Amen and amen.
So if you got a Bible, we're going to be in Luke chapter 12.
It seems like I'm forgetting something.
I think Pastor Steve told you that we will be here till the 31st,
and then we will go to the fairgrounds for a while,
and nobody knows how long that is.
So we're praying for a speed entrance into First Street, Lord Willing, and the Creek don't rise.
But if you have your Bible, we're going to be in Luke chapter 14, starting a new chapter.
We had seen Jesus talking about his heartbrokenness over the rejection of who he was there in the last part of chapter 13.
where he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her.
How often I wanted to gather you, gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing.
And so I just pray that, you know, I don't know where you're at this morning as far as the Lord is concerned.
Some of you are maybe still checking it out, you know, just not real sure you want to make any kind of a,
life commitment to this person named Jesus. But I'm here to tell you there's no one else.
I don't know where else you could go to find life like the life that Jesus gives.
And he is second to none. He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of all our worship.
he's worthy of our very lives and our very breath.
And I just hope and pray someday that you come to that realization
because obviously these folks were having a hard time with this Jesus.
And we're going to read the first 14 verses here of chapter 14.
And so read along with me.
It says, now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees
to eat bread on the Sabbath that they watch.
watched him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus,
answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? But they kept
silent and he took him and healed him and let him go. Then he answered them saying, which of you
having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit will not immediately pull him out on the
Sabbath day. And they could not answer him regarding these things. And so he told a parable to those
who were invited when he noted how they chose the best places saying to them, when you were invited by
anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, less one more honorable than you be
invited by him. And he who invited you and him come and say to you, give place to this man. And then you
with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place,
so that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, go up higher. Then you will have
glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Then he also said to him, who invited him,
When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maim, maimed, the lame, the blind.
And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
Shall we pray?
Lord, your word is powerful and it's sharp.
And even these last verses in this passage kind of cut us a little bit.
And that's good.
We need cut down to the level where we should be, where we look up and where we are humble before our God.
And so I pray that you would teach us that lesson as we go through these verses and just take a look what it means to be.
to be made low and to be lifting up the name that is above every name.
As your word tells us, that at the name of Jesus, every knee is going to bow and every tongue
is going to confess to the glory of God, the Father, that you are Lord, and there is none like you.
May we see that clearly today in Jesus' name. Amen.
So it's interesting that after he kind of, you know, chastise him a little bit about being
the city that killed the prophets and stuff that he is invited back to a Pharisee's house.
It's like, I know you guys don't like me.
So why do you keep inviting me over for a banter?
And it's kind of like the Democrats and Republicans.
You know, it depends on who you talk to, but a lot of commentators, I remember a guy by the
name of Crouthammer, Charles Crouthammer.
He's passed away now. Hopefully he knew Jesus.
But he would say, now, we just think the Democrats are wrong.
They hate us. They want us dead.
Right? There's a difference.
These people, Jesus knew they were wrong, and he was pointing out their wrongs,
and he disagreed with them.
He could have killed them all with the word, but he didn't.
But they wanted him dead.
They wanted him out of their lives.
He was just a thorn and their side.
He was a burr under their saddle blanket.
And they wanted him gone.
And yet they invite him.
And so the disputes between the Pharisees and Jesus about healing on the Sabbath,
it happens like seven or eight times throughout the New Testament.
It's like Jesus is kind of, you know, he's got one of them,
well we used to have hot shots right and every time on a Sabbath is like he's going
he was he was lighting them up a little bit they were just getting chapped that he was doing
these things on the Sabbath day and it seems to be nonstop you remember the woman that was bent
over or the man with the withered hand or them rubbing grain together in their hands on the
Sabbath day and and these religious people were just getting all wotted up
You get watered up about stuff.
I do sometimes, and it's just like, no, God's got it.
You know, now I do believe that there are many times we're called to call a spade a spade.
But not to just be jerks, because I know a lot of Christians, they're just jerks.
And if they're the only ones that I saw being Christians, I mean, no thanks, right?
but there's a lot happening in these next three chapters and most scholars believe that chapter
14 through chapter 17 all happened in one day if you read through that you're just going
oh my gosh no wonder john said that if everything that jesus did was recorded the books
the libraries of the world couldn't contain it all and so these Pharisees called them
the set apart ones. Oh, really? A little hoity-toity, don't you think? Right? The set-apart ones.
