Speaker 1: Let's look at John chapter seven together. I feel God's
Speaker 1: presence in this place.
Speaker 2: Now. Even if I didn't feel it, I would know
Speaker 2: that it was real.
Speaker 1: But it's good to feel it, and I feel God's
Speaker 1: presence in this place.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: John chapter seven is a very interesting scenario, or more accurately,
Speaker 1: episode in the life of Jesus. And I think you
Speaker 1: probably will say I never really heard a sermon on
Speaker 1: that story before, and then you won't be able to
Speaker 1: say that after today.
Speaker 2: But it's a.
Speaker 1: Really human moment in the life of Jesus, and it's
Speaker 1: a great example to us today. So as we look
Speaker 1: at this, we hope that we will see the example
Speaker 1: of Jesus and how it applies.
Speaker 2: To our lives.
Speaker 1: In John chapter seven, the Bible says after this, Jesus
Speaker 1: went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because
Speaker 1: the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But
Speaker 1: when the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus's brother
Speaker 1: said to him, you ought to leave here. How many know,
Speaker 1: there's always somebody to tell you what you ought to do, always,
Speaker 1: and usually as people with your same last name, you
Speaker 1: know you oughta well, you ought to leave here and
Speaker 1: go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the
Speaker 1: miracles you do. No one who wants to become a
Speaker 1: public figure action secret. Since you are doing these things
Speaker 1: post them on Instagram. For even his own brothers did
Speaker 1: not believe him, and therefore Jesus told them, the right
Speaker 1: time for me has not yet come for you. Anytime
Speaker 1: is right, salty Jesus. The world cannot hate you, but
Speaker 1: it hates me because I testify that what it does
Speaker 1: is evil. If you haven't had a head on collision
Speaker 1: with the devil lately, it means you might be headed
Speaker 1: in the same direction. That's what Pastor Mickey used to say.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm in conflict. I am a contradiction of
Speaker 1: the world's values, and so it's not easy for me
Speaker 1: to live on this earth according to Kingdom principles. But
Speaker 1: Jesus said, verse eight, you go to the feast. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to control you, but you do what you
Speaker 1: need to do. You go ahead and go. I am
Speaker 1: not yet going up to this feast because for me,
Speaker 1: the right time has not yet come. I wonder how
Speaker 1: different our lives would be if we would learn the
Speaker 1: power of those two words, not yet not yet. And
Speaker 1: having said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his
Speaker 1: brothers had left for the feast, he went also, not publicly,
Speaker 1: but in secret.
Speaker 2: Not publicly, but in secret.
Speaker 1: Now at the feast, the Jews were watching for him
Speaker 1: and asking where is that man the crowds. There was
Speaker 1: widespread whispering, widespread whispering about him.
Speaker 2: Some said he is a good man. Others replied, no,
Speaker 2: he deceives the people.
Speaker 1: But no one would say anything publicly about him for
Speaker 1: fear of the Jews. The key for this message today
Speaker 1: is in verse ten. However, after his brothers had left
Speaker 1: for the feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.
Speaker 1: And what I want to talk to you about today
Speaker 1: is the pressure to perform, the pressure to perform.
Speaker 2: And let's pray one more time.
Speaker 1: Spirit of God, I thank you for the accuracy with
Speaker 1: which you register in the hearts and the minds of
Speaker 1: people who are open. Give us this openness that we
Speaker 1: may receive whatever you wish to speak, and we give
Speaker 1: you praise.
Speaker 2: In advance in Jesus name.
Speaker 1: Amen, would you touch somebody on your way to your
Speaker 1: seat and say, I don't have to post it to prove.
Speaker 2: It's so great to.
Speaker 1: Have the opportunity now to apologize to my mom. For
Speaker 1: my teenage years, I just didn't have an appreciation at
Speaker 1: the time for the pressure of parenting. You really can't
Speaker 1: until you are blessed with the same pressure of parental
Speaker 1: responsibility for yourself, because like, really, my mom and dad
Speaker 1: stretched their resources in order for me as a as
Speaker 1: a I guess, like a spoiled, entitled brat of a
Speaker 1: kid to not appreciate the sacrifices and really the pressure
Speaker 1: that they were under to buy me those rebock pumps.
Speaker 1: And since my dad was a barber and he started
Speaker 1: out just five dollars a haircut six dollars, by the
Speaker 1: time he quit cutting hair, he was up to thirteen
Speaker 1: dollars a haircut, I believe.
Speaker 2: And my mom had been.
Speaker 1: In education, teaching special education and then as an early interventionist,
Speaker 1: which wasn't exactly a high paying job, but they provided
Speaker 1: for me so competently that I never really thought about
Speaker 1: the pressure that it must have been to try to
Speaker 1: make sure that I.
Speaker 2: Never really felt their pressure.
Speaker 1: I remember going to this telephone office, the Berkeley Telephone Company,
Speaker 1: and my parents would clean the office at night after
Speaker 1: they would get off their other job, and all I
Speaker 1: could do was complain, and I thought that it was
Speaker 1: child abuse that they made me empty the trash. But
Speaker 1: I just didn't understand when she was making me run
Speaker 1: the vacuum cleaner while she was cleaning the toilets on Saturday,
Speaker 1: just like I didn't appreciate the pressure, even emotionally. I
Speaker 1: remember when my dad kind of quit coming home. I
Speaker 1: didn't realize that the reason he was doing that was
Speaker 1: because of not having a father example for himself when
Speaker 1: I hit the teenage stage, he had no frame of
Speaker 1: reference for how to deal with what he felt, and
Speaker 1: I thought.
