Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / The Message of the Cross

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The Message of the Cross · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: I love what how God is speaking this morning.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Um as everybody's sharing God's got a word for us.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I I I love that he cares that much.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: I love that he um that he meets us in our gatherings with with real purpose.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be aware of that.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be aware that I mean, even though there's untold multitudes of congregations meeting, God's able to do that.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: But he he really speaks intimately and personally, uh, of course, to us individually, but to us as a as a group, as a people here this morning.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And as everybody's sharing, you can hear that sound of God.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: I hear it every time that I that I that that I come.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: People are sharing, and and and and be encouraged to share what God has on your heart like that, because it's it's really important.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: It's part of the flow of God in the house.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: But um you can trust in so many things.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: You can, you know, you can uh there is so much deception that keeps people from partaking of this free gift.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: And and and it's simply uh it's simply because we've come from a natural human world where we have been, we had nothing to rely on before we before we know God, we've got nothing to rely on except our senses, and except for our strength and our willpower and our wisdom, whatever we've learned, whatever we've gained, but we it's the things that we've learned and gained in this world until it's exchanged for this new life, which is living in the kingdom of God.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: And there's another kingdom.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Remember that.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Remember that we are creatures of another kingdom, ambassadors of heaven, children of God, children of light in a dark world that are here to shine.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: We operate in a different system.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus came to give us life, he came to give us something that was different.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: It was opposed to what we knew, even at our very best.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look with me at the book of 1 Corinthians, uh, chapter 1.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: And uh we want to look at this kingdom and look at the real difference here.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: And and I think when you see this this morning, it will take away some of the cloudiness and some of the really some of the deception that seems to pull Christians away from that table of God.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: It seems to pull Christians back into operating or trusting more in the world's system than in this kingdom, this wonderful kingdom of life that we have.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's a wonderful kingdom, and in this kingdom is righteousness, and there's peace in this kingdom.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Not stress, not turmoil, not fear.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: There's peace in the kingdom of God.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: That other stuff's the weather that you find in the other world.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: The natural world.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Where you're all connected very strongly to situations, circumstances, people's words, what other people do, where it's where you're where your responses are more tied into that, rather than responding to the life of the kingdom, responding to God, the greater one who's with you and in you.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh Paul was talking about something here that's very profound, there's that's so rich as we look into this.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: And uh I guess we could pick it up in verse 18.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: And let's teach from this chapter this morning.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: And look at in verse 18, Paul says, The message of the cross, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: For it's written, I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I'll bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent or the intellectuals.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: The message of the cross is foolishness.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Why is it foolishness?
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Why is the message of the cross foolishness to those who are perishing, foolishness to those who are of the world?
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul said in Romans chapter 8, those with the carnal mind, it's the things of God are foolishness to them.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: They they they the natural man, natural mind cannot receive the things of God.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: It's foolishness.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: It's foolishness.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: He says, the cross, the message of the cross, the message of the cross is foolishness.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And and and some of you already are thinking of obvious reasons why it seems foolish to the world.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: But look what he gets into here.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: In verse 20, he says, now where is the wise?
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Where is the scribe?
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Where is the disputer of this age?
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
4:54
SPEAKER_00: So right there he's saying, all right, so here's this man.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: Our message is that this Jesus came and he was crucified.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: He did not come and lead us into military victory over the Romans.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: He did not come and restore Israel the way that Solomon had it, and the way that you thought he was going to do.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: He didn't do a lot of things that your natural senses would have expected him to do as the Messiah, the Christ.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: But he was crucified instead.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: The message of the cross, we're preaching a man that was killed.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: We're preaching a man that did not do all these things that people wanted done.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: We're preaching a man who didn't live long.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: We're preaching a man who was a good man.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: And he spoke of love and so on.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: But he was crucified.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: He was hung in shame.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: He was hung by the authorities as an example to anybody else.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: He hung in shame.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: He died with nothing.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: He died with no natural kingdom.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: He died with very, very few followers because all had left him, especially the night that he was arrested.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of them did.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: He was all alone, and then there was one, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: And he died alone.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: That's the message.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: We're preaching a man.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Follow a man.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Who died looking like a failure, essentially.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: It's foolishness.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Remember where everybody else, all the other leaders that were that were wanting to lead the Jews, they would say, take up their sword and follow me.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Take up your cross.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're going.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: That's foolishness.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: You can't win anything doing that.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: You don't change things doing that.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: You you stop any change that you might have started by doing that.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: But he rose again.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: So he says, now, with this message of the cross, who's a guy that looked like he was weak and foolish, now living by the power of God, where's the wise?
