Speaker 1: Today, my heart is excited. I got a room full
Speaker 1: of people who love the Lord, and I'm gonna just
Speaker 1: share the best I can whatever God's put in my heart.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna share a message. It's called the Greatest among Us.
Speaker 1: It's a message I actually shared this Wednesday with the youth,
Speaker 1: and I try to shake it. I did. I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to share this again. That was for
Speaker 1: the youth. That's not for Sunday. And the Lord just
Speaker 1: did not give me anything. And you know, we can easily,
Speaker 1: as men and women given a free will, we can
Speaker 1: easily open this beautiful, holy, amazing, life breathing thing and
Speaker 1: come up with something amazing and it will all be good.
Speaker 1: There's nothing here that is bad. It's all good. But
Speaker 1: I always am troubled to share something that He's doing
Speaker 1: internally in my heart and my life. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a effective, I wanted to be powerful, and he
Speaker 1: was giving me nothing else. So today we're going to
Speaker 1: get the youth sermon. So get your gears ready, dial
Speaker 1: down your vocabulary. Let's go simple, because in simplicity there's power. Cool.
Speaker 1: Would you close your eyes for a second and say,
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, give me your grace to see what you
Speaker 1: see and experience your presence. Amen. Okay, So while I
Speaker 1: was questioning this sermon if I should or shouldn't, I
Speaker 1: asked the Lord that he would confirm it, and he
Speaker 1: shared it through several people. So I was super excited
Speaker 1: that this is the word of the Lord for this morning.
Speaker 1: So thank you all for coming the greatest among us.
Speaker 1: When we hear the word great or great or great tists.
Speaker 1: There's certain ways that just because we're in this world,
Speaker 1: there's certain patterns of thought that we're used to thinking
Speaker 1: when it comes to greatness. And for a lot of us,
Speaker 1: when we ask who would you say is great? And
Speaker 1: many times we'll start pointing to people who have what
Speaker 1: we call achievements, things that they have accomplished, achieved things
Speaker 1: that are very honorable, and we say, this person right here,
Speaker 1: they're great. And then we may ask, well, who else
Speaker 1: is great? Then we may go all the way to
Speaker 1: the other side, and we might say those maybe that
Speaker 1: don't have all the achievements, but they have all the possessions,
Speaker 1: they have all the stuff that all of us may
Speaker 1: want in life. So you got people who have amazing
Speaker 1: achievements and they've done so much. And then you have
Speaker 1: people who just have all the stuff. A lot of
Speaker 1: times they're just super wealthy and they just have everything
Speaker 1: that anybody could ever imagine and more. And we're thinking, man,
Speaker 1: these people are great. And if it's not for the
Speaker 1: things you've done or the stuff you have, it's the
Speaker 1: power you carry. And we perceive greatness through the things
Speaker 1: you've done, through the things you have, or the influence
Speaker 1: or the power you carry. And so a lot of
Speaker 1: times when we're thinking about the greatest among us, we're thinking, well,
Speaker 1: who's done the most, who has the most, and who
Speaker 1: has the most influence and greatness we're perceiving and understanding
Speaker 1: through the realm of how we grew up in this world.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting because there was a point where the
Speaker 1: disciples were arguing about who is the great greatest You
Speaker 1: guys remember that story, and Jesus, as amazing as he is,
Speaker 1: he calls the child to his lap, and the child
Speaker 1: sits down, and then he says to them, if any
Speaker 1: of you want to experience the Kingdom of God, you
Speaker 1: must become like one of these, like a child, like
Speaker 1: one that has nothing achieved, no possessions, and no influence,
Speaker 1: and he's saying, do any of you want to experience
Speaker 1: the greatest thing, you must become like one of these.
Speaker 1: How many of us know that there's more depth than
Speaker 1: just to the surface of what Jesus was talking about.
Speaker 1: He's saying, He's saying, all the things that you've done,
Speaker 1: all the things that you have, and who you think
Speaker 1: you are needs to go to the trash when it
Speaker 1: comes to this question of greatness. So you have in
Speaker 1: the Bible, there's a story. I love this story. You
Speaker 1: have these two guys names James and John. Have you
Speaker 1: heard of them? James and john Sons of Thunder and
Speaker 1: James and John. They devised the plan which they consulted
Speaker 1: their mother for. How many of us know it gets
Speaker 1: real when the mom gets involved. Oh yeah, things just
Speaker 1: start happening. And they said, Mama, we need you to
Speaker 1: come with us and be our spokesman. How many of
Speaker 1: us know women know how to communicate things well, they
Speaker 1: know how to articulate things men can't even think of. Like,
Speaker 1: for example, if I'm trying to tell you how I feel,
Speaker 1: it takes me five minutes to figure out how I feel.