Speaker 2: He was lazy, so he went to go drink with
Speaker 2: my uncle.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't so much laziness, I now have come
Speaker 1: to believe, as it was the fact that he was
Speaker 1: under a weight that he hadn't felt like he had
Speaker 1: been built for. And there is a sense in which
Speaker 1: his pressure in his own life paralyzed him, like pressure
Speaker 1: often can. When you find yourself in a situation where
Speaker 1: you have not been exposed to that particular responsibility and
Speaker 1: now you are responsible or something that you've never been
Speaker 1: exposed to, it can create a lot of pressure, not
Speaker 1: only on the financial side with with with kids, but
Speaker 1: just emotionally and how by the time you come home
Speaker 1: from work where you're providing materially, you don't have anything
Speaker 1: left to give emotionally, and even if you do. There
Speaker 1: was this dude that came up to me Friday night
Speaker 1: at the baseball game and he just looked. He had
Speaker 1: the look on his face like all parents get from
Speaker 1: time to time, like if you shoot me, I'll give
Speaker 1: you half the insurance money. It was just a parent look,
Speaker 1: and you only know it if you've been there. But
Speaker 1: I just said to him, kind of randomly, I said,
Speaker 1: you're such a good man, because I could tell he
Speaker 1: was having one of those days and he was running
Speaker 1: back and forth and it kind of stopped him in
Speaker 1: his tracks.
Speaker 2: And he's like, really, I don't feel like a good
Speaker 2: man today, you know. I was. I was.
Speaker 1: I was at work and then I left work at
Speaker 1: four because I'm supposed to get off it for But
Speaker 1: then the idiot who took my next shift, he didn't
Speaker 1: show up in time for a shift. So who does
Speaker 1: the manager call Not the person who didn't show up,
Speaker 1: but me, because they know they can count on me.
Speaker 1: Because the people we treat the worst are usually the
Speaker 1: people that we know, we can count on the most,
Speaker 1: and we expect the most out of them. But by
Speaker 1: the time he had got off work, he was throwing
Speaker 1: the ball with his daughter to get it ready for
Speaker 1: the game. And by the time he finished throwing with
Speaker 1: his daughter, he said, this is what he's telling me.
Speaker 1: By the time I finished throwing my daughter, my manager
Speaker 1: been blowing up my phone. Now my manager is mad
Speaker 1: at me, and I'm walking in the house talking to
Speaker 1: my manager who's yelling at me, and my wife's got
Speaker 1: dinner ready, but I can't eat dinner because I'm talking
Speaker 1: to my manager, and so my wife is mad because
Speaker 1: the food is cold. But I can't help it that
Speaker 1: the food is cold, because if I lose his job,
Speaker 1: we're not going to have any food to cook. So
Speaker 1: coal food is better.
Speaker 2: Than no food. And all I'm matter on the baseball
Speaker 2: team and I want to die.
Speaker 1: And funny thing is he doesn't come to the church.
Speaker 1: He doesn't come to the church. He's only been one
Speaker 1: time that I know of, And when he came that
Speaker 1: one time, he told me it was a good sermon,
Speaker 1: so I knew that he didn't have like a Christian vocabulary.
Speaker 1: The word that he put in there. But he didn't
Speaker 1: know that I was preaching on pressure today. He didn't
Speaker 1: know that he was giving me, he was helping me
Speaker 1: that it's not just as a preacher, or it's not
Speaker 1: just those of us who stand on a stage who
Speaker 1: feel this pressure. Because it used to be enough if
Speaker 1: you just provide for your kids. It used to be
Speaker 1: enough if you just protect your kids. It used to
Speaker 1: be enough if you would just prepare your kids. And
Speaker 1: sometimes all of those things seem to be in conflict,
Speaker 1: that while you want to protect your kids, you also
Speaker 1: have to prepare your kids. And so sometimes I don't
Speaker 1: know should I catch you or should I let you
Speaker 1: fall a little bit so you don't fall a lot?
Speaker 2: Should I?
Speaker 1: Should I let you skin your knee now so that
Speaker 1: you don't break your neck later? Should I let you
Speaker 1: peter sink down into the water and let you sink
Speaker 1: and not let you drown. Sometimes even Jesus, if you
Speaker 1: read the scripture, he did not prevent the failure. He
Speaker 1: allowed the failure so that the person could learn the
Speaker 1: lesson and that would enable them later. Sometimes there's so
Speaker 1: much pressure coming from so many different directions, and if
Speaker 1: you stop to think about the life of Jesus. He
Speaker 1: was he was under pressure from the Pharisees who wanted
Speaker 1: to kill him because he threatened their political power, And
Speaker 1: so they were watching everything that he did, and they
Speaker 1: were watching him with very, very scrutinizing eyes, even to
Speaker 1: the point that if he healed somebody, not only would
Speaker 1: they watch him heal the person, but they would they
Speaker 1: would find him healing on the wrong day, and if
Speaker 1: he healed on the Sabbath, they would stand up and
Speaker 1: accuse him for doing something good. How would you like
Speaker 1: to get accused not only for doing the wrong thing,
Speaker 1: but for doing the right thing at the wrong time.
