. It is nothing like pride that will shut
Speaker 1: down the plan of God for your life. Pride is
Speaker 1: what destroys marriages. Pride is what ruins relationships. Pride is
Speaker 1: what tears apart families. Pride is what makes you hold
Speaker 1: on to bitterness and refuse to forgive. Pride is the
Speaker 1: reason why family members have been talked for years. Pride
Speaker 1: destroys churches, It shuts down ministries, It kills companies. Pride
Speaker 1: is the silent killer ood. There's nothing like pride that
Speaker 1: will stop God from doing what he wants to do
Speaker 1: in you and through you. Pride has always been the problem.
Speaker 1: Who can I go there? But pride is America's stronghold.
Speaker 1: You know, we got EFAM people watching all over the
Speaker 1: world right now. But how many know different regions and
Speaker 1: different nations, Sometimes different states and cities have particular strongholds.
Speaker 1: And you ain't got to be prophetic or have a
Speaker 1: sociology degree to know that pride is America's biggest stronghold. Oh,
Speaker 1: it is our stronghold. We read the Bible and think
Speaker 1: the Bible just talking about us. Pride is a stronghold.
Speaker 1: Don't mess with me. I'm from Texas. You know, Texas
Speaker 1: really got some pride. It's just we're our own country.
Speaker 1: We think, how do you deal with pride? See, pride
Speaker 1: is interesting because pride is the sin beneath the sin.
Speaker 1: Can I just take my time real quick, let me
Speaker 1: pause for a water break. Pride is the sin beneath
Speaker 1: the sin. That's what Augustine said. In other words, there
Speaker 1: can be issues in your life that on the surface
Speaker 1: it looks like it's one thing, but at the bottom
Speaker 1: it's really just pride. Give us some examples, Robert, Okay,
Speaker 1: I give you some examples. So like, on the surface
Speaker 1: of your life, you think the issue is anxiety or worry,
Speaker 1: but at the root, it's pride. Because you told God,
Speaker 1: didn't you tell me so? God? I specifically told you
Speaker 1: that I had to be married by twenty eight. I
Speaker 1: told you that he had to be six four. Did
Speaker 1: not tell you God that we had to live in
Speaker 1: the suburbs. I specifically that we prayed about this. Our
Speaker 1: house had to be mid century modern. I told you
Speaker 1: the car had to be a BMW, nothing less than
Speaker 1: a five series. Didn't I tell you? That was my plan?
Speaker 1: And now you anxious and you're upset cause you're thirty
Speaker 1: eight and you're not married, or you are, but he's
Speaker 1: five to two and you don't got the house or
Speaker 1: the career that you wanted, and you're driving the Prius
Speaker 1: and you're like, God, what is woman? You're trying to
Speaker 1: understand what is not happening? And it's not anxiety, is
Speaker 1: just it was fried pride trying to tell God the
Speaker 1: way you thought your life. Shit, Oh, I should have
Speaker 1: preached something that will make you shall so so on
Speaker 1: the surface, on the surface, it looks like indecisiveness. The
Speaker 1: root is pride. Because if I actually take a step
Speaker 1: of faith and do what God has called me to do,
Speaker 1: what if I fail? What if I mess up? What
Speaker 1: are people gonna think about me? If I don't show
Speaker 1: up the way I'm supposed to show up. So I'd
Speaker 1: rather stay at the bay of procrastination and never step
Speaker 1: into what God has for me, because if I do,
Speaker 1: I might fall flat on my face and I got
Speaker 1: a reputation. It's always pride is always at the root
Speaker 1: of it. Oh, that's what's at the root of every
Speaker 1: fride fight in your life. It's pride. That's why you're
Speaker 1: bitter because of pride, Because you're only bitter because you
Speaker 1: think you're better than that person. Because it's pride. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why you're angry talking about I cannot believe that
Speaker 1: she would do that to me. I would never do
Speaker 1: that to anybody. I would never treat anybody like that girl.