Speaker 1: I want to say this carefully. If my wife I
Speaker 1: love her so much. If she wants to tell me
Speaker 1: how she feels, she knows ten different ways to tell
Speaker 1: me the same thing. Some of you women in this house,
Speaker 1: there's a voice God's put on you. It's anointing from
Speaker 1: Heaven that instead of using for the kingdom, we use
Speaker 1: for gossip. Now, this is not where I'm going with
Speaker 1: the message, but I'm just saying God's raising the standard
Speaker 1: in the way we speak. The tongue. Shake my hand, somebody.
Speaker 1: This tongue has the power like a flame in a
Speaker 1: dry forest, like a little spark to blow it all up.
Speaker 1: Yet it has the same power as a little rotor
Speaker 1: on a ship to change course of everything. It can
Speaker 1: speak grand speeches and then go and blaspheme everything in
Speaker 1: everyone this tongue. How many of us know, God's raising
Speaker 1: the standard for the believer. But it's interesting because this
Speaker 1: tongue is tied into something deeper. It's tied into a root,
Speaker 1: so it goes based on what's inside. How many of
Speaker 1: us says something like I don't know why that slipped up?
Speaker 1: Why did that come out? It's a good question. Maybe
Speaker 1: we shouldn't jump over that question so quickly. But with
Speaker 1: the tongue it's amazing. Is what is available to us
Speaker 1: if we can make peace or we can start wars.
Speaker 1: That's the power of it. So James and John they're like, Mama,
Speaker 1: we need your help. So they show up to Jesus
Speaker 1: and what happens is the mother kneels before Jesus. And
Speaker 1: when she kneels before Jesus with James and John, everybody
Speaker 1: knows she about to ask something serious, and she goes
Speaker 1: after jesusays, what is your request? She says, my request
Speaker 1: is that in your kingdom, my sons, James and John,
Speaker 1: they would sit at your right and at your left.
Speaker 1: And Jesus, he's amazing. He's like, oh, I don't think
Speaker 1: you know what you're asking. Are you ready to drink
Speaker 1: of the bitter cup of suffering? I am about to drink.
Speaker 1: James and John come out, Yes, we're ready, And Jesus says,
Speaker 1: you sure will. But I am not in the position
Speaker 1: to say who sits at my right and left? So
Speaker 1: watch this verse Matthew twenty I think it's verse twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. This is right after Jesus gets done saying
Speaker 1: that when the ten others heard what James and John
Speaker 1: had asked, they were indignant. They were angry. There that
Speaker 1: thing rows up the greatest among us. Who do you
Speaker 1: think you are? There's ten of us here too, Why
Speaker 1: don't we all sit next to him? Why is it you?
Speaker 1: They became angry, jealous, bitter, indignant. But Jesus called them
Speaker 1: together and said, you know that the rulers in this
Speaker 1: world lord it over their people, and the officials flaunt
Speaker 1: their authority under them. Watch this next verse. But among
Speaker 1: you it will be different. I want you to notice
Speaker 1: that word different, because Jesus is still talking about the
Speaker 1: same thing. He's talking about greatness, and it's amazing. Go
Speaker 1: back to the first verse twenty five. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: that the rulers in this world lord their rulership over
Speaker 1: the people, and the officials flaunt their authority over those
Speaker 1: under them. But among you it will be different. Not
Speaker 1: if should be different, not it might be different, It
Speaker 1: will be different. How many of us know that when
Speaker 1: Jesus makes a distinction, we need to pay attention for
Speaker 1: we might grow up in the church living like the world.
Speaker 1: So here's the greatness distinction. The world sees greatness through achievements, possessions,
Speaker 1: and power. But among you, what must it be whoever
Speaker 1: wants to be your servant, or excuse me, whoever wants
Speaker 1: to be your leader, must become your servant. Next verse,
Speaker 1: and whoever wants to be first among you must become
Speaker 1: your slave. This right here will mess with everybody and
Speaker 1: every leadership conference you've ever been to the words of Jesus.