Speaker 2: This is Jesus.
Speaker 1: He shows up and they follow him to see if
Speaker 1: he's gonna wash his hands before he eats. How creepy
Speaker 1: is it when you have people following you in the
Speaker 1: bathroom to see One time I was at PF. Chanin's
Speaker 1: and there was a man that was standing there watching me.
Speaker 2: While I was and it was threatening to me. It
Speaker 2: was threatening to me.
Speaker 1: So I kind of looked at my fishes in the
Speaker 1: bathroom and I washed my hands. I walked over to
Speaker 1: him and he said, I was waiting to see if
Speaker 1: you do wash your hands after you went I go
Speaker 1: to your church. I'm like, bro, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: other great churches I would like to tell you about
Speaker 1: right now. But for Jesus, it was ceremonial. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a hygienic thing. They were watching to see what he
Speaker 1: breaked the law and not wash his hands.
Speaker 2: They weren't worried about the.
Speaker 1: Fact that he was trying to eat with people that
Speaker 1: they considered unclean, because he was righteousness and grace and truth.
Speaker 1: They were so focused on the cosmetics, and so everything
Speaker 1: that he did was under scrutiny. Who he's talking with
Speaker 1: a woman, Oh, he's touching a leper. He's not supposed
Speaker 1: to act like that. He's not supposed to speak like that.
Speaker 1: And then sometimes for Jesus, he would perform a miracle
Speaker 1: for the crowd, but they would miss the deeper meaning,
Speaker 1: which is what has just happened when we read on
Speaker 1: chapter seven. Because he just fed five thousand men and
Speaker 1: women and children, and he provided for their needs in
Speaker 1: such a great way that they.
Speaker 2: All ate and had their fill.
Speaker 1: But after he filled them up physically, he turned to
Speaker 1: fill them spiritually. And it turns out that they were
Speaker 1: following him, not for the spiritual dynamics of who he was,
Speaker 1: but for the physical benefits of what he could provide.
Speaker 1: And when he began to speak at a deeper level,
Speaker 1: the Bible says that many of them didn't want to
Speaker 1: hear it.
Speaker 2: After he fed them the.
Speaker 1: Bread, he turned around and said, now that you've had bread,
Speaker 1: recognize that I am bread. The miracle that I just
Speaker 1: performed was not about what I did. It was to
Speaker 1: point to who I am. I am the bread of life,
Speaker 1: and if you eat my flesh and drink my blood,
Speaker 1: you can remain in me. Well, they didn't like that
Speaker 1: very much. It's like he had the crowd and then
Speaker 1: he lost them. He had the following, and then he
Speaker 1: lost it. And the Bible says in John six sixty six,
Speaker 1: sixty sixty six, I always remember that like it's a
Speaker 1: bad number, sixty sixty six. I always remember it because
Speaker 1: it said many then deserted him and followed him no more.
Speaker 1: Many then went away because this is a hard saying,
Speaker 1: and followed him no more. And as they're walking away,
Speaker 1: Jesus turns to his disciples and says, do you want
Speaker 1: to walk away too?
Speaker 2: And Peter said, we don't have no options.
Speaker 1: I already gave my boat away for a little while,
Speaker 1: and I already put my investment you and I got
Speaker 1: to see where this ends, even if it ends at
Speaker 1: a cross. That's the context of John chapter seven.
Speaker 2: And it's one thing.
Speaker 1: To kind of have to deal with opposition from the devil.
Speaker 1: It's another thing to kind of have to deal with
Speaker 1: it from inside your own house.
Speaker 2: And Jesus had seven siblings.
Speaker 1: Some traditions infer these are his human brothers, And whether
Speaker 1: or not Jesus had any sisters, it's interesting to me
Speaker 1: that it was his brothers who pulled him aside with
Speaker 1: the strategy watch this for how to get his followers back.
Speaker 1: And they've got it all figured out, and they've got
Speaker 1: it all calculated, and they say, Jesus, do more of
Speaker 1: the stuff like where you're feeding people, and less of
Speaker 1: the cannibal stuff that you say in your speeches. Take
Speaker 1: out the cannibalism. And why don't you go to Judea
Speaker 1: because the Feast of Tabernacles is about to start and
Speaker 1: you can come with us and you can do the
Speaker 1: kinds of things that you've been doing here in Galilee,
Speaker 1: which was in the northern part of Palestine, which was
Speaker 1: not as densely populated as Jerusalem and Judea. You can
Speaker 1: do publicly what you've been doing privately. You can take
Speaker 1: this show on the road. We can get you a
Speaker 1: headlining spot at the Coachella. Of the Old Testament, this
Speaker 1: was the feast where they would come and build booths.
Speaker 1: It was actually called the Festival of booths or tabernacles.
Speaker 1: And they would build the booth when they got there,
Speaker 1: and they would stay for a week, and they would
Speaker 1: thank God for the water that he gave them, and
Speaker 1: they would thank God for the sustenance that he gave them.
Speaker 1: They would remember in the wilderness how God saw his
Speaker 1: people through even though they didn't have quail or grain.
Speaker 1: But he made manna, which literally means what is it,
Speaker 1: and it means what it is? So God meets what
Speaker 1: is it with what it is and it shows that
Speaker 1: He can show up in any situation and take what
Speaker 1: it is, and when He fills what it is with
Speaker 1: who he is, it will become what you need it
Speaker 1: to be for the season that you're in.
