Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear and eyes to see the scriptures this morning.
I pray again and say, Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear and eyes to see the scriptures this morning.
I pray that our minds would be renewed this morning, Lord.
May our attention and our focus be elevated even more onto You, Lord, this morning.
Lord, I pray that You would bring to silence all things that may distract.
Bring to silence, Lord, all things that are burdensome to our minds.
Bring to silence the voices and the noise that we hear throughout the week, Lord.
Bring to silence, I'm asking You, Lord, in us.
Let the scriptures come alive in us this morning.
Let it cut us deep once again, Lord.
Holy Spirit, You convinced them.
Convinced them, Holy Spirit, as You have convinced me.
Yeah.
Amen.
Amen.
I want to do a quick overview from last Sunday.
And then I want to jump into what I believe I sense the Lord wanting to emphasize.
There's a few things, but I'm almost thinking one is more than the other.
But just a quick overview, because what I'm going to be talking about today actually comes from
what was spoken last Sunday and the emphasis that the Lord was making
last Sunday regarding what a lowly life is or to live of lowliness of mind.
And if you were here and if you were not here, maybe you watched online.
But one of the emphasis were to live a life of lowliness or to have lowliness of mind.
It starts and it is being tucked away with the Lord in private.
That's so important.
It's so important that we would live a life that is more tucked away with the Lord than it is in the public eye.
It's really easy to be a Christian on a Sunday.
I'm telling you, it's really easy to be a Christian on a Sunday.
You walk into a sanctuary like this.
You walk into a church like this where the presence of God manifests itself.
And you feed off the energy of other people, of other people's hunger.
You feed off the energy of the presence of the Lord.
So, Sunday we're ready to conquer the world.
And Monday rolls around, we're barely rolling out of our beds.
It's so important to live a life, especially in this series of lowliness of mind.
It is so important that we would live a life tucked away with the Lord.
So important.
And in Matthew, Jesus talks about, I read this last Sunday, I'm not going to read it right now.
But in Matthew 6, Jesus talks about storing treasures in heaven and out here on earth.
The treasures that we store for heaven are the things that will last not just here,
but the things that will actually be able to take with us to the new heaven,
the new earth, to eternity, the new age that the scriptures talk about.
There is things here that we, quote unquote, think are valuable.
And that when the day comes, when we're laying in our caskets,
we're going to realize that ain't that important.
Quick story, my father-in-law, who is with the Lord now.
Now hear me correctly here.
But my father-in-law, because he couldn't work because of a certain disability,
he had three heart surgeries, he had nine heart stenses, so he couldn't work physically.
So what he did to provide for his family, he actually began to collect and recycle aluminum and copper.
He would literally go to people's job sites, he would pick up old water heaters,
he would pick up different things, and he would pick them apart.
And if you walked in to my father-in-law's garage at that time,
you would see brown cub food paper bags.
And he would literally put the copper in this bag, aluminum in that bag.
He had everything organized down to the T.
And he always told me, he said, Igor, if you mix the two, you actually don't get as much as you can get.
So make sure, if you're taking it apart, you're taking it apart so you get the full price.
And here is something that hit me. It's good. That's awesome that he was providing for his family.
But here is something that hit me when my father-in-law passed away.
I remember walking into his garage after the funeral and everything, and I looked at all his stuff.
And I thought, man, that's good. But none of it he could take with him.
It was all left here. He couldn't take the copper, couldn't take the aluminum, couldn't even take the Benjamins with him.
They were all left here.
So a life tucked away with the Lord is actually a way that we store up treasure that will not rust.
Moth will not get to it, and we get to carry that which nobody else sees.
It's just me and you, God. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sunday.
It's just me and you, Lord. That's what I get to carry with me into eternity.
The revelation of who Jesus is, the revelation of the cross, the revelation of the blood, the revelation of the body,
the revelation of the crucifixion, the suffering, the raising from the dead, all these things that are actually the Lord,
we get to carry that with us into eternity.
Now that's treasure.
Now that's treasure.
Tanya, my wife, beautiful awesome wife, had this revelation from the Lord that her and I have been
walking in for some years now, and she shares this every so often.
But this is a few years ago where the Lord spoke to her.
Because let me, let me just take a quick step back.
We are so quick to step out and be noticed by people and start serving and ministering.
Okay, hear me correctly here. These are good things. These are good things.
We're so quick of wanting to be in the public eye.
We're so quick in wanting to do something to be noticed, to have notoriety, all these different things.
We're so quick of wanting a large church and all these things.
But there is something that the Lord spoke to Tanya when the Lord tucked us away.
When we were, when I was literally preaching three times a month to over two years,
I was preaching maybe once, twice a year.
From traveling to no more traveling.
And something the Lord spoke to Tanya that struck home
is that what if God wants to have you for himself
for as long as he can before he starts to share you with other people?
What if when the Lord actually, Tanya was talking about it today,
going into a wilderness season,
what if when the Lord wants to tuck you away and be with you alone,
he wants that to last as long as it can so that he just, it's just you and him.
It's just you and him. He doesn't have to share you with people.
And you'd say, well, give me a scriptural reference, Igor.
Look at Jesus.
For 30 years, for 30 years, Jesus was tucked away with the Father.
He was doing his, his typical stuff.
He was being a carpenter, building furniture,
doing whatever he was doing, hanging out with families, celebrating Thanksgiving,
doing all these holiday stuff that we do.
But yet, God wasn't sharing in with everybody else.
The Father tucked the son away for 30 years until he began to share him with the world.
So what if a life of loneliness, if we would change our mindset and think,
man, God, you want to be with me alone?
You don't want to share me with everybody else?
Because when you step into a realm of where God, not man,
where God begins to trust you to be on platforms, to preach, to teach, to serve,
when God begins to do that, listen, people will arrive at your doorstep
when you don't even want them to.
Trust me.
It sounds fun. It sounds exciting.
Well, Igor, look at all that popularity. Trust me, it is exhausting.
It is exhausting because to one person, you're a counselor.
To another person, you're a garbage can.
To the third person, you are somebody that you did something wrong in their life
so they're accusing you.
So what if a life of loneliness means that God wants to tuck you away
and he wants to be with you alone as long as he can be before he begins to share you with people?
Because there is. There is a due time of where God begins to actually unveil.
We see that in the life of Jesus.
We see that in the life of the apostles.
We see that in the life of John the Baptist.
You can't just stay there forever.
There is moments of where God begins to reveal you
and begins to share you with everybody else.
So what if some of you, I'm speaking to you today.
What if some of you can't wait to do a ministry that's in public where God's like, you're missing it.
I'm trying to hold you to myself as long as I can.
You're missing the point of what I'm doing here in your life.
I want to share you and I actually believe God will even delay the seasons in our lives.
God will delay things in our life.
He will.
The other thing, can you put up that slide of where all the scriptures are at please?
I'm trying to go through the overview quick here.
