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The Humble · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about the word that that we have this morning, something to look at and what something to talk about here.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: And it's about the bigness and the greatness of God, really.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: All of his ways, his patience, his gentleness, his kindness, his love, all these words that we can use, how it affects us and how it how it's doing what the book of Titus told us he would.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: He said his grace, grace would teach us how to live righteously and soberly in this present world.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: In this present world.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: What do you think about when you think about this present world?
0:51
SPEAKER_00: I know right now with all the noise that's going on, there's a lot of concern that's that's going on.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: And we're navigating this thing.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: We're all doing our best to navigate this present world.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: But grace shows us something.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Grace, His grace, teaches us something.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Not only the grace that we know is demonstrated in the gospel and what that means for us, and how that how that gives us absolutely no condemnation and allows us to have a free and open relationship with our Heavenly Father, it does all of that.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: But the effect that it has on us, how it's how that grace allows us to apply that godliness that God has given us to this life.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: We want to look at that.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: So I want to start by looking at Matthew chapter 5, and and this message is very, very, very much inspired by what uh Joey taught us last week.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't able to be here.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: Judy and I travel so much, and that's why you don't see us here all the time.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: But um, but we keep up with what with everything that's going on, and and uh I was really, really blessed and touched by um uh by by the heart that that that that was spoken with last week.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: And um I know that sound.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: That's a sound that it's like it touches a certain note, and I'm like, oh, that's what I'm all about.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: I I like that, that's what's happening in my heart.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And I see and I'm excited uh for I'm excited for me personally because of the the vision that I'm that I'm having, um the path that I'm seeing uh to walk in and to navigate this world with.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: And by that same token, I'm also excited about us here at Grace Church, because if you listen, if you listen to what's been spoken lately here, there there's there's there's a path that's being given.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: There's a place for us to move forward uh in this time.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: It's very important uh and very good and very powerful.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: And then I see the body at large that it's given uh for uh for for the body at large to move forward and to operate in uh what we would call godliness, really.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: And when the when when the Bible talks about, for instance, in the book of Titus, about how grace shows us uh that, it's that grace that's operating in our lives.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: It's teaching us something and it's showing us things.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: So let's get into this.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 5.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: I want to read this passage, and I'm reading it from a certain version because of the, I like I like the wording, but it says this, beginning in verse 13.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why you are here.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: I love the way that starts right there.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: That you've got my ears right now.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why you're here.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: You're here to be the salt seasoning that brings out the God flavors of this earth.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
3:50
SPEAKER_00: So we see that we're here so that people can taste godliness.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Somehow we've been able to taste some and we appreciate every bit of it that we've tasted, right?
4:00
SPEAKER_00: We've never, I don't, I don't know about you, but I've never tasted any godliness and said, oh, I didn't like that.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: I've liked all of it.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Um you say, even the correction?
4:09
SPEAKER_00: For me, honestly, especially the correction, um, I like when my mind gets changed because it just it takes it takes me out of usually being sad about something into being joyful.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: It takes me out of being scared of something into being uh fearless.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh it it's just always something better, the correction that goes on in our mind and our perceptions and our mindsets.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: But he says, he says, but if we lose that saltiness, in other words, we carry a certain element that the spirit of the world doesn't carry.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: They're doing their thing, the best they can, but we see that it's a mess.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: But we're carrying a certain something from heaven, a certain sound, a certain seed, uh, a certain way that there is a godliness that we carry.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: There's a there certainly is that love that we carry, which encompasses all of it.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: He says, but if we lose that saltiness, how will the earth taste it?
4:58
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the thing that's unique to us as offspring of God, children of the kingdom of God, let's not neglect that.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: There is something that's particular, peculiar to us that we carry because of what we've tasted, what we've experienced, and how we relate with our Heavenly Father.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh something has been imparted to us that we're carrying, and we're doing it, not only has it blessed us, but we're doing it for the world around us.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
5:31
SPEAKER_00: You've lost your usefulness and you end up in the garbage.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Here's another way to put it: you're here to be light, bringing out the God colors in the world.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: God's not a secret to be kept.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: If I make you light bearers, you don't think I'm gonna hide you under a bucket, do you?
5:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm putting you on a light stand.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand, shine.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: I love this next part.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Keep open house.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Be generous with your lives, or be open.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about, what I want us to talk about this morning, is humility, really.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: It's a part of godliness that that we would uh define as humility.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: In fact, my clever title for this is that the humble will not bumble, stumble, or fumble or crumble, you could say.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: But but but humility is is something that's very, very, very, very powerful.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: And let me just give you a uh briefly, let me give you an example that comes to mind because I saw it come up, I saw it uh uh something I I posted on the internet, and it was a story that I had, and I've told it around here, um, that where when I was younger and playing sports, playing baseball, I was very upset at an umpire who I thought was was persecuting me.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: I thought he was calling a bad game, and I thought he was, he, he, he didn't like me, and so he was cheating and and making me look bad, and I was blaming him for everything, and I was mad, and I was a I was a young hothead of a kid, and I just I was a uh you know, when I look back at that, I think, who was that guy?
7:10
SPEAKER_00: But uh, but I'm I'm I'm cussing and I'm and I'm um trying to embarrass this grown man who's the umpire behind the plate, and and my pitching kept getting worse, so finally I get pulled out, and I'm in the dugout and I'm hollering and I'm cussing at the umpire and calling him, saying all kinds of things about him.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: And then the uh my coach, we call him the manager of the team, sent sends me out to coach third base, and I'm out there uh, you know, standing there between innings, and the other team's warming up, and this umpire takes off his mask and starts walking towards me, and and and he comes and stands right next to me, and now I'm scared because I know I'm about to get everything I deserve.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: I know I've been acting out of order, I know that you know that I've been a jerk, and and I also know that he's got all the authority, he's got all the power, he can do anything, he can kick me out of the game, he can just chew me out.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: He's a grown man, he can do anything he wants, basically.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: And when he got there, he got real close to me and quietly told me, and he said, he said, he says, Rick, don't be upset with me.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm doing the best I can.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and I'm not against you.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: He says, I may not be doing a very good job, but I'm trying.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: And uh he says, I really believe in you.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: And he says, he says, I think you're the best player out here.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and you know, you're I'm gonna see you in that all-star game, and and and I'm gonna be cheering.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: I won't be behind the plate, don't worry about it.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: I'll be cheering for you.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, and he was just he he he came with humility.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the effect was this me as a kid, I just started crying.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: It broke my heart in a beautiful way.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I just it just it just broke me.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: This this power that he that he brought with that gentleness and that humility overpowered me, it overwhelmed me.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: And it and and it it it totally changed me, at least for that night.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: In a moment, not only did it disarm me with all this hate and venom that I was that I was carrying towards him, but it I I suddenly liked this guy.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: His words that he came with, the heart that he came with, he was such a gentle, meek soul, humble.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: He basically took the blame for the game.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: He said, I know I'm not doing a good job.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Came at me with such meekness and gentleness and humility, but he was such a powerful man in bringing that.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: It changed everything that night.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: It changed me.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and when we look at that, you know, if we look at the word, we see the kingdom telling us things like this.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Jesus would say, you know, in the world, he says, he says, people try to lord things over you.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: They try to use strength, they like to control and overpower, but it won't be like that in the kingdom.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, and then Paul would say things like, you know, the weakness of God, the things that look like weakness, when we're talking about God, they're stronger than the power and the strength of men.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And what so we we we see all that.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing a story about somebody who said that their their grandfather or somebody was, you know, on their deathbed and was laying there and you know, is basically almost comatose, you know, just laying there, they're waiting for him to die.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly he he looks up and with a loud voice says, I see it.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: He says, It's all backwards, everything is backwards.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: And he was talking about everything that we thought, everything that we operated in, is totally the opposite, differently, than what he was seeing about heaven.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: But this is where the power is, this is where the godliness is, and this salt that we carry is a powerful thing.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Is it meek?
10:38
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Is it gentle?