Speaker 2: Two people recognize good preaching when.
Speaker 1: They hear it, and they say, come on and do
Speaker 1: some of the flashy stuff that.
Speaker 2: You've been doing. Here in Nazareth and.
Speaker 1: Take this show fifty five miles south to Judea. And
Speaker 1: if you can do these public things in front of people,
Speaker 1: you can become a public figure. In fact, that's the
Speaker 1: phrase that drew me to the text. It said, no
Speaker 1: one who wants to become a public.
Speaker 2: Figure acts in secret.
Speaker 1: We live in a time where everybody wants to be
Speaker 1: a public figure. We live in a time and please
Speaker 1: don't get mad at me for saying this where even
Speaker 1: people who have a private account spend their whole LIFs
Speaker 1: posting stuff and commenting on stuff to create an image
Speaker 1: and a projection of a reality that may bear no resemblance.
Speaker 1: The awkward golf collaps really help me. I appreciate that
Speaker 1: to the reality of their situation. And Jesus's brothers pull
Speaker 1: him aside and say, we've got a great idea. Why
Speaker 1: don't you show the world who you really are. The
Speaker 1: interesting thing about the text, and I'm gonna give this
Speaker 1: to you quick, because the nexus of this text is
Speaker 1: in verse five. It says that even Jesus' brothers did
Speaker 1: not believe in him, and since they didn't believe, they
Speaker 1: were trying to get him to perform any time you
Speaker 1: have unbelief in your heart, it will cause you to
Speaker 1: try to perform to prove something that you don't really believe.
Speaker 1: In psychological terms, it's called the fraudulence complex, or some
Speaker 1: call it the impostor syndrome, and it speaks about how
Speaker 1: many of us have an inability to internalize our strengths.
Speaker 2: And our accomplishments.
Speaker 1: Psychologists call it the impostor syndrome because they say that
Speaker 1: many of us secretly, deep down feel like we're a fraud.
Speaker 1: Many of us, secretly, deep down feel like we have
Speaker 1: so much less to offer than what people expect, and
Speaker 1: that even when people compliment us, we figure that the
Speaker 1: reason that they're complimenting us is because they don't really
Speaker 1: see us for who we are. And if they ever
Speaker 1: saw us for who we are, if they ever saw
Speaker 1: how stupid we feel, if they ever saw how inexperienced
Speaker 1: we feel, if they really saw how nervous.
Speaker 2: We really feel, they would kick us out thereat room.
Speaker 1: It happens to fathers, It happens to mothers, It happens to.
Speaker 2: Leaders, it happens to teenagers. It is the.
Speaker 1: Fear of being found out to be less than they
Speaker 1: thought you were. It is the fear that keeps you
Speaker 1: in a performance mode. It is the fear that keeps
Speaker 1: you spending money to look like something important, because deep
Speaker 1: down you're afraid that you're really not. It is the
Speaker 1: fear that keeps you overcompensating, and you get in situations
Speaker 1: and rather than letting other people be the center of attention,
Speaker 1: you feel the need to overcompensate to show how intelligent
Speaker 1: you are because deep down you don't feel intelligent enough,
Speaker 1: so people think you're cocky.
Speaker 2: But you're really not cocky.
Speaker 1: You're scared with the conflict between who they think you're
Speaker 1: supposed to be and who you feel like you really are.
Speaker 2: It's called the imposter syndrome.
Speaker 1: It means that sometimes, even as I'm trying to fulfill.
Speaker 2: My purpose, I feel like a fake.
Speaker 1: It's not that I'm a hypocrite, it's not that I'm insincere.
Speaker 1: It's just that, deep down inside, I'm a man who
Speaker 1: sometimes feels like a little boy. I'm a preacher who
Speaker 1: sometimes feels like a sinner. I want to be wise,
Speaker 1: but sometimes I feel like a fool. And I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: is there anybody here who lately has been up under
Speaker 1: the pressure of an expectation, and when you feel that,
Speaker 1: the temptation and the tendency is to prove it.
Speaker 3: I gotta prove I'm a good dad. I gotta prove
Speaker 3: I'm a good mom. I gotta prove I'm a good preacher.
Speaker 3: I gotta prove it. When you do it to prove it,
Speaker 3: it takes the joy.
Speaker 2: Out of it. See Jesus, Jesus didn't.
Speaker 1: Mind performing miracles, he just wasn't going to do it
Speaker 1: for the wrong motives. Jesus was going to Judea. He
Speaker 1: just wasn't going.
Speaker 2: To make a public spectacle out of his power.
Speaker 1: Jesus was ultimately determined to show the world who he was,
Speaker 1: but he wasn't going to do it for the gram.
Speaker 1: I think the key thing that he says in the
Speaker 1: text is not now, I'm going to Judea, which is
Speaker 1: the region where he would ultimately give his life, but
Speaker 1: not now. And it's such a weird world we live in,
Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean, I'm so scared for my kids. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to tell him about growing
Speaker 1: up in a time where we've always had the.
Speaker 2: Pressure the performance.
