WEBVTT - The Pressure To Perform 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:07.120 Let's look at John chapter seven together. I feel God's 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:08.320 presence in this place. 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.280 Now. Even if I didn't feel it, I would know 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:13.040 that it was real. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.760 But it's good to feel it, and I feel God's 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:17.920 presence in this place. 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:20.200 Amen. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:29.480 John chapter seven is a very interesting scenario, or more accurately, 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.960 episode in the life of Jesus. And I think you 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.519 probably will say I never really heard a sermon on 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.159 that story before, and then you won't be able to 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:41.120 say that after today. 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:42.239 But it's a. 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:49.080 Really human moment in the life of Jesus, and it's 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.839 a great example to us today. So as we look 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.800 at this, we hope that we will see the example 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.240 of Jesus and how it applies. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:58.560 To our lives. 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.800 In John chapter seven, the Bible says after this, Jesus 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.120 went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.080 the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:13.319 when the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus's brother 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.520 said to him, you ought to leave here. How many know, 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.800 there's always somebody to tell you what you ought to do, always, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.679 and usually as people with your same last name, you 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:28.000 know you oughta well, you ought to leave here and 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.959 go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.480 miracles you do. No one who wants to become a 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.160 public figure action secret. Since you are doing these things 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.520 post them on Instagram. For even his own brothers did 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.959 not believe him, and therefore Jesus told them, the right 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:48.560 time for me has not yet come for you. Anytime 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:54.160 is right, salty Jesus. The world cannot hate you, but 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.600 it hates me because I testify that what it does 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.160 is evil. If you haven't had a head on collision 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.640 with the devil lately, it means you might be headed 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.840 in the same direction. That's what Pastor Mickey used to say. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.360 Of course, I'm in conflict. I am a contradiction of 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.000 the world's values, and so it's not easy for me 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.200 to live on this earth according to Kingdom principles. But 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.919 Jesus said, verse eight, you go to the feast. I'm 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.000 not going to control you, but you do what you 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.520 need to do. You go ahead and go. I am 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.040 not yet going up to this feast because for me, 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.440 the right time has not yet come. I wonder how 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.280 different our lives would be if we would learn the 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:38.840 power of those two words, not yet not yet. And 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.120 having said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.840 brothers had left for the feast, he went also, not publicly, 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:47.320 but in secret. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.960 Not publicly, but in secret. 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.639 Now at the feast, the Jews were watching for him 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.880 and asking where is that man the crowds. There was 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:05.480 widespread whispering, widespread whispering about him. 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.120 Some said he is a good man. Others replied, no, 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:11.480 he deceives the people. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.120 But no one would say anything publicly about him for 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:20.400 fear of the Jews. The key for this message today 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.560 is in verse ten. However, after his brothers had left 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.280 for the feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:31.680 And what I want to talk to you about today 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.840 is the pressure to perform, the pressure to perform. 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:37.600 And let's pray one more time. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.040 Spirit of God, I thank you for the accuracy with 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.960 which you register in the hearts and the minds of 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.360 people who are open. Give us this openness that we 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.920 may receive whatever you wish to speak, and we give 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:51.640 you praise. 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.320 In advance in Jesus name. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.760 Amen, would you touch somebody on your way to your 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:58.800 seat and say, I don't have to post it to prove. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:07.480 It's so great to. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.640 Have the opportunity now to apologize to my mom. For 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:18.880 my teenage years, I just didn't have an appreciation at 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.599 the time for the pressure of parenting. You really can't 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.120 until you are blessed with the same pressure of parental 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:34.440 responsibility for yourself, because like, really, my mom and dad 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:42.120 stretched their resources in order for me as a as 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:47.760 a I guess, like a spoiled, entitled brat of a 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:54.520 kid to not appreciate the sacrifices and really the pressure 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.240 that they were under to buy me those rebock pumps. 