We spoke about the characteristics and the principles of lowliness.
And there's just a few scriptures and as you can see at the bottom there, I wrote and many more.
You can take a quick picture of that or you can find it, can they find it on the website?
Can they find that slide on the website?
You can find that slide on the website.
These are just some scriptures and many, many more that I could give you.
That talk about what does it mean to, or I'm sorry, that describe characteristics and principles of living a lowly life.
Go to the other slide that I put up please.
The Philippians 2.
The definition. I want you to read that.
As I read it from here, you guys can read it from there.
This is the Greek definition of lowliness, lowliness of mind.
This virtue, a fruit of the gospel, exists when a person through most genuine self-evaluation 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 of possessing nothing
and of receiving all things from God.
You can take a picture of that as well and read it.
Let that sear your hearts.
Let that definition and let Philippians 2 sear your hearts deep.
Before we get into today's part 4, I want to, I want to share some things.
Number one, I want us to understand.
I had a conversation with a few different people this week and I had a few different comments of the same things of
it's like the Lord by the Holy Spirit is convincing people just how serious this series is.
It's literally, it's like the Holy Spirit is dropping it in people's hearts and in their minds of listen, this is not just another series
that we should just walk away from and say, well that was good.
That was good that pastor read the definition.
That was good that pastor read Philippians 2.
Had some cool points, had some hashtag moments.
That was cool.
Made some posts out of it, made some shorts out of it.
That was great. What's the next thing?
I don't want us and I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would do this.
I don't want us to look at that as this series in this way.
Not because I'm preaching it, please. Not because I'm preaching it.
But because truly I believe this is an emphasis that God is trying to make in the body of Christ once again.
Because we've strayed so far from it.
We've sat on a mountaintop for so long thinking, thinking that God is pleased with it.
Because well, people are showing up at our church.
Look, our congregation went from 400 to 800.
Look at the giving. We look at all these things and we say, okay, God is pleased with it.
We're in reality, we as a church have sat on high mountaintops where the Lord is trying to bring us low.
The Lord is trying to renew our minds and things.
Give us a new and fresh perspective of literally how the victory is going to come in the end times.
At the lowest point, you're going to hear me say this in stress this.
At the lowest point of our church and as a church as a whole, when the world's going to say they're losing,
we're actually winning.
Is that not what happened on the cross?
Was not the victory won when Jesus died?
And the result of the victory was the exaltation and the resurrection.
Was it not the blood of Jesus that actually won the victory?
Was it not the broken body of Jesus that gave us salvation, that gave us an opportunity?
And the resurrection was the result of that victory, of that act that was performed in lowliness.
That's low to be God that then is incarnated, coming and allowing the creation that you created,
allowing that creation to crucify you.
I don't know about you, but that's low.
That is low.
You talk that into our society, they'll call you crazy and nuts these days.
It's literally against our society.
It's against what culture is pushing, feeding our children in schools, feeding our families, feeding even in churches.
This is no longer just outside the walls of the church.
It's actually bled in and creeped in within the body of Christ.
Why? Because it puts butts in the seats.
It has you building a building quicker.
But what if, truly what if, I'm just stirring your minds to something here.
I'm stirring your spirits to something here.
What if the Lord is really wanting us to go low, so that we would see the victory, so that no glory be given to no man?
I said so that no glory be given to no man.
I said that no glory be given to no man.
But you would see pastors and you would see leaders and you would see people in the body of Christ that would literally be on their knees weeping, saying, Lord, we're at ends meet.
We don't know the answers.
God, if you don't step in, we don't know what we're going to do.
We might end up closing the doors of our church.
What if that's where the victory is?
What if the victory is in our repentance?
What if the victory is when we're on our knees, face flat weeping, crying out to God, God, we don't know.
God, I don't know the answer to the problems of my people.
I don't know, Lord.
They're expecting of me as a pastor, God, but I don't know.
And if you don't step in, by your Holy Spirit, I don't know what's going to happen, Lord.
What if that's the victory?
I said, what if that's the victory?
What if the victory is when we're flat faced, weeping, and we actually admit that we actually admit that we don't have the answers?
What if that's the definition of lowliness, of mind?
Is realizing everything I have is because of the Lord.
Every answer I have, every resource and result I have, it's because of Him.
It's nothing to do with me.
What if that's the victory?
And what if that's where the Lord is trying to bring this church?
I'm going to tell you something here, and I'm going to hit home.
Some of you look at other churches, listen to me.
Some of you are looking at other churches in Princeton, and you are fighting in your mind.
Why are they growing, but we are not growing?
What's the problem, pastor?
Can I tell you the truth?
Are you ready for this?
There is very few that are actually hungry for the deep things of God.
That's why.
I said there is very little Christians that hunger for the deep things of God.
That's why.
I never want to be found as a pastor that's giving you a shallow message.
I want to preach in a way that you would be stirred in the cage of your inner man
and say, my God, I need Jesus to accomplish that.
There is very few Christians that actually hunger for the deep things of God.
Listen to me. Listen to me.
There is very few, and do you know why?
Because situations in their life have not come to a place of where they actually are suffering
and it's causing them to be face flat on the floor, at home, weeping and crying out and calling out to God.
Because life is too good in America.
Life is too good here. You need bread? Go to cup foods.
You need eggs? Ask the neighbor. He'll give you eggs. She'll give you eggs.
We have everything good here. We are so lavish by the things that we have.
We've been spoiled.
I said we've been spoiled by the things that are available and are accessible to us.
We have become our own gods. I'm telling you, we have become our own gods.
I had a conversation with somebody a while ago sitting over dinner with a couple.
And somebody asked me a question and I said, my God, I said, you're missing it.
This person told me, he said, listen. He said, you preach about a God that provides and gives and on and so forth.
But he said, why do I need a God if I can go and earn my own money?
He said, why do I need a God that if I want to go and buy a new car, I go and I do it.
I don't need God to do it. This is the speech that's coming out of Christians these days.
Some of them are consciously. Some of them are subconsciously.
Our dependence on God has been seared because our hearts have grown cold and callous because everything we want, we have access to it.
And if we don't have it, we pout, we cry, we stomp and eventually we get it.
I said, eventually we get it.
Can I tell you something? I can't wait.
I said, I can't wait for the day that people are going to be so hungry that we are going to have a line of people lined up just to get into church rather than coming late to a service.
I can't wait for the days that Benny Hinn, when his crusades would come, you would stand in line for hours.
And now society says, why would you do that? There's enough spots for you.
I can't wait. So when people come late and our ushers will say, hey, sorry, you're five minutes late. You got to go into the overflow.
I can't wait for that day. You didn't hear me. I said, I can't wait for that day.
You're saying, pastor, well, that's not right. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's right.
We have been so cold in our hearts and coming late to services.
We've been so cold in our hearts of the things of God because of the luxuries that surround us.
But what if a lowly life is a life that's hungry for the Lord?