Speaker 1: How many of us know that he is going way
Speaker 1: deeper than the surface. The world sees greatness on the exterior,
Speaker 1: the fruit of it. But Jesus says, greatness is way
Speaker 1: beyond the exterior. It goes deep within. It starts from here,
Speaker 1: from the interior. So if you want to be first,
Speaker 1: you must become a servant. If you want to be great,
Speaker 1: you must become a slave. And it's amazing because when
Speaker 1: Jesus says servant and slave, he's touching up on something,
Speaker 1: something deeper than what just is at hand. He's talking
Speaker 1: about a position or a condition of your insides, internals.
Speaker 1: He's talking about something deeper than just the fruit of
Speaker 1: being a servant or being a slave. He's saying that
Speaker 1: servant and slave comes from a deeper place within you.
Speaker 1: How many of us know that you can just go
Speaker 1: ahead and start serving and becoming a slave and doing things,
Speaker 1: but you're still not great in the Lord's eyes. So
Speaker 1: what he's touching up on is something way deeper. And
Speaker 1: I want to quickly go to First Corinthians, chapter thirteen.
Speaker 1: Jesus is defining greatness, and I believe that these next
Speaker 1: few passages right here will help us understand the heart
Speaker 1: of Jesus when he speaks. Paul writes, if I could
Speaker 1: speak all the languages of the earth and of the
Speaker 1: angels but did not love, I would be super annoying.
Speaker 1: That's what he's saying to the Lord. He's not talking
Speaker 1: about people. He's talking about to the Lord, super annoying.
Speaker 1: One that has achieved so much to know all the
Speaker 1: languages of men and of angels, but has no love. Noisy, gong, clinging, annoying,
Speaker 1: just making noise. That's what the Lord sees. If I
Speaker 1: could speak everything, I would just be annoying. Next verse.
Speaker 1: If I understood the gift of prophecy, or had the
Speaker 1: gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's
Speaker 1: secret plans and possessed all knowledge and had such faith
Speaker 1: that I could move mountains. How many of us know
Speaker 1: that if you were that person in this room, you'd
Speaker 1: be the guest speaker at every big event. Everybody would
Speaker 1: want you at the schedule. You'd be the president, and
Speaker 1: then after that you would be the counsel to every president.
Speaker 1: After that, you would be in such place of regard
Speaker 1: and such place of honor, and such place of greatness
Speaker 1: that the whole world would want to know what's your
Speaker 1: next move? Possessing all knowledge, possessing all that prophecy had
Speaker 1: to offer, possessing so much power that you can move mountains.
Speaker 1: But if you had all that but didn't love others,
Speaker 1: how much would it be zero? In whose eyes? Let
Speaker 1: me ask you a question. If it's God's perspective that matters,
Speaker 1: why are we so focused on each other's If it's
Speaker 1: his attention that matters. Why are we so condemned by
Speaker 1: each other's judgments? Why are we so convicted by even
Speaker 1: our own thoughts or judgments about ourselves? If it's God's
Speaker 1: that matters. Deception is when you take the place that
Speaker 1: belongs to God and give it to another, even yourself.
Speaker 1: I would be nothing next verse if I gave Now
Speaker 1: this is an interesting one because in the church we
Speaker 1: understand love has an action. You know, it has a fruit.
Speaker 1: It looks like something. So what's Paul right? If I gave,
Speaker 1: If I gave, if I did everything that you say
Speaker 1: love to us, if I gave everything I had to
Speaker 1: the poor and even sacrifice this body, I could boast
Speaker 1: about it. But if I love, if I had no
Speaker 1: love for others, what would I be? What would I gain? Nothing?
Speaker 1: This is so like mind boggling. How many of us
Speaker 1: know God is really interested and not just the fruit
Speaker 1: of what you're doing, but where it's coming from. How
Speaker 1: many of us know that you can do all these things?
Speaker 1: But if the intention is not pure, it's a zero
Speaker 1: to the one who sees it. I can't see your intention.
Speaker 1: I can't see why you're doing what you're doing. Your
Speaker 1: spouse can't see it, your friends can't see it. The
Speaker 1: ones you want to be seen by can't see it.
Speaker 1: But there is one that can. Yeah. Now, listen, if
Speaker 1: you want to give everything you have to the poor
Speaker 1: and bring it in here, we'll help with that. Listen.