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.040 And since my dad was a barber and he started 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.359 out just five dollars a haircut six dollars, by the 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.839 time he quit cutting hair, he was up to thirteen 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:13.239 dollars a haircut, I believe. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.880 And my mom had been. 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:20.840 In education, teaching special education and then as an early interventionist, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:27.000 which wasn't exactly a high paying job, but they provided 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.000 for me so competently that I never really thought about 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.359 the pressure that it must have been to try to 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.240 make sure that I. 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.760 Never really felt their pressure. 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:46.200 I remember going to this telephone office, the Berkeley Telephone Company, 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.799 and my parents would clean the office at night after 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.520 they would get off their other job, and all I 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.919 could do was complain, and I thought that it was 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.440 child abuse that they made me empty the trash. But 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.080 I just didn't understand when she was making me run 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.520 the vacuum cleaner while she was cleaning the toilets on Saturday, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:13.600 just like I didn't appreciate the pressure, even emotionally. I 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.640 remember when my dad kind of quit coming home. I 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.360 didn't realize that the reason he was doing that was 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.080 because of not having a father example for himself when 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.520 I hit the teenage stage, he had no frame of 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:31.000 reference for how to deal with what he felt, and 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:31.599 I thought. 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.680 He was lazy, so he went to go drink with 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:34.279 my uncle. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.200 But it wasn't so much laziness, I now have come 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.080 to believe, as it was the fact that he was 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.160 under a weight that he hadn't felt like he had 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.880 been built for. And there is a sense in which 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.719 his pressure in his own life paralyzed him, like pressure 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.679 often can. When you find yourself in a situation where 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.200 you have not been exposed to that particular responsibility and 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.520 now you are responsible or something that you've never been 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:05.279 exposed to, it can create a lot of pressure, not 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.000 only on the financial side with with with kids, but 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.000 just emotionally and how by the time you come home 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.840 from work where you're providing materially, you don't have anything 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.200 left to give emotionally, and even if you do. There 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.640 was this dude that came up to me Friday night 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.680 at the baseball game and he just looked. He had 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:26.800 the look on his face like all parents get from 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.200 time to time, like if you shoot me, I'll give 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:31.880 you half the insurance money. It was just a parent look, 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:35.400 and you only know it if you've been there. But 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.200 I just said to him, kind of randomly, I said, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.000 you're such a good man, because I could tell he 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.120 was having one of those days and he was running 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:44.720 back and forth and it kind of stopped him in 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:45.119 his tracks. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.120 And he's like, really, I don't feel like a good 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.800 man today, you know. I was. I was. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:51.440 I was at work and then I left work at 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.200 four because I'm supposed to get off it for But 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.520 then the idiot who took my next shift, he didn't 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:57.080 show up in time for a shift. So who does 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.240 the manager call Not the person who didn't show up, 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:00.760 but me, because they know they can count on me. 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.880 Because the people we treat the worst are usually the 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.559 people that we know, we can count on the most, 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.840 and we expect the most out of them. But by 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:08.840 the time he had got off work, he was throwing 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.480 the ball with his daughter to get it ready for 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.360 the game. And by the time he finished throwing with 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.120 his daughter, he said, this is what he's telling me. 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.440 By the time I finished throwing my daughter, my manager 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.840 been blowing up my phone. Now my manager is mad 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.800 at me, and I'm walking in the house talking to 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.120 my manager who's yelling at me, and my wife's got 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.120 dinner ready, but I can't eat dinner because I'm talking 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.120 to my manager, and so my wife is mad because 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:28.880 the food is cold. But I can't help it that 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.800 the food is cold, because if I lose his job, 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.560 we're not going to have any food to cook. So 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:33.840 coal food is better. 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.079 Than no food. And all I'm matter on the baseball 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:37.280 team and I want to die. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.160 And funny thing is he doesn't come to the church. 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.000 He doesn't come to the church. He's only been one 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:43.680 time that I know of, And when he came that 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.920 one time, he told me it was a good sermon, 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.360 so I knew that he didn't have like a Christian vocabulary. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.480 The word that he put in there. But he didn't 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.880 know that I was preaching on pressure today. He didn't 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.120 know that he was giving me, he was helping me 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.760 that it's not just as a preacher, or it's not 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.560 just those of us who stand on a stage who 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.480 feel this pressure. Because it used to be enough if 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.080 you just provide for your kids. It used to be 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.440 enough if you just protect your kids. It used to 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.760 be enough if you would just prepare your kids. And 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.520 sometimes all of those things seem to be in conflict, 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.600 that while you want to protect your kids, you also 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.240 have to prepare your kids. And so sometimes I don't 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.400 know should I catch you or should I let you 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.200 fall a little bit so you don't fall a lot? 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:38.079 Should I? 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.480 Should I let you skin your knee now so that 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.480 you don't break your neck later? Should I let you 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.520 peter sink down into the water and let you sink 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.680 and not let you drown. Sometimes even Jesus, if you 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.200 read the scripture, he did not prevent the failure. He 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.559 allowed the failure so that the person could learn the 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.280 lesson and that would enable them later. Sometimes there's so 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:07.559 much pressure coming from so many different directions, and if 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.160 you stop to think about the life of Jesus. He 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:14.800 was he was under pressure from the Pharisees who wanted 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.320 to kill him because he threatened their political power, And 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.600 so they were watching everything that he did, and they 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:27.360 were watching him with very, very scrutinizing eyes, even to 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.720 the point that if he healed somebody, not only would 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.760 they watch him heal the person, but they would they 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.120 would find him healing on the wrong day, and if 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.080 he healed on the Sabbath, they would stand up and 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.680 accuse him for doing something good. How would you like 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.760 to get accused not only for doing the wrong thing, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.200 but for doing the right thing at the wrong time. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:51.199 This is Jesus. 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.680 He shows up and they follow him to see if 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.120 he's gonna wash his hands before he eats. How creepy 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.040 is it when you have people following you in the 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.080 bathroom to see One time I was at PF. Chanin's 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.160 and there was a man that was standing there watching me. 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:18.319 While I was and it was threatening to me. It 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:19.160 was threatening to me. 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.040 So I kind of looked at my fishes in the 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.720 bathroom and I washed my hands. I walked over to 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:25.960 him and he said, I was waiting to see if 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.320 you do wash your hands after you went I go 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:39.680 to your church. I'm like, bro, there's a lot of 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.800 other great churches I would like to tell you about 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:48.880 right now. But for Jesus, it was ceremonial. It wasn't 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.640 a hygienic thing. They were watching to see what he 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.280 breaked the law and not wash his hands. 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:54.719 They weren't worried about the. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.640 Fact that he was trying to eat with people that 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.880 they considered unclean, because he was righteousness and grace and truth. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.880 They were so focused on the cosmetics, and so everything 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.280 that he did was under scrutiny. Who he's talking with 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.920 a woman, Oh, he's touching a leper. He's not supposed 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.160 to act like that. He's not supposed to speak like that. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.920 And then sometimes for Jesus, he would perform a miracle 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.400 for the crowd, but they would miss the deeper meaning, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.679 which is what has just happened when we read on 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.440 chapter seven. Because he just fed five thousand men and 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:33.480 women and children, and he provided for their needs in 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.680 such a great way that they. 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:37.319 All ate and had their fill. 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.959 But after he filled them up physically, he turned to 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.319 fill them spiritually. And it turns out that they were 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.880 following him, not for the spiritual dynamics of who he was, 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.440 but for the physical benefits of what he could provide. 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.800 And when he began to speak at a deeper level, 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.800 the Bible says that many of them didn't want to 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:00.320 hear it. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.120 After he fed them the. 