Speaker 1: I would never talk behind anybody's back as you're telling
Speaker 1: your friend. I would never ever do that. How could
Speaker 1: she do something like that? The root it is pride.
Speaker 1: Pride is the sin beneath the sin. What do we
Speaker 1: do with the pride? Pride preceded the fall of man.
Speaker 1: Pride is what turned an angel into a devil. It
Speaker 1: made its way into heaven. Satan Lucifer, you know, it
Speaker 1: used to be the praise and worship leader of heaven.
Speaker 1: But pride was found in his heart. And not only
Speaker 1: did he fall, two thirds of the angels, sixty six
Speaker 1: percent of the angels fail because of pride. I came
Speaker 1: to tell you that pride, hear me, is the dead
Speaker 1: bolt that will block your access into the presence of God.
Speaker 1: But humility. Humility is the hinge upon which the heavens
Speaker 1: open up in your life. Humility is the hinge upon
Speaker 1: which the heavens open up in your life. If you
Speaker 1: ever want to see the heavens open up in your life.
Speaker 1: You gotta start saying, God, let me be humble, let
Speaker 1: me have humility. That's how the heavens will open up
Speaker 1: in your life. If you really want to see a
Speaker 1: miracle and a move of God, you start with humility.
Speaker 1: Begin your day, every single day, getting down on your
Speaker 1: knees and saying, God, I cannot do life without you. God.
Speaker 1: I need you. God. I don't know how to run
Speaker 1: this company without you. God. I don't know how to
Speaker 1: raise these kids without you. God. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to be a father. I don't know how to be
Speaker 1: a mom. God, you gotta help me. I need you.
Speaker 1: You're not in addition to my life, you are my life.
Speaker 1: I need you. Oh. When you begin your life like that,
Speaker 1: your day like that, That's what gets God's attention. He
Speaker 1: is attracted to humility. He has to show up when
Speaker 1: you get humble, because humility is the hinge upon which
Speaker 1: the heavens open up. God is attracted to the fragrance
Speaker 1: of humility. Who come here, James? Chapter four? What does
Speaker 1: it say? It says that God resists the proud, but
Speaker 1: he gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud,
Speaker 1: but gives grace to the humble. Later John James will
Speaker 1: also say that who resists the devil and he will flee.
Speaker 1: So wait a minute. I gotta resist the devil for
Speaker 1: him to flee. But if I got pride, God will
Speaker 1: resist me. I gotta resist the devil for him to flee.
Speaker 1: But if I have pride, God will resist me. So
Speaker 1: I wonder what the enemy is gonna constantly hit me
Speaker 1: with pride? Pride? I think that's what the enemy will
Speaker 1: always tell you. Do you boo? Do you Pride is
Speaker 1: the silent killer? God told me to preach this message.
Speaker 1: I don't know who this is for today. Because I
Speaker 1: love the core value, I love the ethos of Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: and see what God can do through you, See what
Speaker 1: God can do through you. I just came to tell
Speaker 1: you the thing that will stop what God can do
Speaker 1: through you. It's pride. So quick question, it's just us
Speaker 1: stopping and y'all at home etham, quick question and be honest.
Speaker 1: How many would just say by showing up hands that
Speaker 1: like you're super prideful. See your hand up, You're like prideful.
Speaker 1: Come on, you be honest, like raise your hand said
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm prideful, raising real high ephan raising high. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me see. Okay, if you didn't lift up your hand,
Speaker 1: I'm worried about you. I'm worried about you. I got
Speaker 1: some serious questions because the problem with pride is it hides. See,
Speaker 1: the people that struggle with pride the most will be
Speaker 1: the last one to lift up the hand because the
Speaker 1: pride stops them from saying that they have it. See,
Speaker 1: pride is like bad breath. You're generally the last one
Speaker 1: to know that you have it, but yet it's affecting everybody.
