God, can somebody tell me what series we are in?
Thank you, Judy. Thank you, Judy. We are in a series called Lowliness of Mind.
And I'm not kidding you. I've been praying ever since even before this series and now
being in this series, I'm praying and I'm asking, Holy Spirit, convince your people
of how important this is. Literally, convince your people how important this really is.
And I just want to give a quick overview and then we'll pray after I give the quick overview.
So the foundational scripture, there's much scripture that I've built around as I was
studying, as I was getting ready for this series. There was much scripture that I had,
but the foundational scripture to this series is found in Philippians chapter 2 starting at
verse 1, all the way to verse 11. And as the series go, I may literally, one of the Sundays,
I may just hang and go verse by verse. We'll see as the Lord leads because I got so much
notes for these series. But that's the foundational, we talked about this last Sunday,
that's the foundational scripture for these series. Last Sunday, I also answered the five
questions of the what, the why, the how, the where, the when, all these questions.
I felt like it was important for me to ask myself these questions and I wanted to ask
these questions with you and answer them for our house here. We also really touched
based on how lowliness of mind has to do more with the internal state
than the external state of a person. You guys remember that? To be lowly doesn't mean that
you're the most poor and poverty person, just because you're in that state does not make you
the lowly person. But a person that's of a lowly mind actually has to do with more of their
internal being, their inner man, their mind, what they think about, how they respond,
their heart posture, what their heart posture is towards on and so forth.
And I actually got a scripture here for you that I wanted to read last Sunday,
but I didn't get a chance to. It's in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16. It says,
Therefore do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man
is being renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment
is working for us a far more exceeding and more eternal weight of glory while we do not look at the
things which are seen but at the things which are uns that are not seen for the things which are
for the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The apostle Paul is saying listen your internal state is far more important than your external
state because from the dust we came from the dust we shall go back. That's what the
scriptures tell us. Here's another thing that I want to throw into the mix. On the external
people can look at you and say wow he or she is gifted look at the way that he's preaching
look at the way that she's singing look at the way that they're serving which is all good and I'm
sure to some extent it's true but here's the way that God looks at things. When you're not up
here and when you're not in the eyes of people in public when you're at home do you know
what God sees? He sees you internally. He sees your character which is within. God can care less
if you're wearing Gucci's or not wearing Gucci's. He don't care. God can care less if you're wearing
Goodwill or you're wearing Walmart. He doesn't care. What God is more concerned about and
actually what the apostle Paul is writing what is eternal is that which is within us.
It's my spirit man that is to inherit everlasting life. My flesh man is going to stay here
and with all the corruption of the earth. It's my inner man. Remember, Thessalonians,
we're made of three. I'm giving you a quick little... we're made of three. Paul writes
we are body, soul, and spirit. What is our body? It's simply a shell. I'm a shell.
What is my soul? It's my characteristic. It's my thinking. It's my heart posture. It's
all these things. And what is my spirit? That is the eternal man. That weather is doomed to
everlasting... or I'm sorry, not doomed. Ever is one that is to inherit everlasting life
or one that is doomed to hell. I bring this to you to really drill it in your mind.
Lowliness of mind has to do far more with your internal state than your exterior.
I'm telling you, you can have a huge house and you're probably... some of you probably
do have big houses. I don't know. I've never been at all of your houses. Some of you probably do
have mansions and you're probably thinking, well, I'm not lowly. Wrong. You can have a mansion
and be one of the lowliest people. I brought some examples up last Sunday. You still with me?
Lowliness of mind, I touched on this yesterday. And Sarah, can I have you come up here real
quick? Lowliness of mind precedes the outpouring. Acts 2, Joel 2. Okay. Remember
I told you? I said that before the great... you can come up. I know you're nervous. It's
before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there is a pattern that has to happen, the way that God
just works. And the way that he works, he has to have a people come to a place internally, a body,
a house, come to a place where they know, Lord, we are nothing without you. We have to be
lowly in our mind to be able to see the outpouring of the Spirit. Quick little nugget. We're
going to see many churches that think they're going to experience the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, and they're going to miss it. I shared this with a friend yesterday, so sorry, stay up
here. I'm just having you collect your thoughts. I shared this with a friend yesterday. I learned
this from a pastor that I esteem, and I love this man of God. He said momentum and the Holy
Spirit are two different things. And can I tell you the truth? A lot of the church rides in the
momentum, and we say it's the Holy Spirit. Momentum and the Holy Spirit are two different things.
I'm going to let you share. Before you share the date, share what the Lord spoke to you.
Prior to every outpouring or shift in the life of Jesus came an opportunity of lowliness.
obedient humility always precedes outpouring. The one with the greatest crowns in heaven
are the ones who forfeit the most crowns here. A lot of times the greatest tests are not
in the criticism they are in the compliments.