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Is it humble?
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Is it loving?
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Is it nice?
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: But what looks sometimes to be the most weak things to the perspective of men are really the powerful things, and that's why Paul even said Jesus was crucified through weakness on purpose, right?
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, he had his chance to prove he was right.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: If you're really who you say you are, come down from that cross and we read the angels are ready.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus stayed because of what he what he what he knew.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: When I think of that umpire in that game, and I think of people like that, I think what a powerful, powerful man that was.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: And I had never seen anybody operate like that.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: I'd never seen anybody deal with me before like that.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: I expected him to deal with me like everybody else did.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: They were tired of this punk kid, they would just, they'd had enough of me, you know, they would just put me in my place, and this guy did something differently, and I've never forgotten it.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Because him arguing with me, standing his ground, and being right would never have changed my perception.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Only his humility changed my perception about him and about everything.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk about perception now as we get into this.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: So let me give you a definition of perception, because we all have them, don't we?
12:04
SPEAKER_00: I've got four definitions for you.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: The first is a definition of the word perception.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: A perception is the lens or the mindset through which we view reality, and we all have different perceptions of things.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: We might be looking at the same thing, but we have different perceptions.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I spoke to my my mother on on Mother's Day, and I and I was recalling how recently she had seen something I'd written in one of my books about how I grew up and angry and frustrated.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, I just give you gave you an example of that with the baseball story and uh and how I was in those days.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: And she and she and she was speaking to me and she says, Why did you write that in your book?
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, mom, because I was.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: She's like, No, you weren't.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Mom, you know, we get there's two of us.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: There's me and I've got a brother.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, are you sure you're not thinking about him?
12:53
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was like, Don't you remember what I did?
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Mom, I've done this, I did that.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: Remember, all I started naming all these things.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just come came to mind quickly.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: And she she was just like, oh, you were just going through things.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: All boys do that.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Mom, I was horrible.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: But we had two different perceptions.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: In my perception, I describe me as, you know, kind of a really ugly thing.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: And in her perception, it's completely different.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: But we're looking at the same thing, but it's different lenses.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
13:23
SPEAKER_00: And so uh and so that's what we have as we look at reality.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, another word I want to give you is mindset, which is related to perception.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: A mindset is a strong belief that is formed by experiences, education, or information, uh, and culture.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: And so we that's why there's so many different perceptions.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: They're all formed by these different things that we that we know, that we experience, and that we've read, and and and so on.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: So, what they do is they form a mindset that we have, and it, and, and that gives us a strong belief in something.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: So, this is why when we look at the world, there is so much so much fighting, and everybody's heels are dug in because they are looking through a different through different lenses, and they're sure that theirs is right.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: And and and nobody's going to budge.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: You look out there at the world.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Do you see anybody ready to budge on anything?
14:17
SPEAKER_00: And and and that may not be the answer anyway, but but everybody's got a strong mindset, everybody's got different perceptions.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Another word I want to give you is reality.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Sort of related to that, but it goes a little beyond that.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Now, reality is not just a perception, because perception is looking at reality, but but it can be obscured by that by the lens that we look through.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Reality is the true state of something regardless of our perception.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: In other words, whether we think God is good or whether we think God is bad, it He doesn't change just because of our perception.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: And I've had, in my lifetime, I've looked through both of those lenses.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I looked at God, the reality, you know, God is real, but I looked at God through through a certain mindset, a perception, a lens that it made me afraid of him.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: I didn't love him.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: I might have, at best, I respected him, I certainly feared him.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: I would have nightmares before I came to the Lord.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: People were preaching to me, people were always trying to get me to come to the Lord, and I was scared.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And I would have nightmares because most of what they were telling me, the information I was getting was things about the end of the world's coming and you know, Jesus is coming back, and boy, is he mad.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And he, and you know, especially at people like me, and boy, you better change and you better be ready.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: And and I and I didn't feel like I was, and I would have nightmares at night, at nightmares, not nightmares about vampires, monsters, you know, enemy armies invading them.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have nightmares like that.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: My nightmares were about God.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: I had a perception.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Of course, now I got a different perception.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: When I you mentioned God, or I mean, you're just it's just beautiful, it's loving.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: It's like, ah, yeah, daddy.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: But it's a different perception.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: And that has has come because my perception has changed because of information that has changed me.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: I've tasted and seen that he is good.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Somebody asked me, you know, before I got up this morning, came up here this morning, said, said, said, Are you are you ready?