Speaker 1: Oh so you didn't lift up the hand. I'm worried
Speaker 1: about you because because because pride hides. Okay, I'm trying
Speaker 1: another question. How many of you say that like you're
Speaker 1: super humble? Like you're humble? I mean, come on, lift
Speaker 1: up your hand. Come on, like you're really, really humble.
Speaker 1: Now you don't lift up your hand. Come on, y'all
Speaker 1: don't want how many need to write the book on
Speaker 1: how I became humble? Come on, start your website. I'm
Speaker 1: the epitome of humility dot com. You see the challenge?
Speaker 1: What does humility look like? See, pride hides and humility
Speaker 1: is hidden. Generally when you come across a person that
Speaker 1: is humble, you don't walk away going, oh, they were
Speaker 1: really humble. You actually don't walk away thinking about them
Speaker 1: at all. You think about yourself going, man, they really
Speaker 1: made me feel seen and loved. So humility is hidden,
Speaker 1: but pride hide. So how do you know which one
Speaker 1: is it? I'm confused. I came here to ask y'all,
Speaker 1: how do you know that there's actually some things on
Speaker 1: the outside that looked like humility, but it's really just
Speaker 1: pride and costume. And there's some things on the outside
Speaker 1: that look like pride, but it's really confidence in the
Speaker 1: fact that God can do something through you. Okay, let
Speaker 1: me go to the Bible. You remember David. You remember
Speaker 1: David when he's showed up on the battlefield and he
Speaker 1: just came to drop the ham and cheese sandwich, and
Speaker 1: he heard the giant defy the armies of the Living God.
Speaker 1: And he's like, hold up, y'all, gonna let this giant
Speaker 1: talk about my God like this? He's like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: is there not a cause? And remember David's brother accused
Speaker 1: him of pride. He said, what what are those sheep?
Speaker 1: You're supposed to be with the sheep? I know your heart.
Speaker 1: Pride is in your heart. But David didn't have pride.
Speaker 1: He just had confidence in his God. He had confidence
Speaker 1: that God could do something through him. He said, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I know it's not me. I know it's
Speaker 1: God in me because I know I couldn't have killed
Speaker 1: that bear, but God showed up. I know I couldn't
Speaker 1: defeated that lion, but God showed up. And the same
Speaker 1: God that helped me defeat the lion and the bear
Speaker 1: is the same God that will help me knock this
Speaker 1: giant down. Somebody needs to take ten seconds and give
Speaker 1: God some praise. If you know that God can do
Speaker 1: great things through you when you trust him. Oh that's
Speaker 1: a cute golf clap. Give him a real praise in
Speaker 1: this place to you gotta be careful what you call pride,
Speaker 1: because godly confidence sometimes looks like arrogance, because there's something
Speaker 1: about stepping out saying I know God can do this
Speaker 1: through me. They accused him of pride, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: pride or remember another moment in David's life. Goliath was
Speaker 1: long gone. Now he's the king, now he's in the palace.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that one day he counted. He counted
Speaker 1: his Instagram followers. My bad, he counted his military He counted,
Speaker 1: and I looked at that from the outside, I said,
Speaker 1: he just counted. That's a military census. That's good stewardship.
Speaker 1: God know how many people in my army. That's not pride,
Speaker 1: not in the eyes of God. Seventy thousand men died
Speaker 1: that day because the David counted, because God could see
Speaker 1: what nobody else could say. The David, you forgotten when
Speaker 1: you're just a little shepherd boy and all you had
Speaker 1: was a sling shot and a big God, and your
Speaker 1: confidence was in me. But now you got an army,
Speaker 1: now you're in the palace, You've lost your humility. How
Speaker 1: do you find this out? I'm telling you this is
Speaker 1: difficult because pride hides and humility is hidden. I wish
Speaker 1: I wish there was like a pride monoxide detector. Don't
Speaker 1: you wish You're like, push it and it will let
Speaker 1: you know. I wish, because you can't tell see some
Speaker 1: of y'all even have the image of pride, and somebody
Speaker 1: who's inside with sunglasses on, that's your image of somebody
Speaker 1: to prove for like, oh, they think they all that,
Speaker 1: so you only see pride is superiority, but there's another
Speaker 1: level of pride that manifest an inferiority. That person is like, yeah,
Speaker 1: nobody ever cares about me, nobody ever thinks about me. Yes,
Speaker 1: nobody even calls on me, nobody ever checks on me,
Speaker 1: like the whole pandemic, Like nobody even called me, nobody
Speaker 1: even asked me how it was today. I got walk
Speaker 1: in to church and nobody even waved at me today. Man.