This the Lord spoke to me in January, January 26th. And he's been, I feel like this whole year,
even all the way back to December of last year, speaking to me about lowliness. And
when Igor said that, like I'm when he prays and he speaks, I am nothing without you, Lord.
And I've been saying this for a while because I truly am not nothing without him as a mom,
as a wife, as a friend, as a daughter, more and more. The deeper I go with Jesus,
the more I know that anything that's good in me comes from him. And it is an honor to be able
to serve him. And so he spoke to me something in July. And I really took it as something
personal for me because I have been in this journey to looking at myself, to be closer to him.
And as the worship was going, he wanted me to share part of it. So I will...
My phone, the port notebook,
he said that it is time to see eye to eye. You cannot fix what you don't know is broken.
All the process is to show us just that. Look and don't run. Healing is available.
You are not responsible for anybody else's healing. Take responsibility of what is yours.
Look inside. Give it to me. Every lie exposed, bitter roots removed, stones moved.
What I am doing is deep. It is necessary. Do not take offense. Choose not to. Or it will
blind you. I am for you. I want to heal you. And he kept saying that healing like you've
never experienced before, but it is a choice. You know, and one thing that he wanted me to share
as... because I really thought this was just very personal. A lot of times before,
as we sit through this series of lowliness, the message sometimes will remind us of somebody else
that should be listening to that message. But he said that, don't worry about somebody else's
journey. What I'm doing in their hearts, how deep I'm going in somebody else's hearts,
you don't know. We don't know. So is that for us to look at ourselves?
Otherwise, we will miss it. If you're worried about somebody else and they should listen to that
and they should change and I wish they would see it, we're going to miss the work he's
trying to do in us. And as we allow him to do it in ourselves, then it will just happen.
It will just... he's doing the work, not us. Yeah, that's to the Lord. That's to the Lord.
Miss Sally, can somebody help Miss Sally come up here? She doesn't even know what I'm about to do.
Miss Sally, come up here. I love to pray before I get into the actual message. I only
give you the overview. Miss Sally doesn't even know what I'm about to do. Help Miss Sally up here.
Hey, Tim, what's that thing you told me last Sunday? What is it?
Did you guys hear that? Let me say it again. So last Sunday, remember I was encouraging you
guys to have your physical Bibles? So Tim comes up to me after church and he goes,
you know, he goes, I have a saying. It's called you're out of uniform if you don't have your
Bible. I'm not being legalistic. I'm just encouraging you. I know that you can have
your Bible on your phone. I'm just encouraging you to get yourself one of these,
to get yourself one of these. And the older the better. And let it look like Sarah's notebook.
So this morning you came in and you told me, you said, if you need me for something, I'm
there. But the Lord has a sense of humor. He does. I love the Lord. I love his sense of humor.
Amen. Yeah. Last night, as I was with the Lord and he was talking to me, you know what he told me?
Because I love to pray before and I love to pray that God would cut us deep
in his word as we're going into it. The Lord told me, he said, I want you to have Sally
come up and pray before you begin to even speak the message.
I know. So can you pray for us that as we are to receive the seed today, the word,
that it would go deep into us? Can you do that? Yeah.
We come to you now, Father God, in Jesus' name, expecting, excited, looking forward to what you
have to say. Because you're going to speak words of life, words that are going to change us.
None of us will leave the same as we entered. Not a one. Not Igor. Not a one.
We will all be changed because we cannot be in your presence and change and not change.
You increase every time we decrease as we yield and submit and as we pour out our
elder master boxes on you, Lord, emptied ourselves, looking to you, Jesus, high priest,
author, and finisher of our faith, to see that we are filled, filled to overflowing,
that we might be a witness that we have as were the disciples. They recognize that they had been
with him, with you. We love you, Lord. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Thank you so much. Can somebody help Sally back if need be? You are doing wonderful.
See, in our culture, we were raised to be such gentlemen that we always helped our women. So
I'm talking to Ken, you know? Praise God. If you have your Bibles, open up to Luke 3 for me
real quick. Luke chapter 3 verse 2 to 6. So last Sunday I read the Greek definition of what
lowliness of mind is, and I'll read it again today, and you're probably going to hear me
read that throughout the series. Now, just giving you a heads up, we may go past 12 today,
but is this still good? Is the Lord still good? Praise God. The word lowliness in the
Greek, I'm going to butcher it, so just be patient with me. It's called tapinorus. That's what, that's
how the Greek translates it. And there's words that are like it that give definitions and descriptions
that complement it. And one of those words is actually tapinou is the way that I have it
written up, tapinou. See, I'm not Greek, so. But what that word means, that word that
complements the actual word lowliness of mind, it means to bring low, to make low, to make level
and reduce to a plane. Now, as I was reading that, that complimentary definition to what
lowliness of mind is, as I was reading the description and the definitions of it, I was
reminded of John the Baptist and what John the Baptist actually proclaimed when the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law of what they came to tell him, they said, who are you? They said,
are you the Messiah? He said, I'm not the Messiah. They said, are you a prophet? He said, I'm not
a prophet. They got so frustrated with him that they said, well, what are you then, man?