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Where's the wisdom now?
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Where's the disputer of all these things?
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Where's all the scribes, all those that opposed this?
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Didn't God make foolish their wisdom?
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Now watch this.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: So it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached, the message of the cross, to save those who believe.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Now, so without Jesus, in all of man's best efforts, many would thought, and many still think, that you know God through wisdom.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: You think your way to God, you figure God out with your this piece of meat up here in your skull.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: That you study, that you philosophize.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: And even the smartest, and there are wise, and there are smart and there are great observers.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: But in the greatest of that, you cannot know God as a person.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Through all the wisdom, through all the books, through all the Greek philosophers, through all the great philosophers.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Nobody had seen God until Jesus revealed him.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, watch this.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Because the Jews, because the Jews, they request a sign, a power sign.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
8:35
SPEAKER_00: And even in Jesus' walk, they would ask him at times, show us a sign.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: What sign do you show us?
8:42
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, There'd be no sign except the sign of Joah who went down.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: For the Jews want a sign, they want a power sign.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: Even when he's hanging on the cross, come down off that cross and prove it.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: And he could have, it says.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he could have.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: But he hung in weakness.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: The Greeks seek after wisdom.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: Prove it to me.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: Let it make sense to me.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Convince my brain.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: And the others say, Do a miracle.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Which he did many.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: Did they believe?
9:22
SPEAKER_00: He said no.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he said that.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: He said, What if a son of man were to were to were to raise up to heaven, right, were to ascend to heaven right here before you?
9:29
SPEAKER_00: It's the Spirit that makes you alive.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: The Jews want a sign, a show of power.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: The Greeks say, Convince me, let it make sense to me.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: But we preach Christ who was crucified.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: To the Jews, this is a stumbling block.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: To the Greeks, it's foolishness.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: But to those who are called or saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: To make more sense with you, we can read it that way, the foolishness with God.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: The foolishness in God is wiser than men, and the weakness with God is stronger than men.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: So man in all of his best efforts, and there are things in this natural life that are, some things are better than others.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: Here we're talking about a Christ who was crucified in weakness.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you read 1 Corinthians, excuse me, 2 Corinthians 13, he says, there's a passage there where Paul says, For we are weak in him.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about Jesus, for though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: For we also are weak in him.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Quote that one, put that one on your bumper sticker.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Put that on your mirror and quote it every day.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: We don't do that.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: We do the other ones, which are also true.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: We are complete in him, we're made perfect in him, we're strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, but it's strong in the Lord.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: We understand that.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: That's the key right there.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: But in him, we are weak.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: And for that to make sense to you, just we talk about it all the time.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: That we were never made sufficient of ourselves.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: And so when we go off on our own, like we did in the fall of man, of course we're weak.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: But we but we but we have certain we have a brain, so we gain knowledge.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And the greatest of our knowledge never was enough.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: It was it was insufficient.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: In this world, some things are better than others.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: It's better to be positive in this world than to be negative, but just being positive is still insufficient in life.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Lots of positive people that don't know God and they still suffer.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: They suffer the torments of a hell inside them.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: They still suffer the fear, the anger.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: We have, in this, in this world, we have what people think is strength.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's all about being strong.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Being strong, you know, they say, well, man up.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: I use that a lot in my lifetime.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Man up and be strong.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's better than just being, you know, just sitting down and crying like a baby and doing nothing.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: But but the strongest of those who man up and grin and bear it, it's still insufficient.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Because it does nothing to really allay the fears and the heartache and the pain and the torment of the soul.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: In this world, we we there are some people that we say they have a strong personality.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: This is this just chaps me when I hear this because it's so wrong.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: I hear this, this is big out there in our society now.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: It's just, it's, it's, it's, they have a strong personality.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: People brag about, well, I've just got a strong personality, so you're just gonna have to deal with me.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: And what they mean is I'm rude, I'm crude, I'm defensive, I'm selfish, I'm overbearing.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: But they call it a strong personality.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: Why do they think it's a strong personality?
