SPEAKER_01: You are listening to the Sozokyle Church podcast.
SPEAKER_01: To learn more about Sozo Kyle Church, including our gathering times in the Kyle area, visit us online at sozoktx.com.
SPEAKER_01: Today's talk comes from Pastor Chris Ball.
SPEAKER_00: Healthy churches aren't built primarily on good theology or gifted leadership, as you can tell.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they're they're built on a big word here, um, covenant relationships.
SPEAKER_00: So somebody walks in to a gathering like this, and you could say, um, oh man, they were really together on the way they um helped me worship God, or they were really together on uh preaching the word, or man, it seemed like they really had a knack for praying and holding um the word up, all important things, but not necessarily the most important thing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave clear insight into what to major on, and that is to love each other really well.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, he said that's the distinguishing feature is to be a group who's known by the way they love each other.
SPEAKER_00: So the goal of transformation, I believe, in a community like ours is that people would come to a group of believers and say, yeah, that was okay and that part was good, but my goodness, what I am taking away from my experience is they seem to really love each other.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I could be broken into that and be loved like them.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I could participate in the loving of people like that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is absolutely the trump card, and it's a pretty low-hanging piece of fruit, the simplicity of love.
SPEAKER_00: And so Acts 2 wasn't this powerful picture of uh the church because of incredible Sunday gatherings.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2, where the church is really birthed at, was an incredible scene because they actually tapped into being family.
SPEAKER_00: They actually got it.
SPEAKER_00: All these big phrases and vision pieces and statements and promises are empty if it's not actually felt and experienced, the family portion.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I envision our piece of the pie being consumed by our community and transformation with what God's doing in us actually making a difference, then I believe that that's actually what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like our greatest witness being the way we love each other.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I know and what you know is that people aren't longing for another service.
SPEAKER_00: What they're longing for is belonging, which I would say is synonymous with family and not even perfect family, but kingdom family.
SPEAKER_00: Kingdom family that just keeps coming back, that that keeps their love on, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's really the final home stretch here that I want to highlight.
SPEAKER_00: So honor tonight and the kingdom of God runs on a currency that a lot of the world has either forgotten about or not known before.
SPEAKER_00: And the world largely runs on a currency of time and money, frankly, if you were to look through the lens of what actually causes things to go round, what actually elevates people, what actually brings status about.
SPEAKER_00: It's how much time can you give and how much money you got.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's your resource, right?
SPEAKER_00: That that is so valued.
SPEAKER_00: But the kingdom of God actually runs on a currency of honor and faith.
SPEAKER_00: That actually is what turns the wheel.
SPEAKER_00: And we find ourselves in a time where, um, yeah, I think honors is overlooked a bit, or maybe taken for granted, or uh somebody else will do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure that's really my role, or maybe I'm not good at honoring, or maybe I feel like I haven't really ever been honored, and so I don't know how to pass that tool along.
SPEAKER_00: And what is praised and honored, if you look around, oftentimes, is actually comparison.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm making a big, big point tonight, I think that's what I'd like to say is that uh comparison is the thief of honor.
SPEAKER_00: All said one of the greatest mysteries of the gospel is that Jesus actually lives inside of people, right?
SPEAKER_00: Christ in you, and that truth brings about hope.
SPEAKER_00: And the hope is the glory of God, the weight of God, God's breakthrough, that he's here, that there's actual power in him being here, that there's role and room for you in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing that is most important.
SPEAKER_00: That's the mystery.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it means every person you meet is carrying something from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So think about it with me for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Every single human who's ever been created by God, which is every single human, has the stamp of God's DNA in them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when that is mixed with receiving through faith, it's like a mentos in a coke.
SPEAKER_00: Ever done that one?
SPEAKER_00: You put a mentos down in a coke and it's like this huge explosion.
SPEAKER_00: There's an activation because of what is in a human from creation, the stamp of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then when faith comes in, then there is absolutely the mystery unveiled that, oh my word, you're a new creator, just like David was saying, a new creation, a complete, never-been before in existence, new species of creation, a person that actually has Jesus in them.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd suggest something really simple and powerful: that honor is the highway for God's glory to show up.
SPEAKER_00: We need God's glory, and he's made it available for us to know and to participate in.