And we're not satisfied with status quote. We're not satisfied with coming late.
There is one thing that my father taught me when I was under him and pastoring.
He taught me a lot of characteristics. And he said, son, he said, you have to remember.
And he said this for multiple reasons. He said, you have to remember as a pastor, you cannot be late to events.
He said, you can't. He said, you have to come early to events.
You know, some of you are sitting here and you're saying, well, Igor, I got children. It's hard to get my children.
Listen, I got three kids of my own. I've been in the ministry before my kids were even born.
Somehow Tanya and I have figured it out. I don't know how. It's the grace of God.
Maybe that means I'll go to bed earlier on Saturday and get my kids to bed earlier on Saturday.
Just so that I can make it here on time.
See, that's a lowly life. That's a life that's against the current.
Because now at churches, they tell you, hey, you can't make it. That's all right.
Just watch us online. Hashtags, scan the QR code, all this stuff. You're good. Just do it at home.
You want to hear a real truth? I was talking to some friends that are in the ministry.
They went to a very large church and when COVID happened, my friends that are ministers, a husband and a wife,
they said the amount of... So the church was probably close to, I don't know, 800 people.
Roughly, I don't know the exact numbers. I just know that it was above like 600.
When they went on, when they went to COVID and they had to shut churches down, they had to watch it online.
Do you know how many people actually were watching online? I want to say it was less than 200 people.
If even that. I'm sorry, I can't watch church online. It's difficult for me to watch church online.
Maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm the oddball. Open up your books to Matthew 20.
How many of you have brought your physical Bibles this morning? Praise God.
I'm not being legalistic. I'm stirring you to something.
By the way, I got a handkerchief today. Did you guys see that? You want to hear something wild while we're here?
So I said that last Sunday. I don't know who, but somebody put a little envelope there with some nice handkerchiefs in there.
And then I had Kim come up and she gave me a bag and there's like, here's some handkerchiefs for you.
And then my wife ordered these without me even asking her. So she's like, honey, you're sweating up there, bro.
Matthew 20, I want to stir you to something here that I can say with confidence.
I'm saying this with confidence. There is very few that are this what I'm about to talk about.
Matthew 20 verse 20. What I'm about to read. Let me give you a little bit of context to why I'm reading.
What I'm about to read. A life that is lowly or lowliness of mind to live a life of lowliness of mind actually brings you into a friendship with the Lord.
Let me say that again. A life that is lowly, lowliness of mind. If we live by this, it will actually naturally bring us into a friendship with the Lord.
Now let me say what I said earlier. There is very, very, I said very few Christians that are really friends of Jesus.
Out of a hundred people, maybe one. I said maybe one. And you're saying, Igor, well, how can you make such a statistic or such a statement like that?
Because I've learned in the scriptures what it means to be a friend of the Lord.
There is characteristics in a person that is a friend of the Lord. The way they act, the way they talk, the decisions they make in life, the priorities they have in life.
People oftentimes ask me this question. Well, they say, well, Igor, are you a friend of Jesus? I don't even make that claim.
I don't. You say, well, why not? Because I've learned from John the Baptist.
John the Baptist didn't even claim to be a friend of Jesus. He let Jesus say it.
So if I'm a friend of the Lord, I'm not going to sit here and tell you, hey, I'm a friend of Jesus. I'll let the Lord make that known if it really is in my life.
I'm going to let the Lord make known the relationship that I have with him in private, tucked away. He'll make it public.
What kind of friend will not show up when you invite them to an event?
Think about it. If they haven't been to your birthday for the last few years, I highly doubt they're your friend, man.
If they haven't been at any of your children's events, I highly doubt they're your friend, man.
If they weren't at your wedding, I highly doubt they were your friend, man.
So to live a life of lowliness actually naturally produces a friendship with Jesus that very, very few actually live and walk in.
I said very few. Listen to this. Matthew 20 starting at verse 20.
Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him, which is Jesus, with her sons.
This whole picture you can just, oh man, you can go different ways here, but let's stay focused.
Came to him with her son. So the mom comes with James and John kneeling down and asking something from him, from Jesus.
I know, right? Can you imagine mom bringing you? I'd be embarrassed if I was James and John, but that's all right.
All the momma's boys said amen. Somebody said amen. Don't say amen to that one, man.
Verse 21. And he said to her, this is Jesus now replying to the mother of James and John.
What do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other on your left in your kingdom.
So pause there for a second. I know. Just pause there for a second.
A lot of funny stuff is going on here. Momma's bringing two sons to Jesus and saying, hey, Lord Rabbi, can you just do me a favor?
Maybe even slip the $100 bill underneath? I don't know. And said, hey, can you make sure that both of my sons, James and John, you know them, Lord, come on.
They've walked with you. You know, John is your beloved, you know. Can you make sure that in the age to come, the kingdom is the age to come eternity?
Can you make sure that one sits at your right and the other sits at your left? Can you make sure of that? Do you know what that tells us?
That tells us what I said last Sunday, that there are certain proximities that we as Christians will have when we get to heaven.
There will be certain proximities and the closeness that we actually have to the throne of God.
Now, let me stir you to something even greater.
What if you would live a life starting today? I said starting today.
You would live a life of not just, I just want to make heaven. As long as I make heaven, I'm good.
What if you live the life of God? I'm not satisfied with just being a doorkeeper.
What if we live the life like that starting today?
What if we changed our mindset of, I just want to make heaven, to live a life of I have the opportunity to be in such close proximity to the throne room that I can literally behold all this stuff and be in the inner circle, so to say?
What if that's an opportunity we have?
And according to the scriptures, we do have it.
And according to the fact that you still have breath in your lungs, you still have the opportunity today.
If you're breathing today, if there's breath in your lungs, and as I'm looking at all of you, all of you are alive, because if you weren't, I'd be calling 911 right now.
Or we'd be praying for some raising from the dead.
But what if we could live a life starting today of, I don't just want to make heaven, I want to be in the closest proximity that I can be in the throne room so that God can entrust me to govern over cities, over places.
What if we could live a life starting today like that?
And you can, you sure can.
See, Christians are so, I just want to make heaven. That's so shallow. I'm sorry. That's so shallow. It's good that you made heaven.
But that's shallow. I want to swim in deeper waters.
I want to swim in deeper waters. I want to swim in waters where very few actually go.
But listen to me, there is a cost.
There is a cost to being a friend of Jesus.
To live a life that is lowly will cost you something.
It'll cost you something and it's not the Benjamins. It'll cost you your life.
That's why Jesus said, if you lose your life, you'll actually gain it.
It's the words of the Lord. He said, if you lose your life, if you choose to negligate and say, I'm saying, note of this flesh, flesh, you will not rule over me.
I'm going to let my spirit man rule and reign in this body.
If you could choose to do that starting from today, I promise you naturally you will begin to step into a relationship with the Lord like you've never before.