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Because in this world, without Jesus, you've got a choice: either run over people or get run over.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: And that's usually people that have been so hurt and they're so afraid and so insecure that they made up their mind somewhere and they said, I am never going to be on the bottom again.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: I am always gonna be on top of you.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: So I will be the loudest.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: If I have to, I'll be the meanest.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: I will not lose.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you accuse me of, I will defend me.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: I will get my way.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Because if I don't fight for me, if I don't defend me, nobody will.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: That's somebody that doesn't know God.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
13:28
SPEAKER_00: And they're very weak and they're very scared and they're very insecure.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: But the world calls them a strong personality.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: I remember when uh the man uh a couple of years ago, Ben Carson, was running for president, and he's very soft-spoken, very wise man, good relationship with God, very soft-spoken.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: And even I sometimes I was like, come on, get a little more forceful, because I really like the guy.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: And somebody and and during a news uh press conference one time, somebody asked him about that and said, you know, I want to vote for you, but you need more oomph to your to your personality.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: And he says, his answer was, he says, you know, when I was a young when I was younger, he says, I would pop you in the mouth at the at just the drop of a hat.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: He said, he said, but when I came into a relationship with God, I found out that what I thought was strength was actually a weakness.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about I stepped into another kingdom, so you don't understand this, is what he was telling the guy.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: It's foolishness.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: We hear it all the time.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: People say, you know, people are afraid of it.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: They say, yeah, let's walk in love, but let's not be doormats.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: And and while you might be able to find truth in that in a in a sense, it's you'll always have that caveat of not being a doormat, and it'll keep you from eating at the table of fullness.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Because you still feel that bit of that you have to protect you because you don't feel protected.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, somebody says, well, well, don't we?
15:02
SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Because in the kingdom, I want to show you something.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: There is a complete rest.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: There is a complete reliance on the one that we were just singing about.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: There is a trust that He is all you really need, plus zero.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: And this is why, this is a reason for the foolishness of this preaching of the message of the cross and the teaching.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: This is another reason we come to church, we read our words, we talk to God, is because you're growing in that trust.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: You're growing when you're as growing as you're growing in trust, you're growing in rest.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: As you're growing in trust and rest, you're growing in strength in the Lord, which has nothing to do with you.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: And everything to do with the one who really is strong.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: For greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: What's in the world?
16:08
SPEAKER_00: You are your brain and your senses are.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But there's somebody greater than that.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Your willpower is in the world, your strength.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, you look just look at your calling.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: If you think it's about being strong, if you think it's about trying to become the best of the best, and this is another point.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, help me, Father, to not lose sight of this.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Here's another point.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: We can get lost in our self-improvement efforts sometimes by trying to eliminate things.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, most self-improvement in the world is based on identifying your flaws, your faults, your weaknesses as something to be gotten rid of.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And so we work on that.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's why everybody that's in it, I don't care if it's if you're trying to make your body better, if you're trying to make your money situation better, if you're trying to make your confidence better, or whatever.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: What it is is you could is is what's pointed out is this is what's wrong with you, this is your barrier, and we need to get rid of that.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: So, what does that do?