Speaker 1: We'll hook you up with the right connections. We'll get
Speaker 1: that all settled for you. But keep your heart good,
Speaker 1: Keep your heart good. Next verse, I want you to
Speaker 1: catch this. Love is patient and kind, interesting, Love is
Speaker 1: not jealous, boastful, proud watch this next verse or first,
Speaker 1: or rude. Well, I'm just being honest. No, you're being rude.
Speaker 1: Well I'm just telling them how it is. No, you're
Speaker 1: being rude, and that isn't love. It's amazing how love
Speaker 1: can keep your heart right. But it's interesting that love
Speaker 1: is so truthful that it will still tell you the truth,
Speaker 1: but it will be kind in the way it does it.
Speaker 1: It's just this is so amazing. It does not demand
Speaker 1: its own way. Right here, we're in marriage counseling right now.
Speaker 1: Love does not demand its own way. It it is
Speaker 1: not irritable some of us. Well, God is so good,
Speaker 1: and it keeps no records of being wronged. If you're married,
Speaker 1: raise your hand. It's good marriage counseling. Put your hand on.
Speaker 1: If you're single, raise your hand. Keep it up now
Speaker 1: look around, kid, So everybody knows. But love is very interesting.
Speaker 1: It doesn't seek its own and it doesn't hold the
Speaker 1: record of being wronged. That doesn't mean that I don't
Speaker 1: trust you if you've wronged to me, but it means
Speaker 1: I don't hold it against you, and I can forgive you.
Speaker 1: How many of us if we just close the service
Speaker 1: right now we can go and repent from something. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: would you be honest? Raise your hand. Cool, that's good,
Speaker 1: that's a healthy sign. But it's interesting that in all
Speaker 1: that the Lord is trying to teach his disciples, He's
Speaker 1: trying to take him to the core of who we
Speaker 1: are in the Lord. See Jesus, when he came, he died,
Speaker 1: and he rose from the dead. He wanted to restore
Speaker 1: the original image that you and I were formed in,
Speaker 1: and that image was love and for love. It wasn't
Speaker 1: for ourself, it was for one another. It was for
Speaker 1: the Lord. And the closer we can get to that
Speaker 1: picture of what real love looks like, the more we
Speaker 1: will fall into our true identity. Now, for the sake
Speaker 1: of time, I have a lot on my heart, but
Speaker 1: I gotta get to this. I'm gonna ask I need
Speaker 1: to demonstrate something. I'm gonna share a story right out
Speaker 1: of the scripture. I need three volunteers, Mister Frank, can
Speaker 1: I do I have my Sons of Thunder in here? Jameson,
Speaker 1: where are you at? Sons of Thunders? Come here? Give
Speaker 1: it up for Leon Kenneth, pastor Frank, bring three chairs?
Speaker 1: Would you there was a situation that happened the scriptures.
Speaker 1: May see what you bring my props. How many of
Speaker 1: us know that sometimes a visual helps understand a deeper picture, y'all.
Speaker 1: There was a situation also talking about greatness and the
Speaker 1: way that the Lord wants it. Yeah, that's perfect, just
Speaker 1: right back there, that's amazing. Can you see them all? Good?
Speaker 1: In John chapter thirteen, this piece of gospel is written
Speaker 1: at the very end of Jesus's walk here on earth.
Speaker 1: Jesus did ministry for about three and a half years,
Speaker 1: and in his three and a half years, this is
Speaker 1: one of the last days he's on the earth, and
Speaker 1: he's sitting in a room called the Upper Room with
Speaker 1: his disciples. And this is some might say, this is
Speaker 1: the most highest place that Jesus has been. This is
Speaker 1: his pinnacle of ministry. This is the greatest place he's
Speaker 1: been thus far. He just got done raising Lazarus from
Speaker 1: the dead. He just got done walking into Jerusalem, or
Speaker 1: riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, where
Speaker 1: everybody was bowing before him, saying, behold the King of Israel,
Speaker 1: Blessed be on the one who can't comes in the
Speaker 1: name of the Lord. This is the place that he's
Speaker 1: at the height and everybody's ready for his next move.
Speaker 1: And this passage in John, it says, Jesus knew that
Speaker 1: his time was ending. Happens to be that this is
Speaker 1: the night before his crucifixion, this is the night he
Speaker 1: was betrayed, And so what does he do? Verse three?