16:19
SPEAKER_00: Are you excited?
16:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, honestly, I said, I love doing this.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: I just, I just I just love getting up and talking about God.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: It's just the sweetest thing that you can do is just look at, think about, and talk at talk about God.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: The fourth word is realization.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: A realization is also, it's like what we would call an epiphany or an awareness.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: It's the awareness of reality through a change of perception.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: You look through a different lens.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: You get, as Joey was saying, he was using that word last week, a reset happens.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: You can do it right in the middle of a situation.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: He gave an example of how, like, you know, something somebody can do something and it can immediately anger you for a moment, but then you make a choice because you you you you realize I can look at this differently.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And so you just you just you do it.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: You choose to do it, and you get a reset, and then it's like, then you're cool, then you're gentle.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Like the umpire, you know, I don't know what went through his mind, but it's very possible that he thought, boy, I can sure straighten this kid out.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: He needs a little discipline right now.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: He could have thought that, but wouldn't, but maybe he had a reset and said, No, what that boy needs is some of this.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: He needs some salt.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lose my saltiness just because his kid's trying to embarrass me.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lose my light just because his kid's bringing all kinds of darkness.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: A reset.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me show you something.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: How many have seen this?
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Let's have the picture of the dress.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: How many have seen this?
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh do we have the picture?
17:55
SPEAKER_00: How many have seen this on the internet?
17:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what color is the dress?
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say blue and gold?
18:03
SPEAKER_00: How many say blue and gold?
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says blue and black?
18:07
SPEAKER_00: How many say blue and gold?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Let me see.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: How many say blue and black?
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says black and white.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: I want my first, I want my blue and gold.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm a blue and gold person.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, excuse me.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: How many see white and gold?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, no wonder.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's more hands.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay, keep them up.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Everybody look around.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: Look at all these people that see white and gold dress here.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: Now put your hands up.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: How many see a blue and black dress?
18:35
SPEAKER_00: Look around, everybody.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Look at these people.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: There's the same amount.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Same number of people.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: White and gold.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Blue and black.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: You can't have two different more different colors.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many of you are thinking how many see it white and gold right now?
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand again.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many of you think that all those that raised up their hands that saw blue and black, how many of you think something is wrong with them?
19:01
SPEAKER_00: I was in a church a couple of weeks ago and I did this, and and and I said, Well, I see white and gold.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And this other lady who happened to see blue and black afterwards, she was concerned with me.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: She was like, Are you okay?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Are you colorblind?
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Do you see other colors differently too?
19:17
SPEAKER_00: And she never considered that maybe she was seeing the wrong colors.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Because that's how we do with our perception.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: We don't consider that maybe we're wrong.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: We're thinking something's wrong with the other people.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Right now you're wondering, how could they see that?
19:30
SPEAKER_00: How could they see blue and black?
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Or the blue and black people are saying, How can you see white and gold?
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Where?
19:37
SPEAKER_00: I was at one church and they said, Go up to the screen and show me where the black is or where the gold is.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, it's right there where the gold is.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, How do you get gold out of that?
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, how do you get black out of that?
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Go.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: And and and and they're so people have different perceptions.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And the point I'm making is that we automatically think, we don't we don't consider that what we're seeing is wrong.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: I I've never heard anybody say, yeah, I guess I'm I guess my my eyes are seeing it wrong.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Everybody thinks that it's the other people that are seeing it wrong.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of how we are in life, aren't we?
20:15
SPEAKER_00: That's I mean it just seems like in my observations, if we think it, it's right.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: And and so what do we do with all of this?
20:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we do it with just even with um theological discussions, don't we?
20:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you'll you you start talking to somebody, especially if you do it where it's not a good, you know, it's not doing it online's not a good place to do it.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: It just, you know.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and no, and and nobody gives in.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like somebody will say something, then you can think of something that'll counter that, and then they can counter your thing, and it just goes and goes, and and nothing ever, and nobody even thinks of of usually they don't think of looking through the other lens.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: And this is this is the trick to it.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: It's looking through the other lens.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean that you'll always agree with the person as you look through the other lens, but at least you can understand that they have a lens, and so do you.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: And you're looking through it, and then that there's, and then you can you can you can operate in in humility.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Jesus understood and understands things.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: How many of God understands you?
21:16
SPEAKER_00: He may not say everything I do is really great and wonderful, but he sure knows why I do it.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Right?
21:25
SPEAKER_00: And just understanding that allows him to be big enough to have room for the things that I do that he wouldn't do.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: Right?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Because he understands why I do what I do, and because he understands he cares about that.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: And the good thing is he's good enough and big enough, and it's his way and his nature to deal with that for my sake.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Not because he's got some rules that I'm breaking and it makes him mad, but because he likes me.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And he cares about me, and and and and he helps us like that because we're the kind of people that say, Father, show me your way.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Teach me your ways.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: I remember praying this many times.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I want to see what you see.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: I want to feel what you feel.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: I want to know what you know.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: And we're all growing in that direction if we're growing, if we haven't closed ourselves up and said, this is the box, I'm right.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: I've understand it all.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: This is where it's at.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: If we haven't done that, then we continue to move forward in this and we grow in the knowledge of God.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we keep changing our lenses.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have done that many times?
22:31
SPEAKER_00: I know I have.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I just keep changing my lenses.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm looking at it this way, and I think, oh, this is what it is, this is what it looks like.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: And then as you grow, it's like your perception changes, and now I see it through another lens.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: The things I say right now, I would have never said 20 years ago because of the lens I was looking at.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: The reality was always there.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: And I was talking about God, just like all the other people in ministry and Christians were talking about God, but we were all talking about Him from different angles.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And because we didn't give room for other people to have a different perception, we would fight and we would, I mean, some of them we can't even be friends anymore.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: It's funny and a little sad that we, you know, it's in our secular jobs, it's like we can disagree with somebody and still be friends with them.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of times in the church world, if if they think that the end of the world or the end of time or something is different than what yours is, it's like after a while they're scared of you.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Perceptions.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, what this all funnels down to is how do we operate and navigate in all this?
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, I like humility.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: I like this this big thing of humility that's allowing me to wrap my arms around more and more of the whole world with all of their different perceptions in mind.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: And some of them are diametrically opposed to what I believe in and what I see.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean that that I say it's right, just like Jesus doesn't tell the adulterous woman, yeah, adultery's good and it's cool, keep doing it.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't do that.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: But he's still big enough to wrap his arms around her and her, the action that she's doing.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus said something really good.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: I love the translation here.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Matthew 18, verses 3 and 4.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: He says, Learn this well.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable and learn about heaven's kingdom realm with the wide-eyed wonder of a child, you will never be able to enter in.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Whoever continually humbles himself to become like this gentle child is the greatest in heaven's kingdom realm.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: And why does he say that to become like a little child because a little child doesn't think he knows everything?
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Now he didn't say, he wasn't talking about teenagers.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about little children.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: He says, children don't think that they know everything.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that wasn't funny to you.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I was the only teenager that thought I knew everything, and of course you look at that like didn't know anything.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we know the Bible tells us as Christians, uh, Paul wrote and he said, if any man thinks he knows something, right?
25:12
SPEAKER_00: If any man thinks he knows something, he knows nothing like he should.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Now that's humbling right there, but it's also good news because it gives me room to say, oh good.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: What I see is not the end-all to beat all here.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: What I see is is just a partial thing, and I can see more.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And if I see more, then it stands to reason that my lens will change when I see more, right?