17:30
SPEAKER_00: It puts a focus on earthly things, puts a focus on flesh, and Paul said, when you put your focus on flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: And so we struggle and we diet and we budget and we do all these things and we work on our self-confidence until we finally become overbearing enough that now we're ready.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: And it's all just world stuff, and all of it is insufficient no matter how pretty they look.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And now you're gonna you get you get these pop-up things and you get these these wonderful looking people that have found all the answers.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll eat my diet, and if you'll do my exercise, and if you'll do my money plan, and and and and if you'll if you'll take my my course, which I'm not gonna tell you how much it costs, but you watch this for an hour and then you'll find out.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: And you'll and you do all that, then you'll be self-confident, then you'll finally be happy, then you'll be complete, and all that.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: They're all these these self-help gurus, and many of them are 25 years old and they're life coaches.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: And they're projecting this perfect image because everybody wants this fable perfection because you think something's wrong with you.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: You're aware of your insufficiency, you're aware of your weakness, and you're and and you're wanting to be better, so if you can just get rid of those things, let me tell you that's not what it's about.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: There is one.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: It was never about you getting rid of your flaws, your faults, your weaknesses.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: It it's it's never going to be sufficient.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, you can improve yourself, you can get better, you can learn, you can grow.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you can't, but all of those things are things of the world that you can improve, but they are, but they are still not sufficient.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: They don't give you the kingdom, they don't give you the love, the peace, the joy, and all that.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, do it.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Did you finally get to the top of the mountain?
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Were you finally satisfied?
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Did you finally not need anything else?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Go get your first 10 million and see if that's enough.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26, he said, now look at your calling, brothers.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are among you.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: But God chose the foolish things of this world to put to shame those things that were of the wise.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: And God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame those things that are strong and mighty.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: And he chose the base things of the world, the things which are despised.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: God is chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: What is despised?
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Weakness.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was crucified in weakness.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, now this whole thing is not just about weakness, even though it's a main theme here, but this whole thing is a picture showing you how different, how far, how far different the kingdom of heaven is from what man is thinking.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: That's why I say God didn't just just come and die and give his life for you just to make your life better.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: He didn't come to give you self-improvement.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Self-improvement doesn't save your soul.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't deliver you from the doubt, the fear, the turmoil, the anger, the hate, the insecurity.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: He says he chose those things.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, so that no flesh would glory in his presence.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: There would be, it would, you would never, when when this one does his thing with you, your message could never be, do what I do.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Your message could never be, and by that which what I mean, not to say that you know, if you're gonna say do what I do, I simply believe in Jesus, yeah.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: But I can tell you for many years, my my message was I'm strong because I pray a lot, so you guys do that too.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Well, when I look back at that now, I think I was so insufficient, I was so proud.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: I lived with pride and condemnation at the same time because there was a lot of good things I was doing.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: And I and and and I thought that it was me, but there were some things I knew I wasn't doing, so I was condemned about that, and I was living in those two worlds, and neither one of them are good, and they both come from the same.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Thing, you.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: And I would say, and I basically my message was come on, man up.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: I do it, you do.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: And I and I was I didn't I wasn't realizing how how people not everybody was like me.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't handle the same things that I did in the same way.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: They were just different.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Just as I, when I was comparing myself to certain people that I didn't measure up to, they handled things, and no matter how much I tried to be like them, I couldn't do it.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I remember a uh a homeless guy came into my church one time, came into my office, and and he was he was um begging.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: And uh I was very indignant.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: I said, and I told him how I once was homeless, and I was.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Told him I lived on the streets.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have no place to go.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: I slept under bridges.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I did that whole skid road thing.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I said, and and basically I told him how, you know what, I never even even in those times I never begged.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: What was I doing?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I'm I'm better than him, and I'm telling him to man up.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: No, I totally believed in that.