You've been around people like that. They just, they just have this natural look down their nose,
even if they're a short person like me, right? They even have this natural look down their nose
at people, thinking they're better, somehow better. And the reality is that no one is any better
than the other ones. Some are just better sinners than the other ones. But we've all sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. And I talk about that a lot from this pulpit because it seems
that people don't get the depravity of man. They don't talk about it. Why do not politicians
talk about the depravity of man? Because people in their hearts and the natural man does not believe
he's depraved. He thinks he's a good dude. And the Bible teaches something totally different.
Now, it's not that I don't believe that people desire good. I see people all the time, right? And even
myself is as wicked as I was before I came to Christ. There was a desire for good. I just didn't have
any of it in me until Jesus comes along. So it's not that I'm saying that no,
people, there's people that desire to do good and they'll do a good deed here and there.
But by nature, they're not good.
And so it's just a, it's an important understanding as a Christian to believe that the Bible
teaches wholeheartedly from genus through the end of the book, that man is depraved.
Man is depraved.
You're depraved, I'm depraved.
My babies are depraved.
My grandbabies are depraved.
That's hard to say.
Because, I mean, I think my grandbabies are perfect.
But they're perfectly depraved.
And it doesn't take you long to figure that out if you're an honest parent.
And so they called themselves the set apart ones.
Well, that's pretty puffed up.
That's pride at its best right there.
They believed, listen, this is what they believed.
They believed, the Pharisees believed,
that if they could keep the law perfectly for one whole day,
that it could possibly usher in their Messiah.
If they could just keep the law perfect,
like it's on them, that the Messiah's coming.
He's coming whether they do whatever they do or not.
It's kind of like you and me.
There is a thought today that the church is going to,
usher Jesus in to start the millennial kingdom. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
Right? The church is not going to usher Jesus in. In fact, Jesus said, when the son of man comes,
will he find faith on the earth? You and I, we're just like hanging on by a thread, it seems like.
Like that one church that Jesus said, he encouraged him. He says, strengthen whatever you got.
Right?
He got just a little bit of faith, strengthen it.
Because I'm coming.
In other words, keep hanging there.
Don't let go.
Hang on.
Like our Bible reading thing.
Hang on.
But here, the irony is the Messiah is standing right in front of him.
And they don't recognize him.
They don't see him for what he is.
He's done nothing but stir up hatred and discontent.
and their heart. He's seated at the table with them. And so, and as far as they're concerned,
he's guilty of breaking the mosaic law. However, these accusations were based on the Pharisees' interpretation
of the law rather than the actual commandments regarding the Sabbath. There was concessions made for an
emergency on a Sabbath. And God was gracious. Sometimes he wasn't.
I just read about this last week or so in the book of numbers when the dude was,
it might have been in Leviticus, but he gathered sticks on the Sabbath and they were going,
what do we do?
Rock him.
Rock him to death.
And they did.
They rocked him to death.
But you know what was interesting about that is when you look at when God pours out his wrath,
many times he gives people an opportunity to repent.
and then they have to go through with their punishment.
But then they're with the Lord.
It's a win-win.
Do you imagine?
You get to trade this life and this fleshly life
that can be miserable with a glorious life
where every tear is wiped away
and all you have to do is just say,
okay, Lord, I messed up, I'm sorry, I broke your law,
I deserve to die, but thank you that you're showing me mercy
and letting me be with you.
That's why the whole capital punishment thing is a good deal.
It's a really good deal.
It's a deterrent, just a little bit, right?
I remember taking the fourth graders up to the state penitentiary,
standing on the gallows, standing on the trap door,
the one that they would drop out from under you after they got the noose around your neck.
And it was interesting.
All the last rights that they had record of there in the penitentiary,
they all repented. They asked God to forgive him. And God's just. And he's gracious. And he'll
forgive to those who humble themselves. But these guys weren't willing. They weren't willing to do that.
That's what that last verse there, or one of the last verses there in chapter 13, you were not
willing. And so, so here they are. The Sabbath, they invite him to Shabbat. And I want to take part in Shabbat,
sometimes, starts on Friday night, ends on Saturday evening.