A year will go by. Two years will go by. A decade will go by and people will come up to you and they'll start asking you this question.
Are you a friend of Jesus? Why do you talk about Him the way that nobody else talks about Him?
Why do you describe the Lord like no one else describes Him?
You guys see Tanya, and you guys can only describe Tanya to the measure that you see her.
But me as her husband, I can describe her through and through. Why? Because I know her.
Because I spend time with her. Because I prioritize her over all else.
You're not going to see me prioritizing another woman and sitting at a coffee shop with her.
You won't see that. You will not see me prioritizing another woman over my own wife.
Why? Because she's dear to me. I love her.
I am ready to give and have given my life on to her as Christ says in Ephesians, or as Paul says in Ephesians 5, 25.
Husbands love your wives as Christ says love the church and give yourself on to her.
So a life of loneliness is something that will cost us yet at the same time it will produce a friendship with the Lord
that will bring us into a closer proximity with Him for eternity.
I said for eternity. This is forever and ever. This is not 70 years of your life.
This is not even 100 years of your life. This is forever and ever you get to be in such a nearness and closeness with God
that you would be like Moses and you would be at his face and he would be at your face and you would commune together.
That's what I'm talking about. We have that ability starting today.
If you didn't know that yet, you have now the knowledge that you have the ability today to begin to develop a relationship with the Lord that way.
And that is a lowly life. That is living a life of lowliness of mind.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Are you hearing what I'm saying? I'm trying to stir you to something here.
She says, let one of them sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.
But Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask.
I want to say something. I'm going to hold off for a second. Help me Lord.
Jesus says, you do not know what you ask.
Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
You see, Jesus answers the mother of Zebedees, the sons James and John. Jesus answers her and he says, hey woman.
I'm paraphrasing here. Or like Pastor Mary says, hey chick.
What you're asking for your sons is coming from a good heart position. I get it. You're a mother.
I don't know about you. I want the best for my kids.
But he says, you don't know what you're asking for.
We sometimes, not sometimes, I'll say most of the time, we don't know what we're asking for when we're asking things of God.
Show me your glory Lord. It sounds good, doesn't it? Why would we not want to see the glory?
Send me to the nations Lord. Let me do signs, miracles and wonders Lord.
And we ask these things and if you look at it, that's a good thing we're asking.
But Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking for. Do you know why?
Because we know what we're asking for, but we don't know the cost that actually produces it.
So it actually becomes empty words. Send me to the nations Lord. God's like, are you sure?
Are you sure you want to go to the nations? Do you know that if you go to a place where Christianity is not wanted, you can literally be beheaded?
Are you ready for that? But we ask for it. And so do so many other Christians.
We ask for things without weighing the cost of what is this really going to cost me.
And then when we don't get it, we say, well God doesn't hear my prayers.
No, my friend, it's not that God didn't hear your prayers. It's the fact that God was merciful unto you, not to give you that because you didn't know the cost of what it actually is.
That's the truth. It's actually the mercies of God when God doesn't even, doesn't sometimes answer our prayers because the things we ask for in prayer, we don't know the cost of what we're asking it for.
And it's the mercy of God that he's not answering that prayer.
I want a husband, Lord. Are you sure? Are you ready to die to yourself? Are you ready to submit under a man, take off your last name, take upon his name and live how the Bible talks about marriage to be and not how society portrays marriage to be?
Are you sure you're ready for that? Lord, we want kids. Are you sure you're ready to be entrusted by the Lord to raise children that would not burn in hell, but that would make the kingdom of heaven?
Are you sure you're ready for that? Lord, I want a promotion in my job. Are you sure you're ready to be accountable? Lord, I want to do more in the church. Are you sure you're ready? What is going to cost you your time?
These are all things that we ask for on a day to day basis, not realizing there is actually a cost to it. And when we don't get it, it's the mercy of God that we don't get it.
I said it's the mercy of God that we're not getting it.
Pastor, but God doesn't hear my prayers. Oh, he hears it, my friend. Oh, he hears your prayers. You're just not recognizing his mercy in your life.
She says, let him sit on my right hand and on my left hand. He says, you don't know what you're asking for. Are they able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink? Are they able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm about to be?
Do you know what Jesus is saying there? He's basically saying, hey, are you sure you want your sons to suffer the suffering that I'm about to suffer, which is the cup?
Jesus drank the cup of wrath. That's what the Bible tells us. Jesus, our Lord, drank the cup of wrath, the cup of suffering.
So, he's asking her. He says, hey, are you sure? We're talking about your beloved boys, James and John. Are you sure you want your boys, your mama's boys, your golden boys? Are you sure you want them to suffer the way I'm about to suffer?
You see, when she was asking, she wasn't realizing what she was asking for. She was just looking at, well, man, my boys James and John, they want to be sitting by Jesus up in heaven.
And yo, I get to go up to heaven and I get to be like, hey, it's your mama. She was looking at the result, which is good. It's good to look at the result, but we have to look at the process, the cost of what it's going to actually do to us to get there.
That's why you took me in Tanya over two years when God was calling us out of my father's church, a thriving, a vibrant church. It took me over two years because I literally sat day after day and I counted the cost of what my life would look like.
I looked at everything and I said, God, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it, Lord.
But if that means that if I do it by obedience because you're asking me and that's going to bring me into a relationship with you, I said with you that I'm willing to do it, God.
I'm willing to do it, Lord. If that means that you're going to show yourself to me in ways that you have not showed yourself before, it's worth it, Lord. I'm doing it.
I'll pay that cost. I'll pay it. And I'll go at it, Lord.
So he says, are you sure your sons are ready to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?
And then he says, are you sure your sons are able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm about to be?
Do you know what he was talking about? Talking about them being martyred.
The baptism of the Lord is being death. It's death and then raising.
What their mom was doing is she was literally signing off on the death certificate said, yep, Lord, you can kill him.
That's literally what she was doing.
Can I tell you something? This is about to rattle your brains.
We're all afraid that when the end times come, listen to me, listen to me.
We're afraid that when the end times come that many of us are going to be killed and beheaded and all this.
Can I give you a perspective? And this is scriptural according to what he's saying here, what the Lord is saying here.
Do you know that God the Father has to allow you to die for his name?
To be a martyr is something that is of a privilege.
And many of us are afraid to die. What if I could beheaded? It's a privilege.
It is a privilege. That's why you read Acts 14 and they talk about we endured. Give us more.
We want more. Why? Because they were after something more in the age to come.
They said, don't let us go. You torment us. I'm not leaving until you torment me. Behead me.
Because when I'm dead here, I want to be in a closer proximity with Jesus for eternity.
That's why you say, man, they were crazy. They were a radical bunch. Yes, they were.
Because they weren't living for this. They weren't living for this temporal.
They weren't living for this for 70 years, 100 years. They were living for eternity.
That's why Paul writes, he says, the sufferings of this temporary life do not do not equal to the glory that is to come.