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and and I was doing my best to try to help him because I thought this guy needs if this guy just keeps getting handouts, he's just gonna stay homeless and on the street and suffering like that the rest of his life.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: And I was trying to help him, and I was saying, come on, I got out of it, you can too.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: And he didn't believe that I he thought I was lying, you know, the the the the the the the whole time.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Ah, you weren't really, you you didn't really like what he had no idea.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: But and and he said something about, he said, if you did, you'd have compassion.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I said, maybe I don't feel like it look like I got compassion, but I have understanding because I've been there, and if you'll just do this and do that and the other.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, while there was some truth in what I was saying, I was thinking, that came to mind this morning for some reason, and I was thinking, if if that were to happen today, rather than sit there and look down on him and say, now come on, get up and pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get out there and get a job.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: If it were to happen today, what I would have done is I would have probably sat next to him, put my arms around him, and said, Here, I know that it hurts.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: I know that there's these things going on.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I know.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: And I would have, I would have come to him at a different spirit where I could have at least connected, because I didn't help the guy.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: The guy just went out mad.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: And uh and uh and and I would have done something to encourage him, not condemn him for not getting up and and and and getting out there.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: I would have done something that would have been more encouraging, because you know, since that time I've grown in the ways of the kingdom and I've become more like Jesus, who is touched with the feelings of our weaknesses.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: And that at that time, that was many years ago, I wasn't aware that he was that way.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: I thought Jesus was demanding of me also, so I was demanding of everybody else.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: But but as I came to know him, I found him to be very patient and compassionate and understanding, not to say that everything I was doing was good, it wasn't, but he was with me in it.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't separated from me and saying, Now you do like me.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Because I tried that.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: I thought that's what he was saying, and I tried that, and I kept falling short.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: And and and and then as I got to know him, I found somebody that's touched with my weakness, that encourages me, that helps me, that knows how to talk to me, that knows how to connect with me and bring me along, and there's absolutely no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: He's never made me feel small.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: He's never made me feel like I wasn't good enough.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that the Lord upbraideth not.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: That means he does not put shame, pressure, and condemnation on you.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't make you look bad, he makes you look good.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Because he's not worried.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: See, in the world we think that this weakness is something we've got to get rid of.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: And here we're talking about the kingdom, and he says, we were crucified, and he was crucified in weakness.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: We are weak in him.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: In fact, you know, if if I had time to get to it in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul gets this revelation because it was something he was he asked the Lord three times, take this away from me, and and and God doesn't give him the answer he wants.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: He says, My grace is sufficient for you.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times you think if God would just take these things away, I've done that so many times in my past.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: God, take this away.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't like this.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: You must not like this.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And so, like so many things, it's almost like he didn't care.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: What he cared more about was I knew him, I knew his grace.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: He said, My grace is sufficient for you.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: That's what'll make you grow.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: That's what'll change you.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: He told Paul, Paul asked him three times, take it, take it, take it.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: He said, My grace is sufficient for you.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: And Paul goes, I got it.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Now with joy, most gladly, therefore, I'm a boast in my weakness rather than be ashamed of it, that rather than hide it, I'm a boast in my weakness.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: He says, I used to think that I was strong.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: The things that I thought were so good about me, I was this, I was that, I was this, I was that, I was more zealous, I was better, I was better, I lived more squeaky clean, I did all these things, and I thought they meant something.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: And he says, now what I'm gonna bring about is how weak I am because as weak as I because in all those things, they were but dumb, they were not sufficient.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: They did not bring me what I thought they were supposed to bring me.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And I count it all loss, I'll lose every bit of it.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: For the more excellent thing of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, knowing him has given it to me.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Whereas everything else that I did did not.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: And he says, so most gladly, therefore, if I'm gonna boast, I'll boast in my weaknesses.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: That the power of Christ is with me, because in my weakness, that's where I see the power of Christ in me.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: There is one, and I am not him.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: You ever see the I Am Second videos?