And on Friday night, they have two loaves of bread and some wine,
and they would do a blessing.
And if you're Jewish in here, you can probably correct me.
I'm probably getting this wrong.
But the thought is that they were commemorating when the Lord brought them out of Egypt.
And so the two loaves of bread were symbolic of the double portion of manna
that they could keep on the Sabbath.
You remember?
Because they had to go out every day and get the manner to stay alive there in the wilderness.
But on Sabbath, they could get a double portion.
If they tried to get a double portion any other day of the week, what happened?
It rotted.
It got worms in it.
Yummy.
Right?
And they couldn't, it wasn't edible.
There's so many, there's several sermons just in that picture right there.
And they would bless the wine.
So Jesus was, he says, I am the bread that came down from heaven.
The symbols that they had sitting there that night as they partook on Shabbat,
the symbols, the reality was sitting right in front of them.
Right?
What did we just take?
Bread and juice or bread and wine.
That's what they would do.
Wine throughout scripture is a symbol of joy.
Joy.
Think about that.
Think about the blood of Jesus.
Does that bring joy to your life?
It sure does.
Because without it, I'm a crispy critter.
Right?
I am a crispy critter without it, without that cleansing power of the blood of Christ.
And so these symbols that they celebrated on Shabbat, on Sabbath,
was sitting right there with them.
He's the reality of that bread,
And he's the reality of that fruit of the vine or that wine that brings joy to our lives.
Jesus said to them in John chapter 6, 35, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall never hunger.
And he who believes in me shall never thirst.
Psalm 1611, you will show me the path of life.
In your presence is the fullness of joy.
At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
and they were looking right past the one who was all of that to them if they would have received it.
And so it is for you today, if you'll receive it.
It's life in abundance, right?
So he's invited to Shepot at another Pharisee's house,
and maybe not because the man was hospitable, but because notice it says there,
and they watched him in verse one, and they watched him closely.
They wanted to try to catch you.
Let me tell you something.
If you name the name of Jesus, your life is under a microscope.
People are watching every move you make.
They just watch you like a hawk.
And then you're a pastor.
And then that's like, oh, they're going to see all my flaws.
Right?
The grocery store.
Hey, pastor.
What's you buying?
Right? I don't dare buy a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine. I don't dare.
That's a freedom I have to give up standing up here behind this pulpit.
I like seeing some parishioners see it, you know, hey, pastor.
And I looked down and all they had was four cases of beer in their cart.
My dad's coming and he likes to drink beer, so I buy him beer.
Yeah, right.
It's pretty funny, actually.
It's pretty...
But really, I mean, they watch what you watch.
You watch that movie?
Wasn't that like rated PG-18 or something?
You really watch that movie?
Or the jokes you laugh at?
Right?
Yeah, as a believer, you have to be careful
jokes you laugh at. I had this old buddy, he was an old friend of mine, an old cowboy, just a
crusty old codger, and I worked with him. And he told me later, I got to pray with him right before he
died. But he told me, he told me later after we weren't working at the same place anymore. He
says, you know, for the first four years we worked together, he said, I, I tried to come up with
every foul joke I could to make you laugh. And I, from the most part, I was pretty, I was
reserved, he'd say that he'd tell one of them dirty jokes and I'd turn around, I'd walk away.
But one day that guy caught me off guard, and I mean, it was vile. This joke was vile.
And I howled.
I was just like, oh, you old codger, you got me on that one. Right? But they watch you closely.
You say you love Jesus. What they really want to know is prove it.
but then they're not satisfied with prove it.
They're satisfied with watching you fall.
They want to see, because they want, you know,
misery loves company.
And when I came out of the world, you know,
I mean, I was running with a pretty wild bunch.
And this one dude, he was a whiskey drinking, dope smoking dude.
He'd roll a joint and pour a shot,
drink and smoke, or I'm punching you.
I'm going to, I had to quit hanging out with them
because I would either cave and get loaded in stone,
or if I refused, I got bruised.
So I just had to quit hanging out with them.
But now they call me because their livers are failing,
their blood sugar is taking over, right?
They've got all kinds of health issues
right on the verge of death a few times,
and they're just in their early 60s.