SPEAKER_00: And the and the road that it rides on, I think is built on this culture, this community that honors God, that honors each other, that honors what he's up to, that looks for it.
SPEAKER_00: So Colossians 1.27 is the the verse that he says to them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles, which is a big deal, that this is for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: You can just put substitute Gentiles for everybody, because it was written to the people who were like, this is just for us, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're really important.
SPEAKER_00: You are important, but it's you're not the only ones that are important.
SPEAKER_00: The mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_00: And then Genesis 127 says that God formed man in his image.
SPEAKER_00: So the dormant DNA strand of God inside of everybody, and then the catalyst, if you think of it like a chemical reaction, is faith partnering with it, um, which means that every single believer is honorable.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, every person is honorable because they've got God stamped inside of them.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not like you're honorable, you're less honorable, you're really far down, you're coming up the ladder.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's the way the world looks at honor.
SPEAKER_00: But everybody that you encounter is honorable.
SPEAKER_00: And with this mindset, it takes the idea of honor to a whole other level.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because you're not just honoring the gift someone has, you're honoring the Jesus inside of them.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, isn't I so I feel like there's a level of this that is so obvious.
SPEAKER_00: So forgive me for over-explaining the obvious, but but stick with me a minute.
SPEAKER_00: It's so tempting to take your pile of honor that you got and say, where am I going to spend this today?
SPEAKER_00: Well, who's the most talented person I know?
SPEAKER_00: Who's the person who needs some accolades, who needs some credit for what they've done, who's got a deep resume?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's put some honor on them because clearly they deserve honor because look what they've accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a radical turnaround to say it's not the gift really that need that deserves the honor.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Christ in a person, the righteousness of God, that's worth honoring, because that's actually a key that unlocks all the gold, all the potential that's in the person who hasn't accomplished the resume yet to start accomplishing all the plan that God has for their life.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 10, 41.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of theologians will actually paraphrase this verse to use the word honor.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, uh, he who honors a prophet in the name of a prophet will actually receive the prophet's reward.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I recognize who you are, I recognize what you carry, um, I recognize that you're not just an ordinary person.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is to honor a prophet for being a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: It's saying that you're more than your gift, you're more than your skill.
SPEAKER_00: Um you actually have uh the markings, the fingerprints of God on your life, and I recognize that.
SPEAKER_00: And it says when you do that, it actually unlocks the reward for you, the honorer.
SPEAKER_00: You actually get a piece of the reward that they would get for what God's done in their life by bringing honor to them.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Um this past week, Sarin, my youngest here on the front row, has got a fresh cut, was at a basketball camp at Hayes High School, and truth be known, he was a year too young to go to it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you say, Oh, I didn't realize you were quite so rebellious.
SPEAKER_00: Well, stick around.
SPEAKER_00: No, just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Uh actually backed into it, um the babysitters, Sarin's older brothers, have been going to strength and conditioning camp all summer long.
SPEAKER_00: And so Sarin's 10, and it's not our best parenting move to leave a 10-year-old by himself at the house.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're not above it.
SPEAKER_00: There's somewhere there's a threshold there, and we're we're probably past it.
SPEAKER_00: So he's been left before.
SPEAKER_00: So um, but if we have our, you know, best foot forward, then we're gonna try to not have him by himself at 10.
SPEAKER_00: Uh poor guy, doesn't even have a phone yet, if you can believe it or not.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I can believe it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the oldest, Cohen, he's the driver, right?
SPEAKER_00: Which is tri totally changing our family.
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, started taking Saren with him while the other three go to strength and conditioning camp.
SPEAKER_00: And then the plan was originally like, well, just sit on the sideline until we're done with strength and conditioning camp and then we'll take you back home.
SPEAKER_00: And so some of the coaches were like, hey, what's your name?
SPEAKER_00: Sarin, get out, get out here, right?
SPEAKER_00: So they said, come work out.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're old enough.
SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're good enough, you're old enough.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so anyway, they got him in the mix, and so he's been working out strength and conditioning camp, certainly too young.
SPEAKER_00: And so then one of the coaches was like, hey, hey, old's enough.
SPEAKER_00: Just put him in the mix, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: So that was all I needed to hear.