Speaker 1: Let's go to verse three John, chapter thirteen. Jesus knew
Speaker 1: that the Father had given him authority over everything, and
Speaker 1: that he had come from God and would return to God.
Speaker 1: Jesus knew at this moment how great he really was.
Speaker 1: He knew that he was above absolutely everything. The Father
Speaker 1: has given him everything, And so what did he do?
Speaker 1: Verse four? He got up from the table, He took
Speaker 1: off his robe, wrapped the towel around his waist. And
Speaker 1: then what did he do? He poured water into a basin.
Speaker 1: Just like that, he poured water into a basin, and
Speaker 1: then they began to wash their feet. Some of you
Speaker 1: are a little bit nervous right now. Let you say, Frank,
Speaker 1: keep your shoes on. Nobody needs to pass out, bro,
Speaker 1: Nobody needs to know I'm kidding. Some may ask, why
Speaker 1: would Jesus do that? You see, back in the day
Speaker 1: they wore sandals. Everybody say sandals, and their feet were
Speaker 1: really dirty. Say dirty. When you have dirty feet and
Speaker 1: you have food, what do you want to do? Wash
Speaker 1: your feet? So typically what they had when they came
Speaker 1: into a house, they had a servant there, or somebody
Speaker 1: could be the person of the house washing the feet
Speaker 1: of those that would enter. That's why I remember when
Speaker 1: Jesus was addressing the super spiritual Pharisee and he said, listen,
Speaker 1: this woman Mary has been washing my feet with their
Speaker 1: tears and drying it with my hair. But when I
Speaker 1: came into your house, you didn't offer me any of that.
Speaker 1: So what Jesus did is he took off the identity
Speaker 1: that you and I so hold to in this world,
Speaker 1: took off that outer garment, put a towel around his waist,
Speaker 1: and he began to wash the feet of his disciples.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that Jesus started to do this. So now
Speaker 1: feet were dirty back in the day. What do we
Speaker 1: all have today, shoes? What's your only point of contact
Speaker 1: in this world? It's your feet, It's your shoes. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because when Jesus washes the feet, he's doing
Speaker 1: something in the natural. Yet he's showing the spiritual aspect
Speaker 1: of it. He's saying, in the natural, your body is clean,
Speaker 1: but your feet are dirty. In the spiritual he's saying,
Speaker 1: you are clean, but sometimes you walk in in this world.
Speaker 1: Catch that and watch what he does. He comes up
Speaker 1: to James, is I, James, can I see your foot?
Speaker 1: Can I serve you? James is like, yes, my master,
Speaker 1: you can. And then, oh boy, that's so dirty. That's
Speaker 1: so messy. Buddy, you've been but you've said some nasty
Speaker 1: things recently. Buddy, that's really dirty. Do you guys get
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. He comes to James and he's saying, James,
Speaker 1: let me serve you, not only cleaning the mess off
Speaker 1: your feet, but also let me have a reach into
Speaker 1: your soul. And so he's cleaning, he's cleaning. It's looking
Speaker 1: nice as right. There you go, buddy, love you man.
Speaker 1: You can do better than that, because I'm in you.
Speaker 1: You'll be all right. Just trust me when that person
Speaker 1: says something against me, don't don't you get all riled up.
Speaker 1: It'll be all right. Trust God. I'm I'll smite them
Speaker 1: from heaven if I need to. But don't put it
Speaker 1: in your own hand, all right, my man boom, And
Speaker 1: then it says that Jesus went to the next He
Speaker 1: went to John James and John my man. Son's a thunder.
Speaker 1: Let's go. He come in. John. Oh boy, John's a mess. John, Buddy,
Speaker 1: I thought she loved me. It's all good, buddy, let
Speaker 1: me restore that in you. Oh what what'd you say
Speaker 1: to her? Oh no, she was just she was just
Speaker 1: trying to be nice. He didn't have to get so offensive. Buddy.
Speaker 1: It's all good. It's all good, you know. So he
Speaker 1: washes the feet, he serves his disciples, He takes the
Speaker 1: lowliest place. And but watch what we do. Sometimes we're like, oh,
Speaker 1: John said what to who? Oh my god, I've got
Speaker 1: a go tell Oh, I've got a go tell Junior,
Speaker 1: junor you know what John said, John, John? Just John blasphemed.