But they're still stuck where we were back in our early 20s.
there is a time to grow up folks
and Jesus helped me grow up really quick
and so they're watching him
but notice it says and behold there was a certain man there
who had dropsy
dropsy is this edema
it's an excessive amount of edema that would come into the
legs and because of some organ failure of some kind
I just went and seen my cousin the other day as a year younger
me and his legs were the size of an elephant's leg all just I think they they took like 30 gallons
or he got rid of 30 gallons of fluid because his congestive heart failure his organs are
shutting down because he's still there where we were when we were 20 and he doesn't realize this is
killing you dude what are you doing and and so this guy had this this condition most believe that
he was planted there they brought him
there just to test Jesus.
Because they knew that this Jesus would have a heart of compassion for someone who had a need.
And in fact, he did.
And so, Jesus answering spoke to the liars and the Pharisees saying,
is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to heal?
Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
What do you think?
Is it lawful to do things that are good on the Sabbath?
But they kept silent.
Notice they couldn't even talk.
And he took him and healed him and sent him on his way.
That's the only reason he was there.
And Jesus saw fit to make this man whole.
But he wasn't done.
He wasn't done.
Because
In the earlier chapter in Luke 6, he had asked him basically the same question.
Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil,
to save life or to destroy it?
Right?
And the answer is obvious.
It's obvious simply because of who God is.
And then verse 5, he answered them saying,
which of you having a donkey or an ox that has fought?
fallen into a pit will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day.
Now, this is interesting because the Pharisees were not just religious people that showed up
a church, seven days a week.
Right?
They had certain times when they were on their own.
And the Levites, which most of them were descendants of, were not, they were never allotted
any ground there in Israel.
It was only the other tribes.
Levi wasn't.
They weren't a lot of ground.
But there was what they called in the Old Testament common land.
And so these common land pastures they could use.
And many of them had little bunches of cows and a little bunch of sheep
and farmed a little bit of ground, had some oxen.
And so it was dear to their heart, these animals.
Right?
Because when they weren't serving in the temple, they were just like everybody else.
That's funny.
people don't realize pastors are just like everybody else.
Probably worse sinners.
The pastors are usually worse sinners than anybody in the congregation.
Just say it, right?
Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
And that is simply because when Jesus saves somebody who's going to be a pastor,
he knows he must keep them on a really short chain.
Right?
That's why bad sinners get converted and become pastors.
And then the old saying, you know, in your congregation, how people try to con you,
you can't con a con.
Right?
You can't con a con.
Been there and done that.
That's where I love being at the school, you know, because those little kids would try to con me.
And I'm just going, I would say, I'm just a little kid that I ever knew.
You're not going to pull the wool over my eyes.
You're trying to tell me you're good.
I know you're not.
So he's saying, good or evil?
It's always good to do good, isn't it?
I would imagine.
And then he tells him in Matthew, or excuse me, Mark chapter 2, verse 27, he says, listen,
the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
In other words, you have control of the Sabbath.
Paul tells us that, right in the epistles.
He says, let everybody persuaded in their own mind.
It's important to have a day of rest where you just kind of take it easy, right?
That was the model that God gave us at creation.
And, but he said, choose what day is best for you.
There's groups that say, if you don't worship on the original Sabbath on Shabbat, on Saturday, you're going to hell.
Now, I don't believe that, obviously, but Sunday is not my Sabbath, right?
sometimes Saturday is, sometimes Monday is,
but not Sunday,
because here I be.
You wonder why sit during worship?
Because I've got to stand up here.
Why, you are all sitting.
So I sit while you stand.
Just turnabout's fair, probably, right?
But they had,
they had exchanged the righteousness of God for their own righteousness.
They had elevated themselves.
They had lifted themselves up to this place where they thought they were so much better.
And they were involved in a parade of self-righteousness before men.
They thought way too highly of themselves, these people did.
Therefore, their parade was really a charade.
Right?
they were just presenting themselves as something that they weren't,
that they weren't really genuine.
And nothing exposes the counterfeit like the genuine.
So the contrast between Jesus and these people,
these leaders, these Pharisees, was pretty striking, I'm sure.
So Jesus heals the guy, he lets him go.
And then he challenges them personally.
You guys.
You guys try to do good.