28:11
SPEAKER_00: I like it.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, that no flesh would glory in his presence.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: But of him we are called in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and he became righteousness.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: He became our sanctification, which is our holiness.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: That's our holiness.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Somebody was telling me the other day, says, Well, you're all about love.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: What about holiness?
28:38
SPEAKER_00: He's my holiness.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what that guy meant by holiness?
28:41
SPEAKER_00: When are you what about us manning up and living right?
28:46
SPEAKER_00: That's the wisdom of this world.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of this world says that God's demanding a right living first, that God's demanding that you measure up.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom says, I want to be with you even if you're a sinner.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: Drive hard drive crash right in here.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, I've I'll get into it with people, but I don't I don't get into it because I don't.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, once I if they're going a certain way, they don't want to listen, I just stop.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: But they but they no, God's God's expecting us to be and to do and to da da da da da da.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, but they don't understand how it works.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: See, Paul thought it was about being and doing when he was Saul.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And he can't, and he's the one that gives us, we read so he wrote most of this New Testament that we live by.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: And it's a revelation of somebody who did it all, who was strong, who was wise, who was smart, who was full of passion, who was full of zeal for God, not sin.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: And he finds out in all those things where I was the best of the best of those pursuing God, I was the chief sinner.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: I was the chief sinner.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: The chief sinner.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: See, you don't you can't have that revelation until you step over, you cross over, and you go, wow, what a world! I had no idea this was available, what I thought was good, I was really just a chief sinner.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: That looked good, had a pretty religious robe on.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: But I see what it's all about now.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, there is one, he became for us, he's the wisdom.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Now I don't have to smart my way up to knowing God.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: He's my wisdom.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: It's the message of the cross.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: It's all about him.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: He's my wisdom, he's my righteousness, he's my holiness, he's my redemption.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: That as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Give me two minutes and let me and and let me go to 2 Corinthians 12.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read this out of a prettier version.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Um Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: From the message Bible, he says, Paul says, Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Satan's messenger did his best to get me down.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: What he did, in fact, was push me to my knees.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Now, he says, no danger then of walking around high and mighty.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: At first I didn't think of it, at first I didn't think of it as a gift, and I begged God to remove it.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough, it's all you need.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: I quit focusing on the handicap.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: I quit focusing on the handicap, and I began appreciating the gift.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: You see, in the world we look at what's wrong.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: We focus on what's wrong.
32:17
SPEAKER_00: This is why people say, This is what I need to do.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: I know I ought to start doing this.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and it's always, you're always falling short in your own eyes.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus has become your completion.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: But when you're focusing on the gift, when you're focusing on Him, you've got this wonderful thing that goes on.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for, and the world doesn't get it.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: You're aware of your weakness, but at the same time, you're aware of your perfection in Him because you see the oneness there.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: You see that He is with you, you see that He is your everything, and your trust is completely in that.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, you understand that you're weak, but you still have this feeling of invincibility.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean everything goes the way your flesh might want it to go, but it does mean you always feel perfectly safe and secure and you feel strong in Him.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Am I making sense to you?
33:13
SPEAKER_00: He says, once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: I quit focusing on the handicapped and I began appreciating again.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: What's he doing here?
33:20
SPEAKER_00: What God told him, rather than just dealing with the flesh thing, what was going on in the flesh, rather than dealing with that, he directed Paul back into the spirit.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh, now I get.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: He says, I had been focusing on what was wrong.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: And what God told me got me to focus back on the gift, on him, his grace.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: He says, and I began appreciating it.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: I began appreciating it, realizing that I do have weakness, but in my weakness, the strength of God is always, always there.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it has nothing to do with me.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: This is why, when I when I got this revelation or began to get it many years ago, it took away the accuser of the brethren.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: I can honestly say, to the best of my memory, it has been so long since I have felt any condemnation.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Certainly from a devil and not even from people.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: I am aware of my weakness.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: I am totally aware of my imperfections.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Very, very, very aware.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: But something about this revelation says, it just makes me love Jesus more.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: It just makes me trust him more.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: It just makes me appreciate him more.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: It just makes me want to preach the message of the cross more.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: Not the message of self-improvement, not the message of human strength, not the message of get your willpower going and come on and start being good and strong.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: No, it makes me want to preach the message of Jesus, his cross, him crucified more and more, for he was crucified in weakness, but in that what looked like weakness was the power of resurrection, it blew away all the wisdom of the world.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Where is the wisdom of this world now, Paul says?