Tell us, because people are coming to you by the multitudes and you're baptizing them
in the river Jordan. What are you then? And John the Baptist says something that is so profound.
I've studied the life of John the Baptist and there's a lot of things that we're not going to
get into it now. Maybe one day we'll get into it. But there's something so profound
in the response of John the Baptist. Instead of him making a claim that, hey,
I'm the best friend of Jesus, I'm the guy that's baptizing people in water,
look how many people are coming to me. Listen, he was out somewhere far,
like in the desert. People had to leave the city to come to him.
And John the Baptist replies this, and we can read it here in John chapter 3, verse 2,
of verse 3. And he went to all the region around Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. Let me just go down there a little bit. And he actually quotes,
so verse 4, he actually quotes the prophet Isaiah. And he claims in another translation,
or not another translation, in another author of the Gospel writes that John said, I am a voice.
So here he reads, he says, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight. Let every valley be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low.
The crooked places shall be straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all the flesh shall see
the salvation of God. Do you see that the word that compliments them, the word tap I know,
it compliments the actual meaning of lowliness of mind. It's to make low, it's to make a plain,
it's to make straight. And to me it's profound that John the Baptist was literally the last,
let's call him a mile marker. He was the last mile marker that ushered Jesus Christ, listen carefully
to me, he ushered Jesus Christ to come as the sacrificial lamb. John the Baptist had the honor
to usher Jesus in unto the scene. For 30 years our Lord was hidden away. He was a carpenter,
building furniture, hanging out with family, doing things that we do,
eat, celebrate birthdays, go to weddings. Jesus did all these things. But now John the Baptist
has the honor to bring our Lord onto the scene and say something that to this day
it cuts me deep. He says, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Now that's an honor. Now that's an honor. And we need to pick something out of the life of
John the Baptist by that one response of John, not claiming I'm the prophet, not claiming I'm some
great teacher, not claiming I'm a pastor, not claiming I'm an evangelist. John the Baptist
says I'm a voice. Now that's low. Do you see the pattern of the people that God actually,
I'm not even going to say use because God doesn't want employees in the kingdom. God wants partners
in the kingdom. And we have a lot of churches that have become employees in the kingdom of God.
We always say, well God is wanting me to do this. And I get that phrase, but I've been
learning to change my language and say God has graciously chosen to partner with me.
There is a difference. I'm not saying that the phrase God is using me is bad, but I think that
there is a deeper meaning to things if we can change our language. If we can say God has
graciously chosen to partner with me to preach the gospel. God has graciously chosen me to
heal the sick. God has graciously chosen me and partnered with me to cast out demons.
There's a difference there. So John the Baptist, in his lowliness of state, it was internal. It
wasn't external. I mean, Reed studied the life of John. That man ain't locust and honey.
He was wearing, he didn't care. He didn't care what he was eating. He didn't care what he was
wearing. Now don't take that to the extreme and say, I'm going to go eat McDonald's because
John ate locust and McDonald's is as close as locust. No, it's not. It's worse. It's worse,
man. It's worse. But the point being is that John, like Matt was talking about today, John
was captivated by this man Jesus. And in his captivation, it caused him to be lowly. And
when, like Sarah was reading today, that most of our working is not in the trials and
tribulations. It's in the high points. It's when we're up here is where God is really looking at us,
is when everything is good. The money's good. The business is good. My family is healthy.
Everything is good. Nothing is wrong. I'm getting married. I'm having a baby.
All these things are good. And I'm not saying we shouldn't rejoice in those things,
but it's in the high places that I have learned in the ministry that people walk away from God.
It's when people are in their high spots is where they desert the Lord and they say,
we don't need him anymore. I got this. Look, I got it. I've made it. But did you really?
Did you really make it? So here, John the Baptist has these leaders. That's a high point.
Friends, I guarantee you, it's probably a high point because these rabbis, these leaders,
they weren't just people that were like, all right, let's hike out to the desert
where the Jordan is. Let's go out there out to the wilderness, not necessarily the desert,
but out to the wilderness. And let's go talk to this guy. They didn't do that every day.