Speaker 1: Now everybody gets to experience performance anxiety. Because we all
Speaker 1: perform our lives for one another all the time, just constantly.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you if you cook a good meal
Speaker 1: for your family, it does not count unless you make
Speaker 1: an Instagram story out of the meal. This is a
Speaker 1: very common thing to preach about. It is common because
Speaker 1: it's killing us. Jesus said, if I go to Judea
Speaker 1: for the wrong reasons, and if I show up with
Speaker 1: the wrong motives, and if I live my life to
Speaker 1: perform for others rather than to glorify my father, it'll
Speaker 1: kill me. The religious leaders were waiting to literally kill Jesus.
Speaker 1: But I wonder, what are the things that are killing you?
Speaker 1: It says that he purposely stayed away from Judea. What
Speaker 1: do you need to purposely stay away from in this season.
Speaker 2: Of your life?
Speaker 1: What do you need to purposely stop thinking about in
Speaker 1: this season of your life? Who do you need to
Speaker 1: purposely stop comparing yourself to in this season of your life?
Speaker 2: For me, it's buck.
Speaker 1: I was doing squats the other day and Chunks Chunks
Speaker 1: was watching me do these squats and I was doing
Speaker 1: them deep deep squats. I only do leg day once
Speaker 1: every six weeks, so I got to make it count
Speaker 1: when I do it, and I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can do it in these genes.
Speaker 2: I should have tested this.
Speaker 1: I hadn't done this illustration yet, but I mean, I
Speaker 1: was down deep.
Speaker 2: On the squad now. Buck wasn't there that day.
Speaker 1: Chunks was there, and Chunks was spotting me and he said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And I said, I'm doing I'm
Speaker 1: doing my squats like Buck. But he said something so important,
Speaker 1: He said, don't do them like Buck. Buck is built
Speaker 1: different than you. You're gonna break your back trying to
Speaker 1: be like Buck. And I wonder how we look to
Speaker 1: God trying to. You are gonna snap your hamstring. You
Speaker 1: are gonna pop your quads, trying to trying to be Buck,
Speaker 1: getting getting trying to try, trying to. I went on
Speaker 1: Instagram the other day and I saw I saw Kevin Hart,
Speaker 1: and I felt like a failure in my whole life.
Speaker 2: I felt like, what am I doing with my whole life? What?
Speaker 1: What is the point of my existence? Within fifteen seconds?
Speaker 1: Here I am with a burden on me that I
Speaker 1: wasn't built for by comparing myself to someone with a
Speaker 1: different calling, and please don't judge me while I am
Speaker 1: in this vulnerable position because the truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is some of you are hurting in ways that you
Speaker 1: don't have to hurt, because you are putting yourself in
Speaker 1: a position that you were not built to live in.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I'm not going to Judea because you want
Speaker 1: me to go to Judea. I don't have to post
Speaker 1: it to prove it. I don't have to turn stones
Speaker 1: into bread to show that I'm the son of God.
Speaker 1: I live out of purpose, not for popularity. I live
Speaker 1: out of purpose, not for the praises of men, but
Speaker 1: for the praise that can only come from God. And
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's somebody today who is content to
Speaker 1: stay in Galilee to know that it's my season to
Speaker 1: be obedient.
Speaker 2: And that's all I have to do. All I have to.
Speaker 4: Do is be obedient in this season of my life.
Speaker 4: And Jesus said, you'll go. I'm not going. Not now,
Speaker 4: you'll go.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna stay.
Speaker 1: I'm purposely staying away because if I go here to
Speaker 1: impress people with that motive, it'll kill me. And trying
Speaker 1: to impress people and trying to measure up to arbitrary
Speaker 1: standards that are changing so fast it'll kill your contentment.
Speaker 1: It'll kill your joy, it'll kill your marriage, it'll kill
Speaker 1: your ministry, it'll kill your family. And now even Jesus
Speaker 1: couldn't please everybody, and he was sinless and spotless. Jesus,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, couldn't please everybody, and
Speaker 1: we expect that we can. Even Jesus had to say,
Speaker 1: y'all are my family. I love you, but it's not
Speaker 1: for me, and just those words, it's not for me.
Speaker 2: You ought to go down there to Judea, show them
Speaker 2: what you've made of because I think.
Speaker 1: They were under pressure too. Honestly, I think probably it
Speaker 1: was a lot of pressure to be a sibling of
Speaker 1: Jesus and you're bringing home sees in chemistry, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's turning water into wine, like affecting molecular structures
Speaker 1: in real time.
Speaker 2: A lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: You got that weird brother, you know, the one who
Speaker 1: stays at the temple teaching people at age twelve.
Speaker 2: It's a pressure to feel special.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the pressure that we feel to be special.
Speaker 2: Does not come from God. It comes from culture, who tells.
Speaker 1: You that you've got to be so special, so different,
Speaker 1: so unique, so set apart.
Speaker 5: But you already are you already are you already? Are already?
Speaker 2: Am set apart? Jesus?
Speaker 1: If you go down to Judea, you could, you could, really,
Speaker 1: you could show them who you are.
Speaker 2: You could, you could show them who you are. I
Speaker 2: don't need to show them.