If you're, obviously, if you're going to lose a donkey or an ox or a lamb and a mud pit on the Sabbath,
no, you're going to try to save me, especially nowadays.
Prices are pretty high.
Those things are worth a lot.
And so he asked him.
And they could not answer him regarding these things.
They were dead silent.
they had no argument whatsoever
but no doubt
the hatred for Jesus was
was stirring
in their hearts
they couldn't answer him
because he knew he was right
so he tells them in a parable
listen you guys think you're way up here
listen to this this parable
so he tells them in starting in verse 7
So he told a parable to those who were invited when he noted how they chose the best places,
saying to them, when you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place,
less one more honorable than you be invited, you be invited by him, and he who invited you and him come and say to you, give place to this man.
And then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.
But when you are invited, go sit down in the lowest place.
So that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, go up higher.
Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled.
And he who humbles himself will be exalted.
When you're invited, show up in humility.
Go sit on the floor.
Right?
go sit on the floor
because this humility
was it was a theme
through scripture
we seen it in the lives of
men they did
the previous men in fact the one they were trying to
honor this man Moses
look what it says about him in Numbers
chapter 12 verse 3
and it says now the man Moses was very
humble more than all men who were on
the face of the earth
Moses was a humble man
he's the one who got the law from
God went up and got face to face with the Lord, didn't have to eat or drink anything for 40
days. He was a spiritual stud muffin. If anybody could have been exalted, it would have been Moses.
And yet he was the most humble man on the face of the earth. Why is that? Probably because
he had been in the presence of God. And the fear of the Lord gave him a great amount of wisdom.
So he was humble, Moses was.
And then David, the one who they called Jesus the son of David,
because David's throne, when it was established,
God said it was going to last forever.
The throne of David would last forever.
It's going to last forever.
Jesus is going to be sitting on the throne of David when he comes back.
The throne of David is going nowhere.
In 2. Samuel, he says, with the pure, you will show yourself pure. This is David. With the devious, you will show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people. But your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down. For you or my lamp, O Lord, the Lord shall enlighten my darkness.
David knew that God had called him, and he was humbled by it.
He was humbled by the idea that when Samuel anointed him king, in place of Bible trivia, Saul, right?
He anointed him king.
He told him, listen, the kingdom's going to be ripped out of your hands because Saul had grabbed Samuel's cloak, and Samuel tore it away,
and he had a piece of his cloak in his hand.
And Samuel turned around and looked at Saul.
He said, listen, God is going to tear the kingdom from your hand
and give it to somebody else.
A ruddy little shepherd boy named David.
And David was humbled by that.
But Samuel had rebuked Saul because at one time Saul was humble.
This scares me.
This really scares me.
Because you can be humble and then,
pride can enter in and you can get elevated, much like Louisifer.
When we see him in Louis Saffir, yeah.
You can read about him in Ezekiel chapter 28 and Luke chapter 14, or excuse me, Isaiah
chapter 14.
And so he told him, 1st Samuel chapter 15, verse 17.
So Samuel said to Saul, he says,
when you were little in your own eyes, you were not head of the tribes of Israel.
When you were little, you were small in your own eyes, you were humble.
You realized what you were.
The Bible says in the Psalms, we're just a breath.
We're just here and gone.
Man, it is very best.
I read it this morning, right?
It says, men of low degree are but a vapor.
Men of high degree are a lie.
Why? Because they think way too highly of themselves.
And that's your problem and my problem for the most part.
That's something we'll struggle with our whole lives.
So the contrast between David and Saul,
when Saul saw the bigness of God, he was small.
And he saw the smallness of himself.
But when he lost sight,
of the greatness of God, then he assumed that position of greatness.
And the Bible says that God will not share his glory with another.
But David never lost sight of God's greatness, even though he was a murderer and an adulteress.
to her.
You wouldn't have, yeah.
You guys know what I mean.
Masheba was, right?
They both should have been stoned for what they did.
In fact, David thought he was going to get stoned.
Not, you know, but rocked.
David thought he was going to get rocked for what he did with Basheba
when that big, big, pointy prophet finger from Nathan came to him and said,
you're the man. He says, but you're not going to die. Though you should, for what you've done,
you're not going to die. And so David, he goes to the house of the Lord. Check this out.