SPEAKER_00: So the basketball camp is for gonna be fifth and sixth graders and seventh and eighth graders.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's gonna be a fourth grader, but he got held back in preschool, bless his heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, he should be a fifth grader, right, Sarin?
SPEAKER_00: And so anyway, he's at the camp and he did pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the point Um There was a young man who was at the camp, and his name's Dylan.
SPEAKER_00: And Dylan uh reached out to Sarin, seeing him there, and and at first he even asked him, he said, How old are you?
SPEAKER_00: And Sarin's like, uh I'm old enough.
SPEAKER_00: And Sarin gave him his explanation and everything.
SPEAKER_00: And um Sarin came home and told me, he's like, Dad, uh, one of my most favorite parts of the three-day basketball camp was my interaction with Dylan.
SPEAKER_00: Dylan was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And then he was kind of trying to explain Dylan to me, and I hadn't um met Dylan yet that I knew of or anything.
SPEAKER_00: And and so then I'm there the next day, and I got to meet Dylan.
SPEAKER_00: Brandy introduced me to Dylan, and uh Dylan um has a handicap, he's in a wheelchair.
SPEAKER_00: And I met Dylan, and Dylan was terrific to me as well.
SPEAKER_00: And I watch your YouTube channel and I love it.
SPEAKER_00: And in retrospect, thinking about Saren's experience at basketball camp, I realized I witnessed a real exchange of honor between Dylan and Saarin.
SPEAKER_00: And Saarin received Dylan's honor that he gave him by saying, Hey, I'm gonna give you some attention and talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: The youngest, smallest, easily most invisible kid at camp, Dylan finds and goes and talks to and impacts my 10-year-old's life.
SPEAKER_00: And then Saarin comes back to me and gives me a report.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, hands down, the best part of camp was getting to talk to Dylan.
SPEAKER_00: And by him reporting that to me, honors Dylan.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, my word, I just witnessed the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It could have, it could have escaped me, it could have gone right past me.
SPEAKER_00: And I just am so thankful that fuck the Lord highlighted that's a picture of honor.
SPEAKER_00: And what that does is it unlocks reward in both people, in both parties.
SPEAKER_00: Saarin may not realize it yet, maybe he will now that he's here in church hearing this testimony, but he's further down the line in the kingdom because of his participation in the exchange of honor that he didn't even know he was doing.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, Dylan, who's making a lifestyle of that, I can tell by now observing his life.
SPEAKER_00: I actually recognize him from seeing him sidelines at all the basketball games for the last uh, I don't know, umpteen basketball games they've had.
SPEAKER_00: And he is a class favorite because he knows how to honor people.
SPEAKER_00: Honor wins the day every time.
SPEAKER_00: So honoring someone um is uh yeah, is is seeing Christ in people.
SPEAKER_00: And that's actually attractive.
SPEAKER_00: When you're drawn to somebody anyway, deep down, whether you have eyes to recognize it or not, it's actually Christ in them that you're attracted to.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but what if they don't know Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: His stamp's in there, his glory is on their life, and you're honoring them, maybe the thing to bring it to realization for them in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: It's a powerful covenant family tool.
SPEAKER_00: Honoring someone's not just for them, it's also for you.
SPEAKER_00: That's that verse.
SPEAKER_00: Um, who gets the reward you do as the one who does the honoring.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus tells us that if you honor your father and mother in the Ten Commandments, it'll go well for you and you'll live long in the land.
SPEAKER_00: So is honoring your mom and dad for your mom and dad, or is honoring your mom and dad for you?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's the tension of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, uh, it's for both, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a yes and yes answer.
SPEAKER_00: Honor has that kind of power that it it's it's good for both people.
SPEAKER_00: So a flow of blessing starts happening in the spirit when you start to honor those around you.
SPEAKER_00: It actually unleashes an anointing on your life.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it unleashes an anointing in the room, in the area, in the in the in the region, essentially, if you get people who really start to get that level of honoring.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so we mentioned it a minute ago, but so what's the counterfeit to honor?
SPEAKER_00: It's comparison.
SPEAKER_00: Comparison will absolutely undercut honor.
SPEAKER_00: So if I receive a prophet as such, then I'll receive a prophet's reward.