So that in itself was high. And here, these leaders, they come to him.
There's a lot of examples we can get from John the Baptist. Here, these leaders,
they come to him. And this was John's so-called quote, unquote. It's your time to shine,
bro. Come on, man. Make a claim. Make a claim. You've done something. Look.
And they come to him and they say, who are you? Are you the Messiah? Can you imagine if somebody
came up to you and they thought you were the Messiah? What would that actually do in you?
I'm being real with you. What would that actually do in you?
They said, are you the Messiah? He said, no. He said, no, I'm not.
Are you the prophet then? Okay. No, let's go. Let's go a step lower. Are you a prophet then?
He says, no. He says, I'm not. What he says is, he says a statement that every time I read this,
I'm caught up in it. And I'm like, God, let this be in me. Let this be in me. That when people
come to me and they ask, I'm not here. Well, I'm a pastor of Word of Life, y'all. Check it.
But I can simply say, I am a voice. I'm a voice. I am one that God has graciously chosen to partner with,
to once again, listen to me, listen to me, to once again,
reestablish the message of the cross in the church. I didn't choose him. He chose me.
That's lowly. Now, here's the honor part I want to let you know again, kind of reverting back.
John had the honor to welcome Jesus to come as the Lamb of God. Do you know what we as his church
and his bride have the honor to do? As who? As king. You're right, Dobani. The Lord of lords.
The king, ah, you're not catching it. You're not catching it. I just feel like it just went
boop and it bounced off. We as a people, as a creation, have the honor, the privilege, the
opportunity to welcome Jesus to come as king, to usher the Lord, to come in on the cloud
with a heavenly host and forever defeat this wretched earth so that we would be caught up
with him in heaven forever. We have that honor. I said we, the church, not just this church,
the church, the bride of Christ, those that are desperately crying out, saying as revelations 22,
come Lord Jesus, the spirit and the bride, say come. That's our privilege. That's our opportunity
to be in the camp of people, to be in a generation of people that is ushering him through worship,
through song, through breaking of the alabaster jar, the exchange of love with our bridegroom,
what song of Solomon writes. We are love sick for you Lord. We're love sick. We're breaking
ourselves. And that type of heart posture, that type of church is a church that has the
privilege, the opportunity and the honor to have the Lord coming on the clouds.
The Lord once showed me an image years ago. He showed me an image. He took me back to
the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the donkey. And the Lord showed me something.
He used it as an example. He said, son, he said, you see the cloaks and the clothes
that were thrown on the road for the Lord to come in in a triumphal entry.
I said, yes, Lord. I said, I do see that. He said, son, those cloaks, those clothes are a
representation for the end time church of the songs of adoration of the oil that they're
going to pour out on my feet, which will have him come, have him come, but not on a donkey this
time. This time it's on a white horse because he's not coming as a lamb. He's not coming
as a lamb to be sacrificed. He's coming as a king to establish a kingdom that is forever
to ring. Our songs that we sing should not just be lyrics that we're repeating, empty.
That's not worship. Our songs that we sing, the things that we do in life, worship is far more
than just singing. Worship is our life. You want to know what true worship is? Read Romans 12,
verse one and two. That's true worship. I'm not even going to tell you what it says there.
You go look at it. That's true worship. And that is the type of worship that is represented as the
cloaks that are laid down. They're laid down and Jesus was entering on a donkey. Why? Because
he was a sacrificial lamb. But he says, son, now he says, as my people, as my as my bride,
as the spirit and the bride sing together in harmony, in unity. When they sing to me,
come, Lord, come, Lord. It's a song they're singing. That's a song they're singing in Revelation 22.
So the cloaks are songs and adoration and our affection and our love and our oil
that is being poured out and it's laying out. Think of it this way. It's laying out a road
for the Lord to now return for his bride. We have that honor and we have that privilege.
But I promise you, I promise you. If you are not lowly in mind, it will pass you by. I promise you that.
I promise you that if you choose to not look at yourself like Sarah was just talking about,
I promise you, if you choose to not, to not crucify this wretched flesh,
if you choose to not allow the Holy Spirit to conform you into the image of Christ,
I promise you, you will miss it.
God is not looking for people to be experts at preaching and teaching. God is not looking
at experts of worship. God is looking at people that are desperately crying out,
saying, I need you, God. I'm worthless. There's absolutely nothing good in me, Lord.
There is nothing good of me, my God. From the dust I came back to the dust I shall go.
You with me? Let me touch on that real quick. I touched on this last Sunday and I want to
elaborate a little bit more on what it means to actually say, Lord, I'm worthless.
Can I say something? A greater majority of Christians, I'll probably say even
over 95% of Christians, it's hard for them in their skull to think of this phrase, I'm worthless.