Speaker 1: I know. When you live out of that place, it
Speaker 1: affects you to be able to do it for purpose
Speaker 1: and not for proof, because really, who are you trying
Speaker 1: to prove it to. I mean, whoever you're trying to
Speaker 1: prove something to isn't paying attention because they're trying to
Speaker 1: prove it to somebody who's not paying attention. And they're
Speaker 1: proving it to someone who's not paying attention. And so
Speaker 1: while we're busy posting to each other our results to
Speaker 1: prove to one another what we're worth, our purpose is
Speaker 1: dying in the place of our insecurity. When you know
Speaker 1: it's real, when you know it's authentic, it enables you
Speaker 1: to do it from a place of purpose.
Speaker 2: I'm going to Judea. I'm going to go. I'm just
Speaker 2: not gonna go because you pushed me into it.
Speaker 1: Be careful what you let people or cultural norms push
Speaker 1: you into. You'll never be pushed into purpose. You will
Speaker 1: be pulled from within. If it's pushing, it's not purpose.
Speaker 1: God does not drive, he leads. They are very different.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I'm going when it's time for me to go.
Speaker 1: I'm not going for clout, I'm going for cairos. That's
Speaker 1: the Greek word that means the timing of God. In
Speaker 1: Greek philosophy, fate determined timing. In Kingdom philosophy, God determines timing.
Speaker 1: It means I'm where I need to be right now,
Speaker 1: and I'm good in Galilee. I'm good in Galilee. I'm
Speaker 1: good if nobody knows my name. I'm good being anonymous.
Speaker 1: I was listening to a podcast the other day with
Speaker 1: a former First Lady of the United States, and she
Speaker 1: said the number one sacrifice that she gave to serve
Speaker 1: the country was the loss of anonymity. That isn't it
Speaker 1: crazy that everybody else is trying to climb out of.
Speaker 2: The thing that she wishes she could have back.
Speaker 1: And now we've got a whole generation that's just trying
Speaker 1: to be a public figure. I went on somebody's Instagram
Speaker 1: account the other day. They had seventy followers, and it
Speaker 1: said public figure under the name.
Speaker 2: Why do you need a label so bad.
Speaker 1: Why do you so badly need to be perceived by others?
Speaker 1: It's the pressure to be special, So it's the pressure
Speaker 1: to be important. But when you belong to God and
Speaker 1: you are living on assignment, and you know your anointing
Speaker 1: and you know your gift, it.
Speaker 2: Takes the pressure off.
Speaker 1: Because I'm good in Galilee.
Speaker 2: I'll walk on.
Speaker 1: Water in Galilee. I'll heal blind eyes in Galilee. I'll
Speaker 1: teach in Galilee, I'll pray in Galilee.
Speaker 2: I'm good in Galilee. I see it even seep into
Speaker 2: our ministry.
Speaker 1: In very subtle ways when we sit down to measure
Speaker 1: our ministry. If I'm not careful, I will become so
Speaker 1: performance oriented in the way I pastor this church that
Speaker 1: I will get my priorities more on.
Speaker 2: The statistics than the substance.
Speaker 1: And I felt it happening the other day because we're
Speaker 1: looking at all of these Instagram that we put out
Speaker 1: and we use it all. I promise you Jesus would
Speaker 1: have had an Instagram account. It would have been the
Speaker 1: dopest Instagram account that you've ever seen in your life.
Speaker 1: You would have swiped up and got healed. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: even had to click on anything after that, it would
Speaker 1: have been but swipe up and lose your leprosy, it
Speaker 1: would have been an amazing Instagram account. But what I'm
Speaker 1: saying about it is I was in this moment where
Speaker 1: we were showing how this.
Speaker 2: Post perform, perform, perform, perform.
Speaker 1: Now, for me, that's a dangerous word, because I am
Speaker 1: performance oriented by nature.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I would ask for your prayers
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: I sometimes feel like I'm just showing up to regular
Speaker 1: conversations and oh God, I hope I say the right thing.
Speaker 1: I had a friend who got in trouble the other day,
Speaker 1: and it took me a week to call him, not
Speaker 1: because I didn't care about him, but because I didn't
Speaker 1: think I would have anything valid to say, so rather
Speaker 1: than call him and say what I had, I waited
Speaker 1: and hurt him by not calling him because I didn't
Speaker 1: think i'd have something to say. And when I finally
Speaker 1: called him, I realized he didn't need my performance.
Speaker 6: He just needed my presence. He didn't need me to
Speaker 6: say anything. He didn't need me to say anything, He
Speaker 6: just needed me to be there. And when you don't
Speaker 6: believe that, it kills you. Unbelief always leads to performance.
Speaker 6: They didn't believe in him. They thought he was a fraud.
Speaker 1: When you think you're a fraud, when you get unbelief
Speaker 1: in your heart, when you go to those those places
Speaker 1: in your mind, you kill yourself trying to prove something.
Speaker 1: You know, we're we're analyzing and and and you can
Speaker 1: look at it. You can look at how many how
Speaker 1: many people like this post. And here's a sermon clip
Speaker 1: we put out in here's a here's a song that
Speaker 1: we put out, and here's another sermon clip. And this
Speaker 1: one performed better than that one. And that's good to know.
Speaker 1: I think you should look.
Speaker 2: At all that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I definitely want the person who's managing my
Speaker 1: retirement account to look at the performance of the retirement account.
Speaker 2: I don't just want them to pray about it. Amen.
Speaker 2: Now it's losing money, but it's a great company.