Speaker 1: I know they's social distancing, but I mean, can you
Speaker 1: at least wave and say hi to me? Nobody asks
Speaker 1: me how my they were? Me Me, Me, It's inferiority,
Speaker 1: but it's still pride because all pride cares about is
Speaker 1: that you are in the center of your world. So
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tell you you don't know what it
Speaker 1: looks like. You need a detector. How do I I
Speaker 1: wish this was a pride monoxide detector. Actually, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you the promele monoxide detector because I think humility
Speaker 1: and pride manifest and how you respond to situations in
Speaker 1: your life. How you respond. You want to test whether
Speaker 1: you got pride, whether you have humility? Number one, how
Speaker 1: do you respond to criticism. How do you respond to
Speaker 1: criticism when somebody criticizes you? What is your initial response?
Speaker 1: Is it to deflect, to immediately deny it? Up? Here
Speaker 1: goes another hater. Do you immediately deflect? How do you
Speaker 1: respond to criticism? That's a good test. Do you immediately
Speaker 1: go but no, that's nothing, that's something you get defensive?
Speaker 1: That's a good way to test. Or are you completely
Speaker 1: deflated when somebody criticizes you? Now your whole year is
Speaker 1: ruined because somebody talked about you one morning in five minutes,
Speaker 1: Now your whole year is over. That's the inferiority version.
Speaker 1: How do you respond to criticism? It's a good test
Speaker 1: of your pride and humility. See, humble people are able
Speaker 1: to laugh at themselves, like they're able to laugh at everything.
Speaker 1: They're able to get somebody of everything. You go to
Speaker 1: a person that's humble, you're like, man, your breast things.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh man, my bad bro. You know I
Speaker 1: switched toothpaste. I don't even realize that, man, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for letting me know. And that's
Speaker 1: why humble people grow. Yeah, because they're open to hear.
Speaker 1: They don't deflect, and they're not completely deflated. They're open
Speaker 1: to see. What can I learn from this? I don't
Speaker 1: know if my brother was thinking, how do you respond
Speaker 1: to criticism? Here's another one? How do you respond to rejection?
Speaker 1: Who don't you hate to be rejected? Don't you hate
Speaker 1: especially from stuck up people? Come on, don't you hate
Speaker 1: stuck up people? Just stuck up people? Oh? I can't
Speaker 1: stand to be rejected by stuck up people. You don't
Speaker 1: know people don't just walk in act like they can't
Speaker 1: speak to anybody? Like? Really, you that's special? Okay, you
Speaker 1: floated in the room today, all right here? You can't
Speaker 1: speak to people, don't you? Oh, stuck up people. Don't
Speaker 1: you hate to be rejected by stuck up people? Oh?
Speaker 1: Who does he think he is? Don't even speak to anybody? Oh,
Speaker 1: you ain't better than me. I fact, I'm better than you. Like,
Speaker 1: you ain't gonna speak to me? Okay, I ain't gonna
Speaker 1: speak to you. You see the hypocrisy. You end up
Speaker 1: being stuck up to stuck up people. You'll end up
Speaker 1: rejected people that rejected you because you thought that they
Speaker 1: thought they ever better than you. You're like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: better than you. Can see, how do you respond to rejection.