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the excitement of the path that we're that our feet are on as we continue to walk in this, we can expect to see things that we're not seeing right now.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: We can expect to understand things that we don't understand right now.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: We can expect to have grace and and and and and love and patience for things that we just don't have right now.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Because our perception is going to change and it's gonna get it's gonna get better and brighter, and whatever it is, whatever the changes are, and I don't know what they all are, but whatever they are, I do know that it will be like him.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: It will be how he sees, and that's exciting, right?
26:15
SPEAKER_00: I I can't express how excited I am about it, just to think about it, because because we're already seeing beauty.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Because grace has taught us to see that beauty.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: That's the godliness.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: When he says he's taught that grace is teaching us godliness and to live godly and soberly in this world, he's not saying grace is teaching us how to keep a set of rules.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: We're learning God, we're learning his heart, we're learning graciousness, we're learning love, we're learning humility, we're learning understanding, we're learning to be big.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: We're learning how to navigate this present world.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Not only navigate, but how to salt it and light it, how to change it.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Because if we just keep wrestling around in the world's arena, we'll lose.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Good news, it's not going to happen.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: We're not losing.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: The salt will not go away, the light will not go away, the kingdom and the increase of it, and the increase of peace will never will never end.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: But the way that humility works, remember, James chapter 4, 6 says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, we see the uh we see many of the Pharisees that rejected what Jesus was saying, and and he loved them.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: You read you read about it, he was giving them every opportunity with every kind of way you could think of, every kind of teaching, every kind of parable, every kind of explanation, uh trying to bring them in, as he said, just like a like a mother hen would gather her chicks.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: He was trying to do that because he loved them.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: I know he loved them because when he before he was crucified, when he was sitting on the hill looking down over Jerusalem, he cried.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: And you look up that word, it means he sobbed bitterly.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: He just broke down and cried because they would they wouldn't come to him when he when he gave him the invitation.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: And he and that and he said, and he said, you know, you guys say that you already see.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: That's why your your blindness, your sin remains.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: You you're locked into where you are.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there's nothing for me to work with here.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: You already say you know it, you already say you're right.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: And he says, unless you become like a child, this is who he's talking to.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Unless you become like these guys.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: This wide-eyed wonder, unless you come and say, Show me, teach me to tie my shoes, show me what that is.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Tell me how to do it.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Why do you do that?
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Come like a child.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what the kingdom of God is, and that's how we are.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: We're coming not like proud religious Christians.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: We're coming to Him.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: This this grace has opened up our hearts, and we're like, Lord, there's a whole lot of things for me to learn.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: This is beautiful.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: This thing that you've given me, this grace that you've given me, this love that you love me with, this patience you've treated me with, all these things, this is so beautiful.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Teach me your ways, lead me in your paths.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: And this humility, it works, works on us.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: It gives us a different perception, and it works on three levels, doesn't it?
29:21
SPEAKER_00: It changes our perception toward God.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Even to see that, we had to humble ourselves, didn't we?
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Because, or at least I did, I had a certain perception.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And and initially I resisted people talking about how good, loving, and gracious God was in the way that they were showing it, because I had this other mindset.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: And I had rules and I had judgment, and I had certain things in mind here that had to be in the equation.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't want to, I didn't want to trade my lens that I was looking at God through.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: So I I resisted.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: How did I ever get this?
29:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, somewhere I opened up, somewhere I was humble enough, and I guess it's when I laid on that floor when I was finally, I was, I broke down.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: I said, That's it, it's not working, Lord.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: That was a humility.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, what I've what I'm trying here is not working.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: And then God had something to work with there.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, let me show you how it really is.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: And he gave me a new lens, a new mindset.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: And I've been learning these ways ever since.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: How about you?