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.160 Bread, he turned around and said, now that you've had bread, 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.840 recognize that I am bread. The miracle that I just 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.960 performed was not about what I did. It was to 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.240 point to who I am. I am the bread of life, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.840 and if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.200 you can remain in me. Well, they didn't like that 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.600 very much. It's like he had the crowd and then 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.600 he lost them. He had the following, and then he 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.960 lost it. And the Bible says in John six sixty six, 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.440 sixty sixty six, I always remember that like it's a 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.760 bad number, sixty sixty six. I always remember it because 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.839 it said many then deserted him and followed him no more. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.760 Many then went away because this is a hard saying, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.199 and followed him no more. And as they're walking away, 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.959 Jesus turns to his disciples and says, do you want 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:52.800 to walk away too? 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.520 And Peter said, we don't have no options. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:57.760 I already gave my boat away for a little while, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.000 and I already put my investment you and I got 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.880 to see where this ends, even if it ends at 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.720 a cross. That's the context of John chapter seven. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:10.760 And it's one thing. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.520 To kind of have to deal with opposition from the devil. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.680 It's another thing to kind of have to deal with 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:19.920 it from inside your own house. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.680 And Jesus had seven siblings. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:30.520 Some traditions infer these are his human brothers, And whether 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.920 or not Jesus had any sisters, it's interesting to me 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.520 that it was his brothers who pulled him aside with 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.320 the strategy watch this for how to get his followers back. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.720 And they've got it all figured out, and they've got 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:50.840 it all calculated, and they say, Jesus, do more of 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.840 the stuff like where you're feeding people, and less of 0:14:55.880 --> 0:15:00.200 the cannibal stuff that you say in your speeches. Take 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:04.280 out the cannibalism. And why don't you go to Judea 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.680 because the Feast of Tabernacles is about to start and 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.120 you can come with us and you can do the 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.520 kinds of things that you've been doing here in Galilee, 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.040 which was in the northern part of Palestine, which was 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:21.680 not as densely populated as Jerusalem and Judea. You can 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:26.240 do publicly what you've been doing privately. You can take 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.840 this show on the road. We can get you a 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.200 headlining spot at the Coachella. Of the Old Testament, this 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.080 was the feast where they would come and build booths. 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.280 It was actually called the Festival of booths or tabernacles. 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.640 And they would build the booth when they got there, 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.120 and they would stay for a week, and they would 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.920 thank God for the water that he gave them, and 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.840 they would thank God for the sustenance that he gave them. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.320 They would remember in the wilderness how God saw his 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.520 people through even though they didn't have quail or grain. 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.040 But he made manna, which literally means what is it, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.520 and it means what it is? So God meets what 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.000 is it with what it is and it shows that 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.920 He can show up in any situation and take what 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.960 it is, and when He fills what it is with 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.640 who he is, it will become what you need it 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.880 to be for the season that you're in. 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.200 Two people recognize good preaching when. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:24.400 They hear it, and they say, come on and do 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.680 some of the flashy stuff that. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.280 You've been doing. Here in Nazareth and. 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:33.400 Take this show fifty five miles south to Judea. And 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.600 if you can do these public things in front of people, 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:41.200 you can become a public figure. In fact, that's the 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.520 phrase that drew me to the text. It said, no 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.720 one who wants to become a public. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.960 Figure acts in secret. 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.680 We live in a time where everybody wants to be 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.960 a public figure. We live in a time and please 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.640 don't get mad at me for saying this where even 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.960 people who have a private account spend their whole LIFs 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:11.760 posting stuff and commenting on stuff to create an image 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.240 and a projection of a reality that may bear no resemblance. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.680 The awkward golf collaps really help me. I appreciate that 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:24.200 to the reality of their situation. And Jesus's brothers pull 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.600 him aside and say, we've got a great idea. Why 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.480 don't you show the world who you really are. The 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.679 interesting thing about the text, and I'm gonna give this 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.800 to you quick, because the nexus of this text is 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.320 in verse five. It says that even Jesus' brothers did 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:47.520 not believe in him, and since they didn't believe, they 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:52.119 were trying to get him to perform any time you 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.600 have unbelief in your heart, it will cause you to 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.919 try to perform to prove something that you don't really believe. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:07.200 In psychological terms, it's called the fraudulence complex, or some 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.600 call it the impostor syndrome, and it speaks about how 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:18.080 many of us have an inability to internalize our strengths. 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:18.960 And our accomplishments. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.800 Psychologists call it the impostor syndrome because they say that 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.399 many of us secretly, deep down feel like we're a fraud. 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.240 Many of us, secretly, deep down feel like we have 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.359 so much less to offer than what people expect, and 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.800 that even when people compliment us, we figure that the 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.200 reason that they're complimenting us is because they don't really 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.320 see us for who we are. And if they ever 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.080 saw us for who we are, if they ever saw 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:54.280 how stupid we feel, if they ever saw how inexperienced 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.600 we feel, if they really saw how nervous. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.280 We really feel, they would kick us out thereat room. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:05.160 It happens to fathers, It happens to mothers, It happens to. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.680 Leaders, it happens to teenagers. It is the. 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.760 Fear of being found out to be less than they 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.960 thought you were. It is the fear that keeps you 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.600 in a performance mode. It is the fear that keeps 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.840 you spending money to look like something important, because deep 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.360 down you're afraid that you're really not. It is the 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.800 fear that keeps you overcompensating, and you get in situations 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:34.800 and rather than letting other people be the center of attention, 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.679 you feel the need to overcompensate to show how intelligent 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.000 you are because deep down you don't feel intelligent enough, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.159 so people think you're cocky. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:45.320 But you're really not cocky. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.160 You're scared with the conflict between who they think you're 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.199 supposed to be and who you feel like you really are. 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.200 It's called the imposter syndrome. 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.440 It means that sometimes, even as I'm trying to fulfill. 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.440 My purpose, I feel like a fake. 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.240 It's not that I'm a hypocrite, it's not that I'm insincere. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.880 It's just that, deep down inside, I'm a man who 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.280 sometimes feels like a little boy. I'm a preacher who 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.320 sometimes feels like a sinner. I want to be wise, 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.560 but sometimes I feel like a fool. And I'm wondering, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.000 is there anybody here who lately has been up under 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:33.440 the pressure of an expectation, and when you feel that, 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.359 the temptation and the tendency is to prove it. 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.440 I gotta prove I'm a good dad. I gotta prove 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.960 I'm a good mom. I gotta prove I'm a good preacher. 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.919 I gotta prove it. When you do it to prove it, 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:52.920 it takes the joy. 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:58.000 Out of it. See Jesus, Jesus didn't. 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.199 Mind performing miracles, he just wasn't going to do it 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:07.360 for the wrong motives. Jesus was going to Judea. He 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:08.679 just wasn't going. 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.080 To make a public spectacle out of his power. 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:17.040 Jesus was ultimately determined to show the world who he was, 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:29.200 but he wasn't going to do it for the gram. 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.639 I think the key thing that he says in the 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:38.760 text is not now, I'm going to Judea, which is 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.600 the region where he would ultimately give his life, but 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.879 not now. And it's such a weird world we live in, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:52.560 isn't it. I mean, I'm so scared for my kids. Honestly, 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.359 I don't even know what to tell him about growing 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:58.600 up in a time where we've always had the. 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:00.879 Pressure the performance. 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.160 Now everybody gets to experience performance anxiety. Because we all 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:10.560 perform our lives for one another all the time, just constantly. 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.960 I mean, if you if you cook a good meal 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.479 for your family, it does not count unless you make 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:24.320 an Instagram story out of the meal. This is a 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:29.400 very common thing to preach about. It is common because 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:34.760 it's killing us. Jesus said, if I go to Judea 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.159 for the wrong reasons, and if I show up with 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:42.000 the wrong motives, and if I live my life to 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:46.920 perform for others rather than to glorify my father, it'll 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:52.480 kill me. The religious leaders were waiting to literally kill Jesus. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:55.359 But I wonder, what are the things that are killing you? 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:01.439 It says that he purposely stayed away from Judea. What 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:05.800 do you need to purposely stay away from in this season. 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:06.760 Of your life? 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:10.760 What do you need to purposely stop thinking about in 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:13.359 this season of your life? Who do you need to 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:18.959