Because as soon as somebody says you're worthless, all of a sudden it arises past trauma. It arises
the things of the flesh in you and you begin to live a life of condemnation. Oh, my pastor
just said I'm worthless. Oh, man, I thought we're supposed to come to church and it's
supposed to be encouraging and it's supposed to be daisies and butterflies and all this. I thought
that's what church is. I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not that pastor that's going to pat you on the
back and say, hey, you're doing great. We're in reality, you're not doing great. You hired
the wrong guy. You can fire me if you want. Let me elaborate on worthlessness of being worthless
before the Lord. Because here's where the church over the decades has twisted it from the pulpit.
If we, if we can catch this part, if we can catch the fact that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
the Son of God, if we can catch this part right here, that this man Jesus found me worthy enough
to die for, that should be enough. No, no, no, listen to me, listen to me.
If we can understand that what the Lord has done for us, if we can let that
sear our hearts, if we can let that cut us deep, I promise you what people say about you won't
even matter. People will give you compliments and you'll receive the compliment. You say,
thank you, but it doesn't make a difference. It doesn't change your posture.
People will speak negatively about you. It won't change your posture.
Why? Because when I read my book, when I read the Bible and I read the Word of God,
I find in this book that the Lord counted me worthy enough to die for. That's enough for me.
Why have we come to a place in the church where the body and the blood of Jesus is not
enough anymore? Listen to me, follow me, follow me here. Why have we come to a place in the church
where the body, the broken body of Jesus and the precious blood of Jesus that was spilled for us,
how come it's become not enough for us anymore? We're always looking for, okay, somebody prophesy
over me. Somebody give me a word of knowledge. Somebody do something spontaneous. Do something,
you know, kaboom, kabam, whatever the case may be. Why can't the body and the blood be enough?
Why can't we look at the scriptures and see that a perfect lamb of God that was sinless,
he was God that chose to come down to earth? Why can't that be enough for us that this man
chose to die so that we could have life? Why can't that be enough for us?
We're always looking to fill the gaps in something. We're always looking for somebody
to give us a word of encouragement. And friends, all these things are good,
but what's happened in the church is they've been flipped. It's been flipped.
We have churches and pastors and leaders and mentors and other people
constantly staying on people's cases of you're worthy, you're worthy, but you're not.
You're not worthy if the Lord, if you do not realize that the Lord died for you.
We're nothing without him. What good is there in me?
Somebody told me they said, Igor, I love to listen to you preach. I said, do you know why?
Because it's the Lord. Trust me. I'm not that interesting. Trust me. Ask my wife. I'm not
that interesting. It's the Lord. It is literally the Lord. And if the Lord doesn't
show up here, you would not be sitting here past 12. I promise you. I promise you.
So if we can catch the revelation of my God, you died for me. Lord, you died for me.
You bled for me, Lord.
You would choose to be obedient onto death and even death on the cross.
Lord, you chose for me to leave the heavenly throne and to come down to this broken world,
to re-establish a relationship with me.
Lord, but I'm not even interesting. I'm boring, Lord. There's nothing good in me, Lord.
And he says, I know. But he says, I love you.
He says, I love you, and that's why I did what I did. Because I counted you worthy enough
to be my son and to be my daughter. That's why I bled on that cross.
That's why I allowed them to humiliate me. That's why I allowed them to mock me and
spit me just because I love you. That's it. It's not because you're good.
If we can catch that revelation, friends, if we can catch that revelation as a house,
as a house, if we can catch that revelation, I promise you, I promise you, not because I'm
promising, but because what God tells us when we catch that revelation, the things God will do
as we corporately gather, because when we're corporately gathering, we are no longer
focused on the horizontal, but we're focused on the vertical.
We're no longer coming. Now, please hear me correctly here. Please, just let me break this
down a little bit, because it is a fine line. It's good to come to church to receive support
and encouragement. It's good to come to church and be around people in community
and fellowship. All the things that you're thinking right now is like, oh,
maybe I shouldn't do that anymore. That's not what I'm saying. My goal is what I'm telling you
is that we as a church, when I say church, I'm talking about as a whole. We as a church
have flipped the two. We have put what Christ done for us on the back, and we're seeking approval
from man. That's the horizontal. Why do we hold ourselves back during worship? Why do we not
publicly break our elabaster jars before the feet of Jesus? Because we're horizontal. We're
horizontal. We hold it back because we're thinking, well, what if I don't have enough?
What if what I have is not as good as the person next to me? What if people look at me? Who cares
if they're looking at you? Who cares that they're looking at you? What if God is talking to you?