See, what if we could live a lifestyle like that? What if we could live a lowly life that would look like that?
Some of you are saying, so you're telling me God has to allow me to die for his name. Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you.
Because when you get to heaven, by the way, if you actually revert back last year, October,
Pastor went through a series called a balanced Christian and he gave like a pyramid looking thing of different tears.
I love to use that pyramid and that example as the proximity of who's going to be to what measure closer to the throne room.
And at the top of the list, friends, at the top of the list, who we, I trust me, who we are going to see closest to heaven
and closest to the throne room are going to be those who were martyred for the name of Jesus.
That's why I said last message. I said when we get to heaven, we will be surprised who we actually see there
because they're going to be a whole bunch of no names. They're going to be people that we've never even seen at crusades or even heard of.
And we're going to get to heaven and we're going to say, who are you? And he's going to say, hey, I'm Bob.
I died at 22 because I preached the gospel in a place that nobody else wanted to preach and I actually got beheaded for the name of Christ.
We're going to say, I never heard about you. He said, that's all right. Jesus knew me though.
What if we could live a life like that? What if you could live a life so under the radar that nobody knows you?
That nobody... Honestly, you want the truth? You want the truth ready for this?
I love that God would tell me, hey, Igor, your time is done preaching. Just be with me alone. I would love that.
I would love that. I am simply obeying the call and the destiny on my life. That's all I'm doing.
This is not my reward. Listen to me. This is not my reward. This is not my reward.
Your eyes, your compliments, your attention is not my reward. My reward is tucked away when the Lord meets me and he tells me about himself.
That's my reward. That's what I get to take back with me for eternity.
I don't get to take this back for eternity. Will I answer for some of this? Most definitely I will.
But this is not my treasure. This is my obedience. This is me obeying what God is asking me to do.
I'm obeying the Lord by speaking, by preaching, by teaching, by ministering.
I'm doing what he's asking me to do. I'm running my vein. I'm running my lane.
But my reward is tucked away with the Lord where no one else sees and he meets me.
And he just met me last night and it was wonderful. It was wonderful.
It was wonderful to be in the presence of God and this gentleness of the Lord comes
and you know that you know that you know that he sees you and he's pleased with you.
That's my reward. That's where my reward is. And I've been in the... I've told you this last Sunday.
I've been in a place where I flip flopped the two. I thought this was my reward.
I thought the traveling was my reward. I thought the public ministry was my reward
until the Lord showed me he said, son, he said, you are more in love with the pulpit
and the eyes of people than you are being tucked away with me.
Oh, that cuts deep. Oh, that cuts deep. Because in my heart, I thought I was doing everything right.
But deep rooted in my heart was a love for this more than for this.
See, now that's a life of lowliness. That's a life of lowliness and being of a lowly mind.
You still with me? If we go past 12 today, are you okay with that? Listen to this.
So to be baptized with the baptism that he was, that's to die.
Then they said to him, this is now James and John, okay?
So this is no longer just his mother speaking because she brought them both.
She brought them over and she asks Jesus answers.
Now James and John not realizing what they're answering.
Look at what they said. And this is us. I can literally see Christians in this so often.
They said to him, we are able. We're able, Lord. We're able to do it.
Now I'm about to say something. I don't know this because you never shared this with me.
But I think what I'm about to say pastor hits home before you said yes to God to build that building.
You weighed that cost because you knew what it was going to cost you.
This is not just let's get a fancy building and go.
You knew the cost of what it would cost your life, pastor Mary's life.
You knew the effect of it. Am I right?
He said he'd prefer not to do it. Who at your age wants to do a building project?
Tell me.
I'm 32 years old and I'm stressing about building our house here.
And you're a little bit older, just a few years older.
And you're building a building that's 10 times the size of my house.
See, we're quick to say, yes, we're able, Lord. Yep. Come on. Let's do it.
When is the time? When is the time? God's like, listen, I ain't going to answer that.
And that's my mercy. I'm not answering that prayer and that's my mercy until I see that your heart is ready to receive the seed.
Are you ready to get married? I'm talking to you, man. Are you sure? Are you positive?
Are you ready to get married? I'm talking to some of the singles here. Are you guys ready to get married?
Count the cost, man. Write it down on a piece of paper. I even suggest writing positives and negatives.
And talk to Matt Ruth. He'll give you some good advice. I promise you. Or Matt Bergman or Brayden.
They'll give you some great advice. I'm talking to the young guys. Jot that down. Am I right, Matt?
Marriage is easy because your wife makes it easy.
And Sarah said, amen.
We got a newlywed couple sitting actually right there. Grayson and Katie are good friends. Is marriage easy?
He's shaking his head. No. Praise God. Dear, dear friends of us, dear, dear friends of ours, Katie and Grayson.
So here he continues. Or they answer and they say, we are able. Verse 23.
So he said to them, will you intend, will you indeed, you will, I'm sorry, I'm reading that wrong.
You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give.
But it is for those to whom it is prepared by my father.
So they signed up for something. Jesus is like, hey, cool.
Not many people are signing up for this. If you're willing to sign up, I'm putting your name down.
You are going to drink my cup. You are going to be baptized with my baptism.
But then he goes on further and he says, listen, as much as I love for you, John and James, to sit on my right hand and on my left hand, it's not for me to choose.
But it's for my father who has prepared those places beforehand.
You see, God the Father sees us a lot more than I think us Christians are sober too.
You want to hear something crazy? I'm going to talk to you about our culture a little bit.
Sam, you're going to get a good kick out of this, bro.
Talk to you about our culture a little bit.
We have brothers and sisters that are Christians that go to Slavic churches.
And in church, if you see them, some of them are even wearing suits and ties looking fly like no other.
These brothers will go to fishing trips and they will get drunk that they don't remember thinking God doesn't see them there.
It's almost like God veils his face. Oh, they're going fishing. I can't see them. Where are they?
Oh, where'd they go?
We have people in the church that will go to Mexico and get drunk off their head thinking, well, God doesn't see Mexico.
I mean, Trump built the wall, right? The wall is built. So God's like, ah, man, Trump, you built. It's too big, man.
I can't see over that. But that's our mentality. We think as soon as I leave those doors and that threshold, it's like God can't see you.
It's like, oh, where'd they go? See, the father actually sees the decisions that we make that nobody else sees.
So Jesus says, hey, I'm with you right now. And as much as I love for you to be at my right and on my left, it's not for me to decide.
It's for my father to decide.
My father actually rewards and gives the privilege for some to be murdered, for some to be friends, for some to be disciples, followers, believers.
These are all the traits, friends. These are all the traits. Some will make heaven and they'll be like David writes in the Psalms.
They'll be a doorkeeper in heaven. But David says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper than dwell in the tents of evil men.
Even if you make that, praise the Lord, but I am the kind of pastor that I'm going to stir you to something greater.