Speaker 1: Humble people will talk to everybody, even the stuck up persons, like, ay,
Speaker 1: how you doing. I guess you didn't see me since
Speaker 1: you didn't speak. Yeah, oh, are you like your glasses
Speaker 1: that you're wearing inside? Are those very bad? How do
Speaker 1: you respond to rejection? Here's another test. How do you
Speaker 1: respond to advice? How do you respond to it? Advice
Speaker 1: people are funny people, especially church people. Church people will
Speaker 1: go around and ask people for advice, but they really
Speaker 1: don't want advice. They just want you to confirm what
Speaker 1: they already want to do. They just want to hear
Speaker 1: their opinion in somebody else's voice, So they go around
Speaker 1: to ask and like as soon as they say, well,
Speaker 1: I've been praying about something, what do you think about this?
Speaker 1: And this person says what you want to say, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Yeah, i'mnna keep praying. I'm gonna keep praying.
Speaker 1: But the minute somebody gives them advice that's contradictory to
Speaker 1: the thing that they want to do, Oh, that's a
Speaker 1: good revealer of pride. As soon as somebody says, oh no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't marry him, no, Like, did you see a
Speaker 1: driver's license. Like his first name is Freddie, his last
Speaker 1: name is Krueger, Like I wouldn't I wouldn't marry it,
Speaker 1: Like I don't know that that might not be. Oh no,
Speaker 1: well you don't know him. You don't know him like
Speaker 1: I know him. How do you respond to advice? It's
Speaker 1: a good test for pride or humility. Here's another one.
Speaker 1: How do you respond to praise? To praise, to the handclap,
Speaker 1: to the cheer, epham, it's just us talking, elevation, it's
Speaker 1: just us talking. Can I tell you what I don't like?
Speaker 1: I don't like how much I like to be liked.
Speaker 1: I can't stand it, how much I love approval. I
Speaker 1: have to have conversations with me, Chris, I have to
Speaker 1: have a conversation with myself before I step on any
Speaker 1: stage to preach. I have to talk to myself still
Speaker 1: to this day, before I get up and say, you
Speaker 1: have nothing to prove and nothing to lose, nothing to prove,
Speaker 1: because if I'm not careful, I get on stage and
Speaker 1: I'll be trying to prove to you that I'm funny,
Speaker 1: and I'll be trying to make you laugh, like I'm
Speaker 1: caring hard or something. I'll be trying to prove that
Speaker 1: I'm brilliant. I'll be trying to use a big word,
Speaker 1: be like super confunctionalistic, HBI. Do shit suck? Like, Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, see it as doctor degree. That's because the
Speaker 1: praise the praise. And I think this is an issue
Speaker 1: now more than ever, because even psychologists are scrambling to
Speaker 1: do the research of what social media is literally doing
Speaker 1: to our brains, to the pleasure part of our brains,
Speaker 1: this incessant, unhealthy need to be noticed by other people,
Speaker 1: to get the validation and affirmation from other people, not
Speaker 1: in a healthy way, just from a community, but no,
Speaker 1: we need likes from strangers. They're saying that the pleasure
Speaker 1: principle in our brain, the pleasure part the dopamine when
Speaker 1: you get a like, when you get a notification. It's
Speaker 1: not as close to cocaine, but it's close. The thrill
Speaker 1: that you get, like they said, we couple goals, but
Speaker 1: the thrill that you get from that. Oh, you don't
Speaker 1: believe it. Put it to the test. I dare you
Speaker 1: post something today and don't look at it till next week.
Speaker 1: Just let us sit there. Oh, you ever had a
Speaker 1: conversation with somebody that posted something and they're waiting for
Speaker 1: the notification to come through. You talk about somebody that
Speaker 1: just will start twitching it like, yeah, you can't even
Speaker 1: listen to the conversation. Yeah you went to the monist.
Speaker 1: Excuse me one second. Let me see what they say that.
Speaker 1: How do you respond to praise? How do you respond
Speaker 1: to criticism? How do you respond to rejection? How do
Speaker 1: you respond to advice? How do you respond to praise?
Speaker 1: How do you respond to the crap in your life?