Speaker 1: He said that woman she said, she said all that stuff.
Speaker 1: She offended that. And you know what she said to
Speaker 1: the other person. Oh my god, this goes deep. She said,
Speaker 1: my mom is gonna tell you something. And we go.
Speaker 1: We that's what we do. And then we come we come,
Speaker 1: We're like, oh no, that's what he did. Oh he
Speaker 1: punched her in the face. I gotta tell somebody, and
Speaker 1: we get so weird with each other's experience. We get
Speaker 1: more used to talking about each other than to each other.
Speaker 1: And what we do is we find the dirt on
Speaker 1: each other's feet. Because we're all believers, we know we're clean,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be eternity forever. But we find the dirt
Speaker 1: in each other's feet and feel better about ourselves. We
Speaker 1: feel better that maybe my shoes are better, my shoes
Speaker 1: look a little bit. I don't have that mess on
Speaker 1: my shoes. I'm not that messy, so I have the
Speaker 1: right to tell others about how messy they were. But
Speaker 1: Jesus doesn't do that, does he? He washes the feet.
Speaker 1: I want you to catch this next part. But when
Speaker 1: Jesus came to Simon, Peter, how you doing, Peter? You're
Speaker 1: doing all right. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter
Speaker 1: set town. Lord, are you gonna wash my feet? Lord?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna wash my feet? Jesus replied, you don't
Speaker 1: understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.
Speaker 1: Next verse, No, he said, no, you will never ever
Speaker 1: wash my feet. He didn't just stop at never, He said,
Speaker 1: never ever wash my feet. This is amazing. This boggles
Speaker 1: my mind, Peter exclaimed, watch this. Jesus reply, Unless I
Speaker 1: watch you, you won't belong to me. And then Simon
Speaker 1: Peter the most. I don't know if there's a more
Speaker 1: unstable mentally person as far as the disciples go. He
Speaker 1: had he had Satan cast it out of him. He had.
Speaker 1: He's he's doing everything wrong at the right time, you know,
Speaker 1: that's what he's doing. And so he's like, never ever,
Speaker 1: will you wash my And then she's like, well, then
Speaker 1: you're not gonna have anything to do with me. Then
Speaker 1: just wash my hands, wash my head. I need my
Speaker 1: elbows clean, I need everything clean, he says, not just
Speaker 1: my feet. Next verse, Jesus replied that a person who
Speaker 1: has bathed all over does not need to be washed
Speaker 1: except for the feet to be entirely clean. Are you
Speaker 1: getting the spiritual concept of this? Watch this. So when
Speaker 1: Jesus comes to wash Peter's feet, he has to give
Speaker 1: Jesus permission. You have to give Jesus permission. He won't
Speaker 1: just come and wash your feet. He won't get into
Speaker 1: the nitty greedy of your soul without your permission. That's
Speaker 1: how beautiful he is, That's how gentle and humble he is, Peter,
Speaker 1: May I wash your feet? So, oh Lord, look at
Speaker 1: how clean these shoes are. This is why a lot
Speaker 1: of us don't come to him, because we think we're
Speaker 1: all right. We think that we can just get by.
Speaker 1: We're not that bad. We think that we don't need
Speaker 1: each other's counsel in the Lord. We don't think we
Speaker 1: will be all right just getting by to church, feeling
Speaker 1: better about ourselves, and then slipping out. But it's interesting
Speaker 1: that when Jesus gets real close, he can actually see
Speaker 1: the mess you don't see, and he starts to wash
Speaker 1: it clean, just like a good, good servant, the best servant.
Speaker 1: And then it's amazing that after cleaning the feet of
Speaker 1: his disciples, watch this, he says, but not all of
Speaker 1: you are clean, for Jesus knew who would betray him.
Speaker 1: Do you understand the spiritual concept of what he's talking
Speaker 1: about cleanliness? This is what he meant when he said
Speaker 1: that all of you are clean, for he knew who
Speaker 1: would betray him. Extpert, After washing their feet, he put
Speaker 1: on his robe again and sat down and asked, do
Speaker 1: you understand what I was doing? You call me teacher
Speaker 1: and the Lord, and that is what I am. Jesus
Speaker 1: is saying, you perceive me to be in this great
Speaker 1: place of honor, authority, power, influence greatness, and that is
Speaker 1: what I am. Watch and since your lord and teacher
Speaker 1: has washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet.