The Genesis one God is talking to you, and he's saying, I want to exchange today, today,
today I want to exchange this oil with you. Break and give everything so that I can fill you
afresh. What if we could be a church that's vertical and not horizontal? What if we could
be a church that would walk out the first and greatest commandment over the second?
Because what I've learned is when you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
and mind, it naturally happens to love others. You want an example, a biblical example? Look
what Mary did. What did Mary do at the feet of Jesus? She did something public. She fulfilled
the first and greatest commandment. That's why the Lord talked about Mary, and he says,
What this woman has done for me shall be spoken about for generations. For generations,
Mary comes, brings an alabaster jar of oil. She comes to the feet of Jesus. Now this is
public. She doesn't care who's there reclining. She breaks the oil. She anoints the feet of Jesus.
What is she doing? She's fulfilling the first and greatest commandment. And what did it do
without her even wanting to? It affected the horizontal. What did Judas say?
Why did she do that? That's expensive. It affected the horizontal. What she did
vertically affected the horizontal. So what if we come in on Sunday? What if we come in on whatever
day of the week, whether you're at home with your spouse, with your kids? What if you did the
vertical and let God, by the Holy Spirit, deal with the horizontal? What if that's the way that
we thought? What if that's the way that this house could be? Of where we're coming in and we don't
care who's preaching. Pastor Vern, Pastor Mary, Pastor Igor, Pastor Tanya. Who cares? We want Jesus.
And if they're not giving us Jesus from the pulpit, then remove them.
And I promise you our pastors give us Jesus. They're watching us online.
But what if we could be that type of house? That would be vertical.
See, that's lowly. You say, well, how is it lowly?
Because we're catching the revelation of he counted me worthy. That's lowly.
Because what culture, society, and church, everything that they're preaching,
and they're presenting, they're feeding a generation, friends. They're feeding a generation with this stuff.
And they're eating it up like sugar pie. They're eating it up. They're filling themselves. And
then in the reality of things, when something does not happen a person's way, all their
foundation that they built their faith on, well, they said I'm worthy. My pastor said I'm worthy.
That guy who prophesied said I'm worthy. But why do I feel this way when I'm alone?
Because your pastor, your leader, the person who's mentoring you and discipling you,
took one thing and made it more important than the other. If we can teach, if I as a pastor can
teach you, friends, you are worthless without Christ, and you need to catch the revelation
that Jesus counted you worthy. All I will be doing as a pastor is I'll be fanning the
flame. Yeah, he did die for you, man. He did bleed on the cross for you. He did all this for you.
I'll just fan the flame. I'm not removing my position of a pastor. I'm not.
What does a shepherd do? He herds the sheep. You're going a little bit this way. Just come
this way a little bit. Come on, come on. I'm not removing myself. I'm simply trying to drill
something in your mind and in your heart that you would be seared in this, that Jesus of Nazareth
counted you worthy to die for. And a death that was far more brutal than we can even imagine.
Can I share with you an encounter I had? Can I share with you an encounter I had?
Okay. You're still with me?
A few years ago, I want to say it was like maybe three, four years ago. Thank you, brother.
I need one of those napkins. Like one of those fiery preachers.
A few years ago, I was with the Lord. Now, mind this.
Three, four years ago, my wife and I, we were, it was more so me.
Well, my wife was there too. I'm not going to discredit her. She was there with me on this.
We were wrestling with the Lord for over two years. We were wrestling with the Lord
because God was calling us out of the church. We were pastoring, which is my father's church.
And I was, for two years, God was wrestling with me on this. And he kept on telling me,
son, I'm calling you out. I'm calling you out. And it was hard. It was difficult
because there are so many things that to this day are never the same.
And you'd ask me, do you regret it? Not at all. You know why?
Because Jesus showed me himself in greater ways.
These temporary trials and tribulations, the Apostle Paul writes, he says,
they do not compare with the glory. They don't. But for over two years, we were wrestling.
My biggest thing, and let me just give you, I'm getting real vulnerable with you here as a
pastor. My biggest thing was when I was in the ministry, my father brought me into the ministry.
And one of the key things that my father taught me, and to this day, I thank him for it. I thank
my father for this. He taught me character over giftings.
That's what my father taught me. He taught me character over giftings. You know, it's interesting
that we oftentimes preach 1 Corinthians 12 over Galatians 5 more often. Why do we do that?
Why can't we preach Galatians 5 that speaks about the fruit of the Spirit? Because what is that?