Speaker 1: That is a good test. That is a good test
Speaker 1: to see whether you got humility or prop That's all
Speaker 1: it is anyway, it's just crap. God wants to know
Speaker 1: how you respond to the crap of life. Oh I
Speaker 1: wish I had a church that would help me preach
Speaker 1: in here today. How do you respond? Because that's all
Speaker 1: it is anyway, That's all it is. Anyway, it's just crap,
Speaker 1: that's all it is. And that what Paul said, I'm
Speaker 1: landing on the plane. Isn't that what Paul said? In Philippians.
Speaker 1: You remember in Philppius chapter three, we quote this verse
Speaker 1: all the time. Paul says, one thing I do forgetting
Speaker 1: what's behind a press on to what's ahead? And how
Speaker 1: do we quote that verse? We quote that verse for
Speaker 1: like twenty twenty. You gotta forget twenty twenty, like that
Speaker 1: was in the past. Press on to what's ahead. Have
Speaker 1: you ever read the context of that verse? If you
Speaker 1: go up in that verse. In Philippians chapter three, Paul
Speaker 1: starts flexing. He starts naming all his accolades. He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: y'all want somebody to flex in the flesh. I'll let
Speaker 1: you know about what I did, Like I had a
Speaker 1: blue check before y'all were on the ground. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews.
Speaker 1: I speak all kinds of languages. He starts telling you
Speaker 1: all his accomplishments and his pedigree, but then he says,
Speaker 1: I treat all that as a loss, as dune for
Speaker 1: one thing that I may know him. He said, all
Speaker 1: of that I counted as a loss. It's all crap.
Speaker 1: Why so that I may know who? Jesus says. So
Speaker 1: when he gets to that verse and he says, one
Speaker 1: thing I do forgetting what's behind, he's not talking about sin,
Speaker 1: he's not talking about pain. He said, I gotta forget
Speaker 1: all my successes. I gotta forget all of my likes,
Speaker 1: he said. I gotta forget all those notifications, he said,
Speaker 1: because those are the things my pedigree is going to
Speaker 1: produce a pride that'll stop me from receiving what God
Speaker 1: has to me. He said, I gotta forget my wins.
Speaker 1: If I keep reflecting on my winds, I'm going to
Speaker 1: lose the power that comes from humility, because it's in
Speaker 1: humility that I know Him. That's what he's said. Can
Speaker 1: you forget what's behind you? All the successes for one
Speaker 1: thing to say, God, I want to know you, the
Speaker 1: fellowship of your suffering, the power of your resurrection. It's
Speaker 1: all crap. What I love about my text today is
Speaker 1: that John the Baptist was able to forget the crap.
Speaker 1: It came to him with news trying to get him
Speaker 1: to be upset that people were noticing Jesus. John said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not upset. Quite the contrary. My joy is complete
Speaker 1: in him. I have to decrease so that he may increase.
Speaker 1: I have to die because the heavens open up on
Speaker 1: the hinge of humility. Give me some of that water.
Speaker 1: I notice saying a shouting message. I notice saying the
Speaker 1: message that makes you want to run around. You knew
Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost two step and I'm telling you the
Speaker 1: heavens open up on the hinge of humility. Pride blocks
Speaker 1: the access. I'm just in a season of life where
Speaker 1: I'm like God, I just want to know you. That's
Speaker 1: the wind. It's him, not even what he does through me,
Speaker 1: but that I may know him. Don't let me get
Speaker 1: caught up in the crap that pride shuts me out
Speaker 1: from knowing you. Don't let me get intoxicated by the
Speaker 1: approval of men, and I miss out on the greatest treasure,
Speaker 1: which is knowing you. It's interesting in the days of
Speaker 1: caesars in Rome, they had what they called a triumph.
Speaker 1: It was after a victory, huge parade, people cheering and screaming,
Speaker 1: and the caesar would stand on his chariot and all
Speaker 1: his regal attire going throughout the towns as people were
Speaker 1: clapping and cheering, and behind the caesar you would see
Speaker 1: a servant, and the servant's job was number one to
Speaker 1: hold the crown of the caesar. Some of these triumphs
Speaker 1: would last several days. It's hard to have that crown
Speaker 1: on your head for that long, So the servant's job
Speaker 1: was to hold the crown. Servant also had another job.