Second Samuel chapter 7. It's several verses, but hang with me. If you have a Bible,
you can turn there and read along, maybe highlight some of it. It's really good stuff.
It's 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 17 to 24. And it says, then David went in and sat before the Lord.
David was not afraid to sit on the floor.
And he sat before the Lord and he said,
Who am I, O Lord God?
And what is my house that you have brought me this far?
And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God,
and you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come.
Is this the manner of man?
O Lord God.
Now what more can David say to you?
For you, Lord God, know your servant.
For your words' sake, and according to your own heart,
you have done all these great things to make your servant know them.
Therefore, you are great, O Lord God,
for there is none like you, nor is there any God beside you according to all that we have heard with our ears.
And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people to make for himself a name?
And to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land.
Before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations, and the nations,
their gods, for you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever. And you, Lord,
have become their God. That is a humble man right there, David. He knew who God was. He knew
that God should have killed him. That's where we get that beautiful Psalm in Psalm 51,
where it says, creating me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit.
within me. Cast me not away from your Holy Spirit. And so David was humble, a great insight for you and I.
Not only that, but his son Solomon was even a humble guy, even though he was a lusty dog.
Solomon recognized. He said, you are God in heaven and here am I on earth. I'm going to let my words be
you.
And I don't know what your words to the Lord are right now.
It might be like mine are on a consistent basis.
Oh, Lord, help.
Oh, Lord, help me.
Lord, help me.
Help me walk with you.
Help me be faithful with my wife.
Help me to be a good example to my kids.
Lord, help me.
Because I'm not any of those things without him.
Jesus finishes.
So he tells these guys, listen, don't.
Be careful where you're sick, man.
When you show up somewhere, sit on the floor.
Because from the floor, every place else is up, right?
Every place else is up.
Just sit on the floor.
And so that's what I like about David.
He was the full package.
This man was a mighty warrior.
He was a passionate worshipper.
He was an incredible repenter.
how good are you you repenting right that's a really good quality you have be a good repenter
that's what billy graham said makes the best marriages i think it was his wife that said it
a good marriage is made up of two good forgivers right two good forgivers you know in marriage as well
as i do you have to keep pretty short accounts to make things work guys so she don't
kill you or poison your coffee or whatever which I'm sure she wants to occasionally.
So in verse 12 through 14 it says then he said to him who invited him when you give a
dinner or a supper do not ask your friends your brothers your relatives
nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maim, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you,
for you shall be paid at the resurrection of the just.
This is convicting to me.
Because, you know, a lot of times, hey, let's go eat, sure.
Go ahead. You can pay this time. I paid last time.
He said, no, no, no, no. It's not that we don't do that because we, obviously, we're all guilty of that.
But when's the last time you gathered up, you know, four or five people from the mission?
He said, come on, let's go have dinner.
They can't pay you back. They won't pay you back.
But notice what he says. It's powerful.
He said, listen.
you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
You get your payback.
Unless you just want to pat on the back.
Then the Bible says you have a payback.
As soon as you tell people, yeah, we grab some homeless people and went and had dinner.
You have your reward, the Bible says.
Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, the scripture says.
Right?
Bless people.
Bless people who can't give it in return.
And give without expecting.
anything in return. Jesus
tells us in Matthew 5, people don't like this
scripture. It says, but I tell you, not to resist an evil person,
but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other also.
I don't like that.
No, I want to, if he slaps me, I'm going to punch him.
You know, he knocks out one tooth.
No, I want to knock out all his.
That's just our nature, right?
No, but Jesus says, turn the other cheek to him also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with them two.
You realize how seriously against our nature this is.
None of us can do this unless God empowers us to do it.
Paul reminds us in Philippians 2.3,
do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,
but rather in humility, value others above yourselves,
even those who slap you in the face.
I ain't got that.
I just don't.
But God can give it to you if you're willing.
I've got to tell you a story.
So my boy Buster, he does worship for us.
When he was about 12, we went to, took the youth to a big party down in Natsupaw.
They had a big concert called Rock the Canyon.
Rock the Canyon.
I've shared this story with you before.
So we're down there.
We're at, you know, at Nat Supaa playing, you know, they're playing, you know, I don't
know what they do, and chicken, what do they get on shoulders.