That's the characteristics and the attributes of the Holy Spirit. The gifts will come. Don't worry
about that. I'm not against the gifts. I'm all about the gifts. But to me, when I gauge somebody,
like a preacher or somebody, what I'm looking at is character. That's why I always encourage
people. And I say, you want to get to know me? Come, let's hang out. Come learn. If you want to see
Isiah, a man of integrity, come and spend time with me. My wife and I are open. So my father
taught me character over giftings. I thank him for that. He brought me into the ministry. Me
and my wife, Tanya, he brought us into the ministry. He ordained us into the ministry.
And being even just a PK kid, a pastor's kid for many years growing up, I saw the struggles of
ministry. I saw it. I saw people... I saw people backstab my father. I saw people accuse my father.
I was little, so I don't remember it. But I saw, and I've shared this before,
I've seen mafia hire his assistant pastor. I've told this story before. His assistant pastor back in
Ukraine hired mafia to take him out so that the assistant pastor could take his position.
In America, I saw, as my father planted the church here in America, I saw
my father raise up young men, young men and women in the ministry. And people that he
poured in and gave, he gave himself to these people because he saw the anointing of the Lord
and he wanted to, you know, sand down some of the rough edges, make sure that they were following
the straight and narrow path. I saw young people, some left, right, like rightly, because there
is a right way to leave a church. And I saw a lot of people leave very incorrectly.
You see, and behind the scenes as a kid, when you're seeing your father go through this
stuff, it's different. It's different. So when my time came, when the Lord was
wrestling with me for over two years, one of the hardest things for me
to be that person that was going to leave, I said, I don't want to, Lord. And this is all
part of the encounter that I had a few years ago. I said, Lord, I said, I don't want to.
I said, Lord, I've seen my father hurt far too many times. I don't want to do this. It's my dad.
I didn't even care really too much about what my mom thought. I cared about what my father
thought, though I love my mother. But I was concerned. I said, Father, what? I was talking
to the Lord. I said, Father, what is this going to do with the relationship with my dad?
I was worried about all these things that were horizontal. I was worried about all these
things. And one night, as I was with the Lord, at that time we lived in our new hope house.
We had a three story with a walkout basement home. And usually I spent my time with the Lord
in one of our lower levels. My wife was all the way upstairs in our bedroom. And as I was with
the Lord and I'm wrestling with God, I'm talking with him. I'm saying, Lord, I don't want to
do it. And the Lord spoke something to me that broke me. And even to this day, I cry
about it. He said, Son, He said, I've counted you worthy to die for. Would you count me worthy to follow
me? Broke me. It broke me. He said, I counted you worthy to die for. Would you count me worthy
to follow me? Would you do what the Scripture say? If you love your father and mother more
than me, you're not worthy of me. That's the Lord. It's not a pastor. That's what the Lord
writes. That's what the Lord says. He says, you're not worthy of me.
It broke me, but it forever changed me. Because in that level, when the Lord told
that to me, I literally, nobody even prayed for me. I fell flat to my face,
wept like a 12 year old girl that my wife heard me all the way upstairs in our bedroom.
It broke me. You see, if we can catch the revelation of Lord, you counted me worthy to die for.
If we can catch that, I promise you it'll change the gears in your brain and thinking about it
and life and Christianity in a whole other way. If we can allow the Holy Spirit to renew
our minds today. Leaving today, I encourage you to say, Holy Spirit, give me that revelation.
Spirit of revelation and truth, give me that revelation. There's a difference of me talking
and you hearing it and a whole other difference of it becoming revelation. And the word becomes in
you and you begin to actually live it out. There's a difference.
He met me. Why wouldn't he meet you? But see, what that did with me obeying the Lord
after over two years of wrestling with me, this vertical affected the horizontal.
You would ask me right now, how is your relationship with your father better than it
has been? Was it difficult for my parents? Of course it was difficult.
Was it difficult for my siblings? Of course it was difficult. Was it difficult for that house
down in St. Louis Park? Yes, it was difficult. But I was just down there earlier this year
speaking. They're a thriving church who loved the Lord. And the main thing when I was there,
I'm always looking for this when I go to houses of worship. When I was at my father's
church in June, I came there and guess who was there? The presence of God was there. That to me is,
okay, they're on the right track. So what if we caught the revelation? Lord,
I'm worthy enough. You've counted me worthy enough to die for.
Let me read the definition here of the word lowliness. Man, I'm going to have to tell
Pastor, I'm going to need a few more Sundays to get through this series.
This is what the Greek definition of it is.
This virtue, a fruit of the gospel exists. Let me pause there for a second.
You cannot... Can you give me another napkin, please?
You cannot have an internal state of lowliness of mind
if you don't read your Bible, the gospel. It's this word right here
that then produces a lowliness of mind.
It's this thing right here that causes us to make decisions
and change things in our life that end up producing the fruit of lowliness of mind.