Speaker 1: I have given you an example to follow. Do as
Speaker 1: I have done to you. Thank you, guys. You guys
Speaker 1: may be seated. Let's give him a hand. This is amazing, guys,
Speaker 1: this is amazing. He's saying, just as I have done
Speaker 1: to you, you now carry the baton to do it
Speaker 1: to each other. Hold up, Hold up. Jesus is talking
Speaker 1: about greatness, and he's talking about not lording your greatness
Speaker 1: over the people, but rather taking your greatness to as
Speaker 1: low as possible. Because the world measures greatness about as
Speaker 1: far as how high you can go, but in the Kingdom,
Speaker 1: it's measured as has how low you will go. And
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, you want to be great, you must
Speaker 1: follow the greatest example of greatness, and you must serve
Speaker 1: one each other. This has two meanings. One is a
Speaker 1: natural meaning. One is that we look for ways to
Speaker 1: serve one another. That is just what we do. We're believers.
Speaker 1: We've laid down our life and we serve one another.
Speaker 1: That is what we do. We don't say, Mom, what
Speaker 1: can you do for me? We say, Mom, what can
Speaker 1: I do for you? We don't say, pastor, what can
Speaker 1: you do for me? We say, pastor, what can I
Speaker 1: do for you? What can I do for the church?
Speaker 1: What can I do for my work? What can I
Speaker 1: do for my business? What can I do? What can
Speaker 1: I do? How can I serve? That is just what
Speaker 1: we do. That's one side of the natural aspect. But
Speaker 1: there's a supernatural, spiritual aspect that God is really highlighting.
Speaker 1: And I want to emphasize this one. It's about the
Speaker 1: cleanliness and it's at that point of contact we have
Speaker 1: with this world. None of us are immune from the enemy.
Speaker 1: None of us are immune from having shots fired at us,
Speaker 1: darts thrown at us, arrows bolted into our side. None
Speaker 1: of us are immune from that. But you and I,
Speaker 1: when that happens, we like to carry it around as
Speaker 1: our identity. We like to carry around the wounds that
Speaker 1: we've gone through and claim it as our own. We
Speaker 1: like to say, God, I don't need a cleanliness from
Speaker 1: anybody else. I'm good the way I am. This is
Speaker 1: the way you created me, so we attach it to
Speaker 1: our identity who we are, and we don't allow it
Speaker 1: to be washed off of us and Jesus in his majesty,
Speaker 1: he says, do this to one another. What is he
Speaker 1: asking us? What's the second part of this? He is
Speaker 1: asking the believer to be vulnerable with each other, confess
Speaker 1: your sins to one another so that you may be healed.
Speaker 1: What is he saying? Be open? Don't let negativity, weakness,
Speaker 1: enemies influence fester. Don't be ashamed of exposing things that
Speaker 1: are dark. Don't be afraid of what others may have
Speaker 1: to say. When you do not come to your neighbor
Speaker 1: who you trust in the Lord and with vulnerability, you
Speaker 1: are robbing them of greatness because their greatness is found
Speaker 1: in the way they'll wash your feet. Now, if you
Speaker 1: don't trust that they'll wash your feet, find somebody that will.
Speaker 1: It's okay to not go to somebody you don't trust,
Speaker 1: because you don't need the darkness you're in to become darker.
Speaker 1: But you can't allow the fear of that truth to
Speaker 1: stop you from finding somebody. You can't allow what somebody
Speaker 1: might say, or what they might think, or how they
Speaker 1: might feel stop you from opening up to somebody who
Speaker 1: you trust. When you don't open up, you show that
Speaker 1: the enemy can have influence and you'll mask it up
Speaker 1: for him. Are you getting what I'm saying? That's why
Speaker 1: we must wash each other's feet. So what is my conviction?
Speaker 1: What am I trying to compel you with today? First
Speaker 1: and foremost, nobody knows it all. Everybody can use a
Speaker 1: little bit of cleaning here and there, and sometimes the
Speaker 1: person that comes to you you don't necessarily have to
Speaker 1: replicate that with them. And if you go to somebody,
Speaker 1: they don't need to replicate openness with you, but they
Speaker 1: just need to serve you and wash your feet, wash
Speaker 1: that thing off of you, wash the light off of you.