Not only do I desire to see you make heaven, I said, not only do I desire for you to make heaven, I desire you to be in the closest proximity that you would choose to be in the age to come.
That's my desire. That's why you'll see me preach messages like this.
Actually, you'll probably never see me preach a shallow message. You know why? Because I have a conviction that falls on me when I'm preaching a shallow message.
I have a conviction of the Lord that will not allow me to preach a shallow message.
Let me give you an example. I did a wedding a few years ago. Dear, dear friends of ours, my wife and I, dear, dear friends of ours, they're older than us.
And their kids are all at that age where they're getting married.
I want you to know, more than 80% of the people at this wedding, there was maybe like 200 people, more than 80% of these people that were at this wedding were not believers.
They were not Christian, though they thought they were. Some of them were just straight-up heathens. I'm just going to straight-up tell you.
Straight-up heathens. I had somebody come up to me and talk to me about gambling.
I said, bro, where's like... he's like, hey, so do you gamble? I said, brother, I'm a pastor.
Where's your ability to even talk about something? Like, where's your reverence to even... I'm not talking about me, but the call of the Lord.
That's a side note, but that doesn't matter. So anywho, we're at this wedding.
80% of the people there are unbelievers. The wedding is outside at a park that you see the LGBTQ community.
You see all these people with pride flags, all this stuff. And I'm sitting there, up front, before the wedding begins.
And I'm thinking, my God. I'm thinking, my God, how am I about to do this wedding?
Because if any of you have heard the how I do weddings, it's just like this. I'm preaching.
And I'm sweating up there when I'm doing weddings. I'm like, yo, you... yeah.
And I'm sitting there and I said, Lord.
I said, what I'm going to say doesn't even matter, God. They're unbelievers. They're not even going to receive it, Lord.
They're going to look at me and they're going to say, who is this young dude thinking that he's that?
And, you know, all these things are running through and I'm wrestling inside.
I'm like, Lord, we're outside and people obviously see a wedding set up, so what do people do that are uninvited to an outside wedding?
And they stop and all of a sudden your congregation went from 200 to 250 people. 50 are uninvited.
And I'm sitting there and I'm going, Lord. I said, I don't want to. I'm just going to give a quick, short 10 minute kiss the bride. Let's go with it.
The Spirit of God came and he said, son, he said, it's not up for you to decide what you're going to say or not say.
He said, what if this is their only opportunity to hear what they need to hear?
What if you holding back? This is what I heard so clearly and it cut me deep.
The Lord said, what if what you're holding back is actually robbing them of an opportunity?
And I sat there and I closed my eyes and I said, my God, then you got to help me.
I said, you got to help me.
You still with me? Is this still good?
Verse 24. So the father sees us. That's the earlier voice.
The father sees us and the father determines where we are to be in the age to come.
Now listen to this. Jesus saying that then, okay?
Jesus then gives us something that literally is lowliness of mind.
And I believe the Lord said the first statement where he said, hey, listen, it's not for me to decide.
But it's almost like the Lord was like, but hey, if you live this way,
he didn't say that you're going to be there, but he's almost giving like a little nugget.
Like, hey, listen, my father sees.
So if you live this type of lifestyle, my father will see it and he will reward you for it.
So watch this. Listen to what Jesus says here.
Verse 24. And when the, and when the 10 heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
So quick thing, a fight broke out basically like an argument like, dude, you guys serious?
You had your mom. Wow. You wouldn't told your mom type of thing.
I can imagine that, but any who, we're not, we're not going to sit on that one there for a bit.
But Jesus called them to all of them, all 12 of them, called them to himself and said,
you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.
And those who are great exercise authority over them.
Yet it shall not be so among you.
So he's saying, listen, people, the Gentiles, in other words, heathens, in other words, sinners,
in other words, people in the world, in other words, certain pastors and leaders in the church are bringing this to more modern day.
They exercise their authority in a way like the Pharisees did.
They command you to carry burdens that they themselves are not carrying.
They're telling you to live a life that they themselves are not living.
You have to pray, but then you ask, did you know, by the way, this is a statistic that came out.
The average pastor spends no more than 15 minutes a day in prayer.
You don't believe me? Look it up.
An average pastor spends 15 minutes a day in prayer.
My question is, how do you survive, brother?
How do you literally survive?
So he compares the two and then verse 26, Jesus says, yet it shall not be among you.
Speaking to the disciples, speaking to born again spirit filled Christians.
He's saying, this cannot be among you.
You can't live a life in loftiness and live a life of, I demand what I say goes.
Living a life of, I tell you what to do.
Living a life of pride and arrogance and notoriety and recognition.
He's saying, you can't live a life like that.
He says, you can't.
If you're my disciple, you can't live a life.
If you're my follower, you can't live a life.
He gives that comparison to us.
The Lord gives us that comparison.
So then he says this, whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
My God.
I said, my God, that is against the culture, Lord.
That is against our culture.
Our culture is, you're greater over somebody if you're lording over them.
Rather than stooping down and saying, brother, I'm going to wash your feet.
The Lord is saying, listen, if you're going to be my disciple.
If you're going to be somebody that's going to put the hashtag, I'm a Christian on you.
You can't live like that.
You can't live a lofty life.
You can't live a life after popularity and notoriety and all this stuff.
Yet you have to, or the opposite is you have to live a life of lowliness.
You got to go low and you got to serve.
Do you know what serving is?
Serving is something that is very, very, very inconvenient for us.
Some of you are like, well, no, I love to do what I do, pastor.
I love to, you know, set up some flowers and, you know, set some decorations out.
I love to be in the audio and visual.
I love to do that Lord.
Yes, because it's convenient for you and you are serving, but true servanthood.
Listen, true servanthood and lowliness is actually inconvenience to this flesh.
When you're going to bed and you get a phone call of somebody who actually has an emergency
and you're like, my God, I just want to be with my wife.
I just want to go to bed, but you have to serve.
It's inconvenient.
You know what else is inconvenient?
Is when there's a big event happening and hundreds and hundreds of people are flooding there
and the Lord says, yeah, but I want you to be alone with me.
But God, but I want you to be with me.
I know a pastor that I esteem highly.
I do esteem this man of God.
I've shared the story before.
He has turned down events that were mega events.
I'm talking about thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people were at these events.
Can you imagine the notoriety and the popularity and the recognition that you would receive?
And this man respectfully behind closed doors, respectfully declined these events
because the Lord asked him be with me.
Serve me.
What if to go low means to serve the Lord before we serve anybody else?
What if that's lowliness of mind?
So Jesus says, among you, my brethren, those that are disciples and followers and Christians.
He said, listen, you cannot live a life of high recognition and loftiness and all this stuff.
You have to serve.
He says, you want to be great in the kingdom?
He's talking about the age to come.
See, he's giving them a nugget.
He's giving them something.
He's giving a revelation for them to catch.
He says, it's not for me to decide, but for my father.
But if, but if you do this, my father will see it.