The fruit, listen, a fruit, it refers to the lowliness as a fruit of the gospel exists
when a person, me and you, most genuinely... This is what Sarah was talking about today.
Okay? Listen, this is what Sarah is talking about today.
You wrote that in... Excuse me, you wrote that in January, right?
She came up to me last Sunday and she goes, I got to talk to you.
I was like, what is it? What is it? She goes, look, and she read me that and I said,
next Sunday you're preaching. And there she was. She gave her seven-minute sermon. Good job, Sarah.
That was your beginning. That was your beginning. Do you hear me? I said, that was your beginning.
Let me say that again. That was your beginning.
The virtue, a fruit of the gospel exists when a person through most genuine self-evaluation,
looking at themselves genuinely. You're not looking at, oh, their journey or his or her journey.
You're looking at yourself through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. Try to do that.
Because if you're going to look at yourself through your flesh, you're not going to be
going to be like, dude, wow. But let the Holy Spirit light you up so that you can see yourself
through his eyes. And sometimes even your own. They can do that sometimes.
Deems himself worthless. It involves evaluating ourselves as small because we are so.
The humble person is not stressing his sinfulness, but his creaturelessness of absolute dependence
on possessing nothing and of receiving all things through God. See, that's interesting.
That to me is interesting. And I'll get into this as the series go.
But lowliness of mind actually produces rest. I said lowliness of mind actually produces
rest for the soul, for the spirit, for the mind, for the heart.
That's what lowliness of mind is. It produces a rest that our world cannot give us.
Because according to what he says here, the definition of it is the humble person. In other
words, a lowly person. They're not stressing about their sinfulness. Oh, I'm such a sinner.
I sin here. I sin there. They're not worried about it. They already know that. They already
know that they're worthless. But they are looking at their creaturelessness, meaning that I am,
I have been created by somebody. Somebody made me. Somebody breathed life into me.
Somebody gave me a destiny. His name is God. His name is Jesus. So they're looking at him
with full dependence. Yes, I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. But I know that my God died
for me. Yes, I know that I have areas in my life that I have to work on, that I have to
die for. Yes, God is wrestling with me on it. But I know that my God died for me,
and he counted me worthy. That's a person that's lowly in mind. And when you're in this place,
when you're thinking about it here, you're actually resting because the Holy Spirit,
He will deal with all this stuff right here. He'll deal with the sin in your life. He'll
deal with this. He'll deal with the shortcomings. He'll deal with the drinking problem. He'll
deal with the smoking problem. He'll deal with your pornography addiction. He'll deal with
all these things. But what He's trying to get you to is to this place. God, I'm worthless.
I can defeat that without you, God. I'm worthless. I have struggles, Lord.
When we're here, He'll deal with that. He'll deal with the marriage. He'll deal with your kids.
Where He's trying to bring us to is to a place of lowliness of mind. This is as a house as individuals
and as corporate. He's trying to bring us to a state of where we're a church out in Princeton.
We're in the middle of nowhere, Lord. We're worthless, God. If you don't show up here,
God, we're worthless. I don't want to have church service without Him.
I don't want to have church service without God. I don't want to have church service without the
Holy Spirit. I don't want to do life without Him. I've been there. I've been there.
I've been in a place of where I've worked for things. Trying to see God. Can you notice me,
Lord? Do you see me, God? I want to be a house that's found lowly.
I want to be a house that's found and known for the message of the cross. And this is the
message of the cross. Did you know that tithing is the message of the cross? Did you know that?
You say how? If you really look at tithing, Pastor covered it. It's all about love.
Tithing is all about love. That's how it's part of the message of the cross.
The message of the cross is love. The message of the cross is death. The message of the cross
is our worthlessness and His worthiness. That's all the message of the cross. That's what the
Apostle Paul says. He says, I have known nothing among you, but Christ and Him crucified.
He didn't come with eloquent speech. He came preaching the gospel. The message of the cross.
I was telling a friend this week. I said, the message of the cross has become a back row seat
in many churches. We're coming in on here. Stick with me. The message of the cross has
become a back row seat now in churches. And what's on the front row. Now again, hear
me correctly here. We have pastors, preachers and leaders preaching morals.
And you say, well, that's not bad. It's not. But the message of the cross should always,
I said always, I said always be priority and first in churches.
Just do me a favor. Ask a pastor. Any pastor. You could be out somewhere. You could be talking
to a Christian. Ask any Christian. If you remove the message of the cross or if you remove
the cross, what do you have to your faith? Nothing. Ask any Christian that. And if they
give you a different answer, I don't know if they're even saved. Morals are good. Righteousness.
All this stuff is good. But it should never be in front of the message of the cross.
Should always be front row in our churches where we're preaching Christ and Him crucified. Always.