Speaker 1: Servant was to whisper in the ear of the caesar
Speaker 1: while the crown is cheering, momentomorrey, momentomorrey. People would be
Speaker 1: shouting at the top of the lungs, but the servant
Speaker 1: is holding the crown, whispering in the caesar's ear. Momentomorray, mamentomorray,
Speaker 1: which means, remember you are mortal, Remember you die. You
Speaker 1: are just a man. Do not let the praise of
Speaker 1: this crowd go to your hand. Do not become intoxicated
Speaker 1: with the cheers of the crowd, because how you know.
Speaker 1: We were not created to receive glory. You cannot handle glory.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, glory will crush you. We were created
Speaker 1: to reflect glory, to give it back to God. You
Speaker 1: cannot handle the weight of glory on your life. You
Speaker 1: were created to give it back to the one who
Speaker 1: made you, who created you, who farmed you. You can't
Speaker 1: handle the way it will crush you. The service job
Speaker 1: was to say, remember you irem mortal, so he wouldn't
Speaker 1: get intoxicated with the cheers of the crowd, because you
Speaker 1: can't handle the crowd. Then I remember John the Disciple
Speaker 1: who wrote about John the Baptist. He gets a vision
Speaker 1: of heaven and revelation. And as soon as it gets
Speaker 1: to heaven, what does he say? He sees a throne,
Speaker 1: and God is on the throne, and surrounded by the
Speaker 1: throne are the twenty four elders. Twenty four elders. Who
Speaker 1: are these elders? This is the church. Every time you
Speaker 1: see elders in the Bible, it's talking about you and I,
Speaker 1: the Church of the Living God. That's why it's twenty four.
Speaker 1: Come on, twelve tribes of the Old Testament, twelve disciples,
Speaker 1: and the New Testament twenty four. This is the church
Speaker 1: that is surrounded the throne of God. And all of
Speaker 1: the elders have a crown, and the crown represents the
Speaker 1: reward you receive for being faithful on earth. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pause right there and thank God that there is
Speaker 1: a reward for being faithful, that there is a reward
Speaker 1: even in the midst of your suffering. That God is
Speaker 1: a great record keeper. That's why you don't ever have
Speaker 1: to defend yourself. You don't never have to fight your battle.
Speaker 1: Please let the Lord fight your battle. He is a
Speaker 1: great record keeper. Come, you know, he will reward you
Speaker 1: for being nice to nasty people. He will reward you
Speaker 1: for loving your enemies and blessing them that curse you.
Speaker 1: There is a reward for being faithful. Oh when nobody
Speaker 1: else sees, Thank God that you see there is a crown.
Speaker 1: That is a reward. Thank God that he sees. Did
Speaker 1: I get a crown? But what did John see? He
Speaker 1: said that the elders take their crowns off in the
Speaker 1: presence of God because even though they got the reward,
Speaker 1: when then the presence of God, they realize, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: this isn't a reward. You are the reward. They realize
Speaker 1: in heaven what you should realize in the earth, that
Speaker 1: the greatest reward is His presence. The greatest reward is Him.
Speaker 1: So they cast down their crowds before Him for the
Speaker 1: greatest reward, which is just to be in this present.
Speaker 1: They just take it off, and they say, I thought
Speaker 1: this was something, but man, to be here with you,
Speaker 1: this is the greatest choice. Can I just imagine what
Speaker 1: a church would look like with no crowns, no crowns,
Speaker 1: or church that knows the greatest reward It's him greatest reward,
Speaker 1: not how he uses you, not how much you've known.
Speaker 1: You have the reward. It's his presence. No crown. Why
Speaker 1: do I need a crown when I have you? Why
Speaker 1: do I need a crown? But I'm in your presence?
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
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Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 1: bless you.