Speaker 1: How many times do people come or we hear something
Speaker 1: and we're so ready to give them a piece of
Speaker 1: our mind, and we haven't consulted the Lord. We're not
Speaker 1: giving him or them a peace of God's mind. We're
Speaker 1: giving them a piece of our mind that was formed
Speaker 1: in the world's thinking. So I am convicted myself to
Speaker 1: be real, to be open. We so carefully to present
Speaker 1: to each other an image we like of ourself, and
Speaker 1: we don't get into the nitty gritty of really what's
Speaker 1: going on. We don't find somebody we can trust. I
Speaker 1: don't run to one another with truth about what our
Speaker 1: reality is. Therefore we struggle with healing, and then we
Speaker 1: find every reason to be offended. Jesus showed us the
Speaker 1: posture of our attitude is humility, go low, but he
Speaker 1: also showed us be open with one another. Would you
Speaker 1: stand to your feet? I'm gonna ask you this morning
Speaker 1: two questions. How low will you go and how open
Speaker 1: will you be? Because when you go low to serve
Speaker 1: one another, that's just an act of service. When you
Speaker 1: open up, that's an act of transformation, that's an act
Speaker 1: that you're saying, I'm open to transformation. We run from
Speaker 1: being open because we're concerned that something might change and
Speaker 1: we're okay with what we're used to. But I feel
Speaker 1: like the Lord is compelling us as his bride to say,
Speaker 1: you know, what is time to open up to one
Speaker 1: another and trust God in each other. And if you're
Speaker 1: here in this room and someone would come to you
Speaker 1: with some dirt that they've acquired, you have to remember
Speaker 1: that dirt doesn't belong to them. It came from somewhere else.
Speaker 1: That go on them, and it needs to be casted out.
Speaker 1: It needs to be removed, It needs to be cleaned,
Speaker 1: It needs to be loved, it needs to be forgiven,
Speaker 1: it needs to be broken. So two things, How low
Speaker 1: will you go and how open will you be? Can
Speaker 1: I have the Destiny Team quickly come up if you're
Speaker 1: in this room and you feel like, man, I just
Speaker 1: haven't been open. I've been dealing with something so deep
Speaker 1: and it has been tormenting me and I've gotten used
Speaker 1: to it or whatnot? Would you just come and be open,
Speaker 1: male to male, female to female, for the safety of that.
Speaker 1: But if there's something in this room that's been bothering
Speaker 1: you and you can't, or maybe all you've been doing
Speaker 1: is serving yourself and you want to stop just serving
Speaker 1: your own interest in building your own kingdom and building
Speaker 1: your own image and building your own empire, and you
Speaker 1: just want to let it all go. I want to
Speaker 1: invite you to come and pray with a Destiny Team member.
Speaker 1: And if you're not going to come up here, find
Speaker 1: somebody next to you that you would go and pray with.
Speaker 1: But I would encourage you. These Destiny Team members have
Speaker 1: been anointed for such a time as this to speak truth,
Speaker 1: to speak light, to speak hope, to speak transformation and
Speaker 1: help you break things off. And this morning it's a
Speaker 1: good morning to let go, to let go of perspectives
Speaker 1: you how to yourself. And I'm telling you this morning
Speaker 1: will be the best morning of your life if you
Speaker 1: let go of a lie that you've been holding onto
Speaker 1: about yourself. Everybody, with all your eyes closed, we just
Speaker 1: begin to even in your own own mind, just begin
Speaker 1: to ponder on the Lord and ponder on maybe way
Speaker 1: he's speaking to you, maybe way he's revealing to you.
Speaker 1: But Father, I thank you for everyone in this room. God,
Speaker 1: I thank you that this morning they're making a decision
Speaker 1: to go low, but also to be humble and open,
Speaker 1: open with you, open with their neighbor, to be open
Speaker 1: with whatever they're dealing with. God, I thank you that
Speaker 1: greatness is not found in our achievements, our possessions, or
Speaker 1: our power. But greatness, God, it's found in you. It's
Speaker 1: found in love, it's found in humility. It's found and
Speaker 1: oftenicity is found in your grace. God. I thank you
Speaker 1: that we in this room will be a people who
Speaker 1: will go low and who will be open in Jesus'
Speaker 1: mighty name, God bless you.