30:24
SPEAKER_00: So it changes our, it changes our mindset toward God, changes our perception of God, it changes our perception of us, that we are lovable, that we are worthy, it changes our perception of each other, because if he's that good to me, then certainly he thinks that way of you too.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: So, so so you're cool too, you're all in this, and so I can be patient and loving and gracious toward you because God likes me and He must really like you the same way.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: And so, wow, we got a good deal, all of us here, and it's not about your behavior so much anymore.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: It's not about what you do or didn't do and what rules you're breaking and which rules you're it's it's not about any of that.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: You're precious and you're deserving of love just as much as I am.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: And then it spreads out to, and if that's true, and if that's true, then maybe God is seeing the world in a way that a lot of us aren't seeing it.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna take a different lens for sure.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: But I'm excited because we're growing, and as we see really how He does, we're gonna be able to solve this world.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: We're bringing something in to the king from the kingdom, from the kingdom of heaven.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Not fighting for a kingdom cause, but bringing a certain thing in from the kingdom.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Why is it hard to get different perceptions?
31:42
SPEAKER_00: I got four quick things I want to go over here.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Number one reason it's hard for us to trade in our lens, our perception, is because if I do that, then it means I have to admit that I'm wrong about something.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: Or I might be wrong about something, and that just I just don't want to do that.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: It just it just it just hurts.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: We like confirmation, we like affirmation.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: This is why we've now, in the world, we've created, we've got these echo chambers that we all sit in, right?
32:07
SPEAKER_00: In our social media and our different groups and our different things, and and we talk with we talk with people that sound like us, and we confirm each other and all that, and then we're and so we're all have this lens, and then we're looking at people out there like, how in the world can they see a blue dress?
32:22
SPEAKER_00: Because all of us are seeing a white dress, and we, of course, we obviously we're obviously right.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: If I were to tell some of you what the real color is, because I found out what it is, it would you probably wouldn't believe me.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Why is it hard sometimes?
32:39
SPEAKER_00: It's because sometimes to humble ourselves or to or to possibly look through a different lens, uh, it seems to hinder our best interests sometimes.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: It might mess up my playhouse.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: Because I've got my theology and I've got my belief system and I've got my ways, and by golly, I know that I'm right.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: And if I consider something else, it might just mess up things.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: And for me it really did, and of course it was a good thing.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Number three is that if I do this, if I look at this with a different mindset, if I look at God through the lens of grace, if I look at me and you through the lens of God's graciousness, and I look at him through his, through his, look at you through his love, then it then it might overturn some other beliefs I have.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean about this and that and the other?
33:25
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean about God's judgment?
33:27
SPEAKER_00: And where does that apply?
33:28
SPEAKER_00: And what about this?
33:29
SPEAKER_00: And what about, but what about people's behavior?
33:32
SPEAKER_00: That's the one we always ask, right?
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, God is gracious.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Jesus paid for sin, all of that.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: But come on, what about our behavior?
33:38
SPEAKER_00: So we have to deal with that.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: Not overturn other beliefs.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: We like to have our beliefs in a nice tidy box.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: But God is just wonderful.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: He's good and he's big.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all hearing anything?
33:53
SPEAKER_00: Y'all agree that he is big.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: And for the reason we don't do that that it's hard for us to humble ourselves and to consider a different perception or a different lens, is that uh because of heuristics.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, we all know what heuristics means.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: I just learned the other day I looked it up.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Heuristics means it's these mental shortcuts that our brain makes.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: It allows us to make judgments quickly.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: So we have these go-to baselines.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I'm in a certain situation, I see somebody that dresses a certain way that might look scary to me in a dark alley, so I immediately go to the other side of the side of the street.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Without I don't have to think about it.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to consider any other thing.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: It's just this automatic go-to uh, you know, to to make sure I'm taking care of me.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: It's this thing our brain does for us that we don't have to think.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: So this is why we do things like sometimes when somebody will contradict me, my brain will just say, Oh, they don't know what they're talking about because they're just that kind of person, and da-da-da-da-da.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: My brain will automatically go there to keep me right where I'm at.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Um But Jesus said in John chapter 8, verse 32, but you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: This word free is a big free.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of 2 Corinthians chapter 3, where he says, The Lord is the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and spiritual liberty.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual liberty comes from seeing.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: Seeing as God sees, and it gives us freedom from worldly perceptions.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Those perceptions that bring fear, anger, hate, worry, stress, frustration, hopelessness.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: Just those just hearing those words.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: What do they sound like?