SPEAKER_00: But if I don't believe I can receive that reward, that I'm not worthy to receive such a reward, that I don't have what it takes, that I haven't been through enough, not battle tested enough, I'd I end up saying, Well, that person's amazing, but I could never do that.
SPEAKER_00: I could never be there.
SPEAKER_00: I could never have God do that in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: I've just shut off the door of the reward that God actually wanted to give me by putting honoring that person on my heart in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: It looks so similar to honor to say, wow, you're amazing at that.
SPEAKER_00: I could never do that.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like honor on the surface, but it's a counterfeit because the heart is actually stopping short of realizing, oh my goodness, God's doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, so much of what God has given you and skilled you with is actually, it's more multifaceted than just for whatever the project is he's called you to.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually a doorway for the people around you to walk through what you provide.
SPEAKER_00: My faith in my life absolutely is for the benefit of my four boys.
SPEAKER_00: It's contagious, it's mottled.
SPEAKER_00: It's what Brad always praised that my floor would be their ceiling.
SPEAKER_00: No, my ceiling would be their floor to stand on, to step on.
SPEAKER_00: Like what God has given you is for others as well around you, and comes on the heels as honor begins to unlock and unleash and widen the flow of it to come through.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that.
SPEAKER_00: And so what is the gift you long for?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the ability to be a prophet, as in the case of this verse in Matthew?
SPEAKER_00: Um, ultimately, the gift is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, when you see and admire something in someone, it's the it's the engine, it's the source behind the gift that's actually the most attractive thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the good news is he's in you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, full throttle, his plan in your life, but comparison says, wow, look how incredible they are.
SPEAKER_00: I could never be like that.
SPEAKER_00: And you distance yourself from the very glory that you're longing for.
SPEAKER_00: The comparison, it's the killer of anointing.
SPEAKER_00: So turn, if you got a Bible or dial it up, Lori will put on the screen, Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Um the attack of honor in the world really is at the heels of comparison.
SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe you've been in a friend group before with some people, and you notice that when you're in that particular friend group, you're funnier than you normally are.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, why am I funny in that group?
SPEAKER_00: They laugh at everything.
SPEAKER_00: Any joke I tell, it seems like they're laughing at it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe you you've been around people, it's like they pull the ideas out of you, and you're like, man, around that group of people, I have my best ideas.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like an ideation machine, baby.
SPEAKER_00: I just keep thinking of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: What can we do next?
SPEAKER_00: Like, but it happens best when I'm around this group of people.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're pulling the ideas out of me.
SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe you've had a coach before, and the coach just built you up.
SPEAKER_00: My brother-in-law talks about his junior high coach.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I was not worth a darn at the sport of basketball, but I got shoved onto the basketball court and they're like, hey, uh, you're gonna play basketball.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I had no business playing basketball, but my coach treated me like I was the best player on the team.
SPEAKER_00: He would even make comments like, Hey, we're gonna give Aaron a shot, and when we do, watch out, the scoreboard's gonna light up.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody's like, prove it.
SPEAKER_00: But Aaron said he said it so much of the time that I actually started to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, and you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I actually turned into a decent basketball player.
SPEAKER_00: Now it wasn't his lifelong mission, but it's possible you've had a coach, and it seemed like he and you certainly believe you were skipping college and going straight to the NBA.
SPEAKER_00: It's like he believed in you that much, it was just being pulled out of you.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of relationships um are in that place, and we'll call it the glory zone.
SPEAKER_00: Those friendships just are in the glory zone where like the best version of you happens, like ideas and creativity and flourishment happen because of the gold diggers that are just like, hey, I know there's gold in you.
SPEAKER_00: It may have been shovel in hand, but I am gonna find it.
SPEAKER_00: I am relentless where it's looked like dirt on the surface.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not stopping there because I know there's something glowing underneath.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of relationships start in this place until there's a moment of disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: And now that disappointment has been introduced, you have a choice to make.
SPEAKER_00: Do you honor or do you disconnect and walk away?
SPEAKER_00: And I think a good thing for us to ponder as we think about honor is think about your longest friendships in life.
SPEAKER_00: There's something telling about your ability to have a friendship that's real that lasts over 10 years.