Anyway, Buster's on this kid's shoulder.
Well, this high school kid, Buster's in seventh grade, this high school kid comes flying
in there and just rips him across the face, bloodies and nose, rips him down into the
water.
And this kid's like a senior in high school, and Buster's in seventh grade.
And I see it happen.
That's my boy.
I love my boy.
I see it happen.
And I got to tell you, everything within me wanted to grab that boy, put him under the water until he quit kicking.
Everything in me wanted to do that.
And this boy that was with us, he did not know Buster was my son.
and so I went up to
and I said hey why'd you do that
oh that buster kid he's such a
push and you know
he's giving me the right act why he don't like him
and I go
and I turned around I got out of the pool
and our youth pastor's standing
he's a great big guy like 6-3
300 pounds
he looks at me he goes wow
that was a lot of restraint
but I realized at that moment
and of course I was in trouble
family because bus was looking at me like dad you're my dad are you going to protect me i mean he was
bleeding a little bit he was all right it's long ways from his heart but and then my mom and then my wife
he went and told mom and then i i was in i was in the doghouse with my family for a little while
but i finally told him i said listen you guys if i would have done what i wanted to do of course i'd be
in prison but if i would have really came down hard on that kid then i would have lost the
opportunity to minister to it right
And so, it's, it's, you've got to have God to do this stuff.
This Christian life, it's a supernatural life.
You have to have the Holy Spirit to be able to navigate hard things like that.
But he'll help you in that moment.
If you humble yourself, if you'll sit on the floor and say, oh Lord, I need you.
I know what I am.
But more importantly, I know who you are.
And I know what you are.
And you can make something out of nothing.
So help me become nothing that you can make something out of me.
Because Paul tells us, he says, when a man thinks he is something when he is nothing.
The thought is, every man is nothing.
Every man, woman and child is really nothing in the big picture.
Have you seen how small we are on this earth?
Can you see us from space?
No, we're a speck on a speck.
The important thing is to fear God, right?
Proverbs encourages, I'm going to close with this.
Proverbs 1533, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom.
And before honor is humility.
For you ever to be lifted up in honor, humility has to come first.
I used to tell the kids at Water Springs this when we started our sports program.
We usually took two years for us to win a game.
I mean, we would get demolished.
I mean, blown out.
And I would tell the kids this verse,
humility comes before honor.
Just get used to eating that crow because there's a lot of it's coming.
Right?
But then I would tell them, just remember.
Remember that when you demolish somebody,
you know how it feels, right?
So you better win gracefully.
Proverbs 18, 12,
before destruction, the heart of man is haughty
and before honor is humility.
This is a great study in humility.
Just learn to sit on the floor
because it's a good place.
Because like I said,
every place from there is up.
Hey, I'm going to invite the prayer team to come up.
You all want to stand.
We're going to pray.
And then I think I might even do a song here.
Father, we come before you right now,
and I just want to encourage people, Lord, to humble themselves before you, Lord,
and not be afraid of being low
because you tell us here in this word
that whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
And Lord, we just want to be with you.
When time comes, we want to go up and not down.
And so teach us, teach us to walk in humility.
And I just pray for anyone who needs a
a touch from the Lord or maybe you need to stand in for somebody just thinking of people who
have extreme heartache right now i just lift up brother arlin to you lord and just pray that
you'd be with him and the land is family lord and others who are just struggling the hicks family
lord and uh lord that death has come and uh it it casts a pretty long shadow and yet
Yet though we go through that valley of the shadow of death, Lord, you're with us.
We don't have to fear.
So we just praise you for that, Lord.
And pray that you would hear the humble requests of your people.
And Lord, that we would walk in that humility this week, just knowing what a great and almighty God we serve, Lord, that we're not forgotten, that you're with us, no matter how small we feel.
Just pray for our area here in eastern Idaho, so much suicide among us.
the young people, Lord, would you just draw them to yourself? Let them know, Lord, they're valued by
you. You love them. You have a plan for their life. Lord, they can't even imagine. Lord, would you
rescue them out of that darkness and those lives? So, Father, we just love you. We praise you.
And pray that you'd be with us this week, that we would walk in your ways and that we would have your
will be done in each one of our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.