Speaker 1: We believe in their values, and I want to make
Speaker 1: some money. But with ministry, you can't always measure that,
Speaker 1: can you. And I don't really know if the one
Speaker 1: that got the most likes was the one that God used,
Speaker 1: because who am I to say that the one that
Speaker 1: didn't get as many likes. Maybe it came across somebody's
Speaker 1: feed when their hands were shaken too bad to click
Speaker 1: like or to comment because they had a bottle of
Speaker 1: pills in their hand, and something that was spoken through
Speaker 1: that screen just really hit their situation.
Speaker 2: And you can't measure that.
Speaker 1: When you do it for the wrong audience, when people
Speaker 1: don't clap, you quit and they don't say thank you,
Speaker 1: or when you get the feeling like they don't even
Speaker 1: appreciate me, they don't even notice, they wouldn't even miss me,
Speaker 1: they don't even they don't even know what I bring
Speaker 1: to this. They don't really Jesus wasn't doing it for
Speaker 1: the people, and he certainly wasn't doing it for their praise.
Speaker 1: He was doing it for a purpose, and the people
Speaker 1: were not his audience.
Speaker 2: And when the brother said.
Speaker 1: You need to do it so they'll see, you need
Speaker 1: to do it, so they'll know you need to do
Speaker 1: it to prove it, Jesus said, I believe. Twenty nineteen version.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I don't have to post it to prove it.
Speaker 1: I don't have to do it because they're clapping. I
Speaker 1: do it because I'm called. I'm not doing it for clout,
Speaker 1: I'm doing it for calling I am not chasing their approval.
Speaker 1: I am fulfilling my assignment. Now this message is for
Speaker 1: our generation. And I do not mean people that are
Speaker 1: my age. I mean the time that we live in
Speaker 1: is consumed and obsessed with chasing clout, approval and publicity.
Speaker 1: But some things ought to stay private. Some things that
Speaker 1: God does in your life are not for ppa. Some
Speaker 1: things are not for a public display of ability or
Speaker 1: a public.
Speaker 2: Display of affection.
Speaker 1: You know, back in my day, if you were making
Speaker 1: out with somebody in public, they.
Speaker 2: Would holler at you. Get a room. And I heard
Speaker 2: Jesus say, when you pray.
Speaker 1: Don't do it out in public like the Pagans do
Speaker 1: trying to impress somebody or the Pharisees do. But get
Speaker 1: in a secret place, Get in your closet, get a
Speaker 1: room where you get alone with God. Ask God, what
Speaker 1: am I called to do? What am I called to be?
Speaker 1: I can't take my cues from culture or the crowd
Speaker 1: is killing me. God, what do you want me to
Speaker 1: do in this season? It's too much pressure to please people. God.
Speaker 2: I just want to please you. I do it for
Speaker 2: you God.
Speaker 1: I show up for you, I stay late for you,
Speaker 1: I forgive for you. I love for you, I serve
Speaker 1: for you, I breathe for you, I live for you,
Speaker 1: I worship for you. It's not for an audience of film.
Speaker 2: God is my audience.
Speaker 1: And when God is your audience, the opinions of people
Speaker 1: are no longer your sustenance.
Speaker 2: I don't turn stones into bread.
Speaker 1: We so need this word from the Lord because we're
Speaker 1: sure not going to get it from the world.
Speaker 2: It's getting weirder and weirder and weirder.
Speaker 1: How we're all performing for each other all the time.
Speaker 1: It's exhausting and it sucks, and it's worthless and it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: And God sent me today watch this with a word
Speaker 2: of sanity. The crowd will kill you. I love the
Speaker 2: phrase that he put.
Speaker 1: Jod said, there was widespread whispering about Jesus. Everybody had
Speaker 1: a comment to make, but nobody had the courage to
Speaker 1: say it out loud to his face. Everybody was whispering.
Speaker 1: And this is the world that we live in. And
Speaker 1: when we give too much weight to the whispers of
Speaker 1: people and not enough weight to the word of God,
Speaker 1: it will kill us on the inside. So the impostor
Speaker 1: syndrome was coined as a phrase several decades ago in
Speaker 1: psychological terms, but it's as old as Moses, who stood
Speaker 1: up one day just to see a burning bush that
Speaker 1: wasn't consumed talking about who am I that I should
Speaker 1: go stand before Pharaoh. No matter how many miracles God
Speaker 1: did through Moses, he still had trouble believing that he
Speaker 1: was enough to lead the people. That's why he struck
Speaker 1: the rock insteadus speaking to it. That's why he was
Speaker 1: still trying to prove at the end of his ministry,
Speaker 1: I am something, I am somebody I can't do it.
Speaker 1: And now I'm spending too much money over here, and
Speaker 1: now I'm spending too much energy over here, and now
Speaker 1: I'm becoming something that I don't even like to prove
Speaker 1: it to.
Speaker 2: Who to who?
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I'm going to Judea when it's right for me,
Speaker 1: and God give us the clarity to know what's right
Speaker 1: for us, what we're built for, so we stop finding
Speaker 1: ourselves and compromising positions that do not even fit our
Speaker 1: build God give us the wisdom to know when people
Speaker 1: are pushing us. Just because it's normal doesn't mean it's wise.