35:42
SPEAKER_00: They sound like death.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: Right?
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Fear, anger, worry, stress, frustration, hopelessness.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: How many people do I talk to, and they're just like, they're telling me I'm Christians, offspring of God, carriers of salt and light, are being bogged down, burdened down with these kinds of things because of what we're seeing, what we're hearing, and what we're hearing is giving us perceptions.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking to I've been talking to some people who are offspring of God, carriers of salt and light, and they're fearful now.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh there has been a lens change.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of people that I know.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: We used to sit around and talk about Jesus a lot.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Now you get around them and they're talking about these horrible things that they're afraid of, preparing for.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: The frustrations, the worry, the fear.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
36:51
SPEAKER_00: A perception has been formed because of education or information that's been coming in.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: We're seeing things, we're hearing things.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: And then we get around our circles and we validate those things and remember, I'm here to remind us that those things are not of the kingdom.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Even coming out of my mouth, fear, worry, hate, taste like death.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that we once were in.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: God did not give us a spirit of that again, did He?
37:25
SPEAKER_00: He didn't give us a spirit of fear again to be in that kind of bondage.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: He gave us a spirit of power.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: A spirit of what?
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Love.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Love.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: L-O-V-E, love, and a sound mind.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: We know, we see.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual liberty on the other side of that coin, it means that it is freedom.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: It's freedom to live in the one and only great command.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: The one and only great command of love God, love people.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: One A and one B, right?
38:04
SPEAKER_00: And it causes, would y'all stand up?
38:08
SPEAKER_00: It causes joy.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: It causes peace.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: It brings gentleness, kindness, patience, self-control, all the fruit of the Spirit.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: That umpire came and poured every bit of these things on me.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: He brought gentleness, kindness, patience.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: He showed self-control.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: That man didn't have to prove to me he was right.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: That man was free from all of that.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says in Romans 8 that creation itself is waiting, looking for the glorious freedom of the sons of children of God, the offspring of God.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: And it goes on and it says, because creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of this world's corruption, according to the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
39:20
SPEAKER_00: Because of the freedom that that man operated in, he spilled freedom onto me.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: And I love when I can see that happen in my life and in our lives, when the same freedom that God has been bringing to us, we can spill it out on other people.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like exactly?
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
39:49
SPEAKER_00: But it's going to be beautiful, it's going to be good.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: It'll look like the fruit of the Spirit.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: It'll look like that same heart of God that changed my heart and your heart.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Do I see hope for this world?
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, absolutely.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: It's right here in the salt and in the light, and we're carrying that.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's exciting.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: Do I do it perfectly?
40:11
SPEAKER_00: No, I still bumble and stumble.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: But wow, I'm seeing much differently than I once did.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: And it's beautiful.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: And we can wake up with a smile in this present age.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Wake up with a smile because we wake up with our salt and our light.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing to this world?
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the world hates us, but we're keeping open house.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: Because all they are is hearts that are hurting, confused.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: Feeling these things.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Because of perception, stress, anger, frustration, hate.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: We understand that.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: But we're the healers.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: And the offspring of God, we have been and are being healed.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: And we're bringing healing.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: Powerful healing.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: It's bigger than just being nice, but it's powerful.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: And Father, you're glorious.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: First of all, let us thank you for what you've done for us.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your patience with us.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your enduring loving kindness.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your mercy.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your great grace that you've bestowed upon us.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: Because you wanted to, and that's just who you are.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for melting our hearts.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for changing our perceptions from what it once was.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for healing that which was hurting.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for healing that which was broken.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: Father, we treasure that.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: And we take that same power and help us.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: Bless us that we might not cause pain, but we would bring life.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: Bring life.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for grace church.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the seed and the sound that you put in our hearts.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: And I thank you for the sense of adventure that we carry as we walk out of here today.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: We give you all thanks in Jesus' name.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: Can you all say amen?
42:34
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: I love you guys.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: Happy Memorial Day.