35:05
SPEAKER_00: He says, So now, excuse me, I quit focusing on the handicapped, I began appreciating the gift.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: So now I take limitations in stride with good cheer.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: So where the accuser used to say, Rick, you don't do this enough, you don't do that enough, you don't pray enough, you don't give enough, you don't love enough, you used to do this too much, you watch too much TV, you read too many books, you read too this, you're too much into sports, you're too and I'm like, oh, there's so many things I gotta get rid of.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: And I would fight some of them, I would try, and I'd succeed for a little while, then I'd fail, and I'd go back to my old thing.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there I am watching football again.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: He says, now I take my weakness in stride.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: And I take it with good cheer.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: These limitations that cut me down to side, abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks, I just let Jesus take over.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand up?
36:09
SPEAKER_00: So this is the rest.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: So when you as the human race can accept your own insufficiency, accept your own ruin, if you will, if you're still trying to build that.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: There's a kingdom, there's a there is one who loves you.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: Who while you were insufficient, while you were weak, while you were a sinner, he wanted to be with you anyway.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Think of that.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be with you anyway.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: And thousands of years of commandments and thou shalt not, and thou shalt.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Didn't do it.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: It didn't make you good enough.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: So he said, you know what?
37:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna wait for them to be good enough.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna be with them anyway.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take care of the good enough.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be the good enough.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've taken it off of you.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about the good enough anymore.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about the this enough, that enough, read enough, pray enough, do good deeds enough.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about that.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be that for you.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a scary thing to the to the to the intellectual to the intellect.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Because what's gonna make this flesh do right?
37:42
SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to make flesh do right.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: We're espousing people to Jesus to fall in love with somebody that loves them so much, and see if the heart doesn't melt, see if the heart doesn't change.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: How many of you would admit that you're not perfect and that you still make mistakes and you still have some weak areas and even in your spiritual walk, your relationship with God?
38:13
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you also would say, you know what?
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Now that I know that God loves me unconditionally, I want to go out and just commit as much sin as I possibly can.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: I want to live the ugliest, cheating, sinful life.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: See, that's a straw man that's built by religion.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: If you're in Christ, your heart has been changed.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: You want what he wants.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: I just want to take away the struggle from you.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: Because he's taken it away.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: So don't struggle with it, just know me.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm meek, I'm humble, I'm lowly in heart, I'm loving, I'm patient.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: You've been struggling, you've been under heavy burdens, you've been laboring, you've been working hard at it.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: Come to me, he says.
39:12
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you rest.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: So learn about me.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: Let's come and learn about me, he says.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: As a person, find out that I'm humble, that I'm meek.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: And you'll find rest for your souls.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love him?
39:26
unknown: Yes.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful name that is.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Father, I I just I we're in love with you.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for your unspeakable gift.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the table that's set before us.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: That there is nothing we do or know that we that can stop us from having the right to partake today.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: There's healing at the table this morning.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: There's miracles at this table.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: There's everything that pertains to life, everything that pertains to godliness is all right here with us in the house.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: We gladly partake.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus called people to the feast in that one parable, he didn't tell them to come and work and help them prepare it.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: He said, It's already prepared.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: Just come and eat.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, no, but I gotta do.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask you to work.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Just come eat.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, you know, I don't, I'm not calling you to something hard, not something bad.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Come and enjoy.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: It's free.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: It's paid for.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: That's a better word.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Paid for.
40:23
SPEAKER_00: Amen.