Speaker 1: God give us the wisdom to know our timing. Give
Speaker 1: us the wisdom to know when we need to put
Speaker 1: something in a journal not on Facebook. Give us the
Speaker 1: wisdom to know when it's your voice. Father, I thank
Speaker 1: you for what you've spoken today, and I believe that
Speaker 1: I will be hearing for a long time how it
Speaker 1: was applied in individual lives. With everyone standing, I want
Speaker 1: to pray a prayer or a blessing over you today
Speaker 1: that if you can receive it with your spirit, it
Speaker 1: will save you so much pain and consternation and agony.
Speaker 2: To be able to receive that.
Speaker 1: You don't have to live on bread alone, but every
Speaker 1: word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Speaker 2: And just to know in this moment.
Speaker 1: That it's okay to stay in Galilee, it's okay to
Speaker 1: operate in your gift. It's okay to do it the
Speaker 1: way you need to do it. And that proving stuff
Speaker 1: to people never produce the power of God.
Speaker 2: Never.
Speaker 1: Even when Jesus hung on the cross, they were still
Speaker 1: trying to get him to prove it, if you are
Speaker 1: the son of God, come down from that cross. But
Speaker 1: he couldn't come down. He wasn't up there to prove it.
Speaker 1: He was up there to do it for you and
Speaker 1: for me. To despise the shame and to endure the cross.
Speaker 1: The presence of the Lord is here to remind you
Speaker 1: of your righteousness and to remind you that you don't
Speaker 1: have to perform a religious act or a behavior modification
Speaker 1: program to be accepted by your heavenly Father. With your
Speaker 1: head's bowed and your eyes closed, there's somebody here who's
Speaker 1: been feeling like you're not enough, and it has caused
Speaker 1: you to enter into modes of communication and methods of
Speaker 1: life and paces of lifestyle that do not even fit
Speaker 1: your assignment or your And there are some places that
Speaker 1: you're going to purposely need to stay away from in
Speaker 1: the coming days, places in your mind and places in
Speaker 1: your imagination. There are places that you will need to
Speaker 1: stay away from on.
Speaker 2: Purpose in order to live in peace.
Speaker 1: And you've been under a pressure that did not come
Speaker 1: from God to live up to something that was not
Speaker 1: even originated in his heart. Today, I pray that the
Speaker 1: peace of God would be your portion as you enter
Speaker 1: this next season of your life, and that whatever you do,
Speaker 1: you would not do it for popularity or for praise,
Speaker 1: but that you would do it on purpose, That you
Speaker 1: would do it on purpose, with an intentionality like Jesus
Speaker 1: had as he set his face toward the future with
Speaker 1: destiny in his heart, praying, even under pressure in the
Speaker 1: garden of gethsemone, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
Speaker 1: May God give you this spirit of and determination to
Speaker 1: raise your family and to run your race, and to
Speaker 1: live your life, and to ignore the whispers to come
Speaker 1: out of unbelief. Stop trying to prove it. You don't
Speaker 1: have to prove it. It's already spoken. It's already settled,
Speaker 1: with heads bout and eyes closed. This is the moment
Speaker 1: of our service where we give you the opportunity to
Speaker 1: begin a relationship with God. If you are here today
Speaker 1: and you are far away from God, you don't have
Speaker 1: to leave that way, and you don't have to perform
Speaker 1: up to a standard. That's what they tried to do
Speaker 1: through the law, but nobody could keep it.
Speaker 2: There is none righteous, no not one.
Speaker 1: And you can make plans to change your life, and
Speaker 1: you can have better priorities, and you could try to
Speaker 1: be a better person, but none of it will get
Speaker 1: you there. It all comes down to the grace of God.
Speaker 1: It all comes down to believing and surrendering your life
Speaker 1: to Him.
Speaker 2: And I believe there are.
Speaker 1: A special few today, that God brought you here for
Speaker 1: this moment, for this moment, that He can make you
Speaker 1: his child, that He can give you a new beginning
Speaker 1: in your life, that you can begin to walk with Him,
Speaker 1: that you can give your life to Jesus Christ. And
Speaker 1: with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, we pray
Speaker 1: together as a church family, out loud on every campus
Speaker 1: for the benefit of those who are coming to God
Speaker 1: or coming back to God. The Bible says, if you
Speaker 1: confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord and believe in your
Speaker 1: heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 1: It is by grace. You are saved through faith. It
Speaker 1: is the gift of God, not of work. So no
Speaker 1: one can boast. It's not about what you can do.
Speaker 1: It's about what has already been done. He died for you,
Speaker 1: He rose for you. You can rise today. This can
Speaker 1: be your moment with head's bout and eyes closed. If
Speaker 1: you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, repeat
Speaker 1: this prayer after me. Church family pray along. Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 1: and the savior of the world. And today I make
Speaker 1: Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
Speaker 1: that I could be forgiven and rose again to give
Speaker 1: me life. I receive this new life. This is my
Speaker 1: new beginning. On the count of three. If you prayed
Speaker 1: that prayer, shuit your hand up high, one, two, three.
Speaker 2: I want to celebrate with you. Bless your gods, Bless him,
Speaker 2: bless him. I think we can celebrate better than that.
Speaker 2: Let's do it like a family. Let's do it like
Speaker 2: the angels.
Speaker 1: Let's throw a little party, a little birthday party.
Speaker 2: Come on, let's throw a little birthday party. Welcome to
Speaker 2: the Family of God. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry.
Speaker 2: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 1: or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 1: information and enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 2: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church.
Speaker 2: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.