My father will see how you've been inconvenienced in your flesh,
simply to be with me and to minister on to me, to tend to my wounds,
to be my friend when no one else wanted to be my friend.
See, that's a lowly life.
See, that's living a life of lowliness.
Now listen to this.
Verse 27, and whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.
Let him be your slave.
Do you know what that tells me as a pastor?
I have to be your slave.
See, somebody agreed.
You're like, well pastor, that's a radical statement.
But if I want to be great in the kingdom of God,
I have to first and foremost, listen to me.
First and foremost, I have to be a slave of Christ.
Just like Paul said.
He said, I'm a bond servant of the Lord.
Do you know what it means to be a bond servant?
That means that you chose to remain a slave, to stay a slave.
Somebody who's just a slave is you've been bought.
They just bought you and they have all the right to you.
But when being a bond servant or a bond slave is you're saying,
okay, I've done my time.
I've recognized that you've paid a price for me.
And you're saying that I have free will,
but I am choosing to stay.
See, is that not what the Lord did to us?
Does not the scripture say that we've been purchased at a price?
The Lord paid for our freedom.
For us to have free will.
This is what amazes me about the Lord.
He can have anything he wants.
He wanted a son. Boom.
He said, let there be light. There was a son.
He wanted to have stars. Boom. He had stars.
He wanted to have vegetation and animals. Boom.
He spoke it. He had it.
There is nothing that God cannot have except,
listen, except your heart.
Did you know that?
Do you see the power that we actually possess?
We actually have power within us to determine
will our life be in heaven?
Or will our life be in hell?
Now that's a power that a lot of people don't realize.
You want to talk about walking in power?
Right there. A power of choice.
A power of submission. A power of surrender.
What are you surrendering to?
What are you submitting to?
What are you giving yourself on to?
That's a power that we as believers,
and not even just believers, as humans have.
I said that Genesis 1 God can have anything he wants.
Accept your heart.
Because he says, hey, I've paid the price.
Boom. On shackles, you're gone.
You choose. You choose this day whom you will serve.
Ask for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
I said you choose this day whom you will serve.
Ask for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
Husbands, if you're a husband in this place,
raise your hand high.
Raise your hand high. Husbands, men,
men raise your hands high. Listen, listen to me.
It is the decisions and the choices you can put them down.
I don't want your hand to go numb.
It is the decisions and the choices that you make
that will trickle down and affect your wife and your children.
Stop waiting for your wife to pray more
and to read the word more.
Stop waiting for your children to seek the Lord more.
You start it. You start seeking the Lord.
You start praying. You start reading.
You start going hard after God.
And you will see, I promise you,
you will see how it will trickle down
and it will actually affect your wife,
your children, and the generations after you.
I am a result of it.
I am a result of a man who stood before God
and sought his face.
He is a result of a man that stood his post
and sought the Lord and even before that.
Man, I'm telling you, you got to go hard after God.
Stop waiting for your wife to be a part of a Bible study.
You start a Bible study.
Stop waiting for your wife to be part of the worship team.
You be part of the worship team.
Stop waiting for your wife to share her dreams and visions.
Ask the Lord. Give me dreams.
Give me visions, my God.
Stop sitting on the back pew as a husband
and get up front and say,
God, I don't know how I'm going to do it,
but I'm going to lead this family.
Because it was Joshua.
It wasn't Joshua's wife,
but it was Joshua that made that claim.
He said, that's for me and my house.
He said, that's for me and my house.
We will serve the Lord.
We will go low when no one else wants to go low.
We will do communion with the kids
when no one else is doing communion with the kids.
We will do things that nobody else is doing
because I've decided to serve the Lord.
And what does it mean to serve Him?
It's to be inconvenienced in your flesh.
It's to go low and choose Him.
That's what it means to serve the Lord.
I said, that's what it means to serve the Lord.
We think serving Him is right here.
No friends.
Serving the Lord is right here.
It's ministering on to Him.
It's choosing Him and allowing this right here,
that vertical life, to affect the horizontal.
It's this right here that will affect this.
Friends, if I'm not doing this,
you're not going to see the effect.
You're going to leave Sunday's dry.
Your prized dairy cow will hear my sermon
and the milk will dry out.
I'm telling you!
Ain't that right, Kevin?
I'm telling you guys.
Men, you got to get back up on your post.
I'm telling you, men, you got to get back up.
Men, you got to arise.
You got to arise.
You got to make some decisions in your family.
And women, if you're sitting here and you're saying,
well, Igor, I don't have a husband,
or maybe my husband's an unbeliever,
women, you keep praying for that man.
You keep praying for that man.
You stand in intercession for that man,
and you make declarations and you say,
God, I want to see my husband,
or I want to see my future husband
as a man that's first and foremost after your heart.
That he provides for your needs first, God,
before he provides for mine.
You keep praying.
You keep standing in faith,
because God loves a persistent person.
Persistence moves the heart of God.
Listen, listen.
Persistence moves the heart of God
in a supernatural way.
It moves his heart.
He was moved by a Gentile woman.
She said, even the dogs get the crumbs off the table.
The Lord said, wow, such faith,
such faith, such faith I have not seen.
So women, you keep praying
and you stand in persistence saying,
Lord, if he still has breath in his lungs,
I'm going to keep praying
because you ain't done with him yet.
Lord, he still has breath.
That tells me that you're still working in his heart.
Maybe some of you are sitting here
and you have an unbelieving spouse,
friends, if they're breathing today,
God is still working with them.
And he's working by showing his mercy
because if he wasn't merciful,
he would have killed them already.
You got to stand in faith.
You got to stand in persistence.
That is lowly.
That is lowly.
Are you catching what I'm saying today?
Let me go a little bit longer here.
And whoever desires to be first among you,
let him be your slave.
Verse 28,
just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give his life a ransom for many.
Jesus is saying, listen,
he's prophesying about why he even came to earth.
He's saying, just as the Son of Man,
me, God, the Son of God,
I am a result of what the Father will do
if you live a lowly life
and if you live serving and being a slave.
What did Jesus receive in heaven?
Can somebody tell me?
The Bible says, the Bible says
that he has the highest name in heaven.
The Bible says that Jesus is the attraction of heaven.
The Bible says that he sits at the right hand of the Father.
The Bible says that he is the king of kings
and the Lord of lords.
The Bible says that he is the bright morning star.
He is the glory in heaven.
It's Jesus.
It's the light of Christ
that actually gives light to heaven.
Do you see what a lowly life produces?
Do you see what it produces?
The Lord was an example for us.
That's why he said, it's not for me to decide.
It's not for me to decide.
It's for the Father to decide.
But if you can live a life,
that's what he's saying in the next few verses,
but if you can live a life that is lowly
and that is serving and that is a slave,
the result of that,
if you can live a life given a ransom
first to God and then to people,
if you can do that,
he says, great is your reward in heaven.
I said, great is your reward in heaven.
So what if we could leave this morning?
What if we could leave this morning
thinking otherwise?
Brian, can I get you on the keys, please?
What if we could leave this morning thinking otherwise?
Thinking, man, I don't have to just fight
why I made heaven.
Okay, that's bucket list done,
did that this summer. What's next?
What if we could live a life of not just,
I just want to make heaven,
but what if we could live a life of
I'm not satisfied with just being a doorkeeper?
What if we could live a life of
I'm not just satisfied to be a follower?
What if we could live a life of
I'm not just satisfied to be a disciple?
What if we could live a life
I'm not just satisfied of being a friend of Jesus?
Lord, if it is your ability to privilege me
to be martyred for your name than God, I want it.
But before you begin to pray that
and ask that, you better count the cost.
What if we could leave this morning
thinking a little bit deeper,
allowing our minds to be renewed
and look past all the shallow things?
Can you bring up the keys, please?
What if we could leave this morning
and stop looking at the shallow things?
What if we could leave this morning
and saying, God,
you actually want to meet with me?
You actually want to meet with me by myself, Lord?
Do you know what I struggled with
in the early days of my walk with the Lord
when I just began to learn
about the secret place?
For years I struggled with this.
I'd go into my secret place to be with the Lord.
I was trying to learn to live a life
tucked away with the Lord, to live a life that's lowly.
I was trying to learn it.
And do you know what happened in my early days
when I was learning that?
I used to walk out of that prayer room
more frustrated than I came in.
Because I'd walk in there
not realizing that I was actually performing
to capture the attention of God.
I was thinking, if I go in here
and if I pray hard, if I sing loud,
if I do all these things
that we say, well, if you do this
then God will see you.
Not realizing that I was
walking in self-righteousness
trying to get the attention of God
where all he was asking me
is he said, just go and be with me.
Just sit with me.
You don't have to say nothing.
But the fact that I saw
that you stood up from the couch
you turned off the TV
and you went to your room
you closed the door
you sat on your bed
the fact that I saw you do that
oh I love that
you're choosing me in that.
For years I used to struggle
I'd go in there
I'd come out and I was more frustrated
you don't want to meet me
this is bunch of bologna
you don't want to meet me Lord
I'm not good enough to be met by you
I'm not like this preacher
I'm not like that preacher
what God is saying you're missing the point
just choose me
just choose me over everything else
and just be with me
and I've learned
that when I go in there
without expectation
I'm not expecting the Lord to come in a certain way
I'm not expecting a supernatural encounter
can I be honest with you
if I was to weigh on a scale
You know, how many times the Lord actually comes in an extravagant and supernatural way, and when the Lord comes with just simplicity, it's like, you know that you know that you know He's there, but nothing really supernatural is occurring.
If I was to put those two things on a scale for you, the supernatural or I'm sorry, the more simple times would outweigh the supernatural.
People always make it seem like, okay, when you're tucked away with God, something supernatural has to happen.
An angel has to visit you. A demon has to come and you're casting the devil out, or God shows up and shows his face in a certain way.
I've learned that those moments are so special to God that He doesn't do them as often because He's bringing us somewhere.
He needs to be able to see, can I trust you?
Because do you remember last Sunday I said, there is things that God has met me with alone that He's sharing just with me.
He's sharing His heart with me. It's not even for me to share with you. It's just for me and Him.
Just like there are things that my wife and I talk about. It's none of your business what me and my wife talk about.
Will I share some things? I will. But things that are more intimate and between me and my wife, you will never see nor hear me share those things.
So what if I told you God has met some of you supernaturally and God has told you don't share that with anybody,
but you went and shared it. Why? Because it brought you arrogance, it brought you notoriety, it brought you these things,
and God actually had to pull back a little bit. Ah, you're not ready for more. You're not ready for more.
So what if being with God does not mean I have to bring my Bible, which I encourage you to do so.
What if being with God doesn't mean that I have to get down on my knees in a certain way, pray a certain prayer, worship a certain way.
What if being with God means I'm choosing him when it's inconvenient for me?
What if that is the life of lowliness being tucked away with him?
Some of you are saying, well Igor, I do that in my drive to work and from work. Awesome.
Can I now challenge you to go deeper and do it when you're not distracted with the road?
In my early days, that's where God used to meet me.
When I used to own my own business, driving from job site to job site, meaning with client with other client,
because I was so busy in that season, and a lot of the busyness was not because I just chose to be busy.
I didn't need to be busy.
But the Lord would meet me a lot driving from job site to job site,
and then I felt a stirring of the Lord of more.
Why don't you do that when you're not focused on the road?
Why don't you do that when you're not sitting amongst a congregation of people?
Why don't you choose me when nobody else is seeing?
When it's inconvenient for you, you want to watch a show?
You want to go hang out with people?
You want to do this? You want to do that?
The Father sees.
The Father sees.
And He determines.
I desire friends. I desire just as you.
I desire to live a life.
I'm not claiming that I know it all, or I've achieved it all.
I say like the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3,
I don't say that I've achieved all things,
but I press toward the goal which is in Christ Jesus.
I desire to live a life even more in the depth of God,
so much more tucked away with the Lord, so that when eternity comes,
then I said, then I'll have my exaltation.
Then the Lord will make known who I was to Him.
It's easy to be a Christian on a Sunday.
It's easy for me to show you, oh, look, look.
It's easy for us.
But what matters more is what we do outside of Sunday services.
It's how we choose and what nobody else is seeing.
And the Lord is weighing us.
He's measuring us as individuals.
You've heard this earlier this year.
He's weighing us.
He's measuring us.
He's conforming us into the image of Christ.
Let me say something and we'll pray.
I think that's the point, Pastor,
that the Lord wanted to make for those that came up.
Can I say it? Yeah.
I believe starting from today,
I believe the Lord is touching many people's hearts even now.
And I believe starting from today,
many of you have already made a decision in your heart.
Lord, I want to go deeper with you.
Let me encourage you with this.
First of all, first of all,
never allow condemnation to overrule conviction.
This is what I mean.
If you miss a day with the Lord,
don't put your hands down and say,
oh, I missed it.
God is upset with me now.
He's not.
But let the conviction of the Lord come and say tomorrow
or even tonight, if it happened in the morning,
then tonight, Lord, I'm going to choose you.
Help me.
Don't let condemnation overrule you starting from today
when many of you, I can just sense it.
Many of you have decided, I'm going after you, God.
I want more of you.
Don't let condemnation overrule the conviction.
Because will the Lord convict you?
Yes, He will.
And that is scriptural.
And that is biblical.
Because Godly sorrow brings about repentance.
When conviction comes, repentance has to be there.
It's turning away.
I don't want to do that, Lord.
Help me.
Do not let the lies of the devil seep in and say,
you missed it.
Now you have to start all over again.
No, you don't.
Continue seeking Him, pursuing Him,
asking, yet counting the cost of what you're asking.