SPEAKER_00: Um it shows you can move from the glory zone to disappointment and then in honor confront, do what's necessary, and move back into the glory zone.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe there's some cycle of that, and such is the nature of family.
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
SPEAKER_00: Um if someone though has a track record of like only having three-month friendships, 12 months tops, then it may be telling that they have been choosing to break connection instead of choosing honor in the place of disappointments.
SPEAKER_00: And the kingdom way of living puts people back in the glory zone.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that reconciliation with hard moments in life is always God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Um, certainly it's not.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is, and there's there's glory for that.
SPEAKER_00: But even in the moments and in the places where a way to reconcile forward is not happening, there's still the possibility of honor to rule the day and to be the place of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And God will help show you what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Um but the kingdom says I don't see the dirt, even though there's disappointment and there's a bunch of dirt dumped dumped on top, that I know there is uh a gold field.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you've been married longer than two months, you've experienced this.
SPEAKER_00: You realize, oh man, disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm gonna choose, in fact, to go after the gold and and not say, well, heck with this, we're moving on.
SPEAKER_00: And so, so back to Acts 10.
SPEAKER_00: This is the story of Peter going to Cornelius' house and he preaches to a group of Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the whole thing about the Jews being the ones who like, this is for us, and the Gentiles being for everybody else, and we're not sure it's for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is where it all breaks free, and they realize that there is a turning point and it's for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit is.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was a little bit like high school.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where you found yourself on the cool kid, not cool kid list.
SPEAKER_00: I remember being in junior high one time, and one of my friends said something like, Can you imagine if one of us had a girlfriend?
SPEAKER_00: And then somebody else said, Can you imagine if just one of us had a girl that was a friend?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, we might not be in the cool kid club yet.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what's going on here in Acts chapter 10 with the Jews and the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And so, uh, verse 1 at Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so he's in the army, the Roman army, in what was known as the Italian regiment.
SPEAKER_00: He's a somebody.
SPEAKER_00: He and all his family were devout and God fearing.
SPEAKER_00: He gave generously to those in need.
SPEAKER_00: He prayed to God regularly.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: And one day at about three in the afternoon, I love the specifics of it, he had a vision.
SPEAKER_00: He distinctly saw an angel.
SPEAKER_00: angel of God who came to him and said, Cornelius, exclamation point.
SPEAKER_00: Cornelius stared at him in fear.
SPEAKER_00: You might too.
SPEAKER_00: What is it, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: He asked, recognizing that there's some this is a God situation here.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Your prayers and your gifts to the poor, by the way, have come up as a memorial offering before God.
SPEAKER_00: Now I've always known that prayers are like incense to the throne of God and that they find their way to the secret place of God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting here that it says so are your gifts to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: That goes to him.
SPEAKER_00: Your gifts to the poor actually move the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that that's not just gifts to the poor financially.
SPEAKER_00: I believe, going back to Hayes high school basketball camp, that Dylan showing Sain attention and value was a gift to Sarin who maybe was poor in confidence in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that Saarin coming to me and reporting how deeply Dylan's decision touched his life was actually a deposit in in the same way of maybe somebody who doesn't have um people to talk to all the time or something actually connecting and hitting the dots.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's a deposit of saying hey there's more in the bank there's more in the account now there's more value now in your confidence and your reputation and whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I mean I know my my repute my view of Dylan has changed significantly because of his testimony and my experience.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're poor in something, then the kingdom actually brings a deposit and when you participate in that whatever it is that takes the the level of of less than to a more than it actually moves God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: So I just think that's worth highlighting that it wasn't just the money he's been giving but it's also his prayers it's everything that he's been about it's caught God's attention.
SPEAKER_00: I want to move God's heart with my life.
SPEAKER_00: He says verse 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who's also called Peter.
SPEAKER_00: He's staying with Simon the tanner whose house is by the sea.
SPEAKER_00: I like the sound of that.
SPEAKER_00: When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants and he told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
SPEAKER_00: Like don't miss the moment there he had an encounter with an angel of God with specifics that would change everything about his life and all the people he had influence over.
SPEAKER_00: What a moment in kingdom history about noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city on assignment, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
SPEAKER_00: He became hungry and wanted something to eat.
SPEAKER_00: So God like is using the natural agitation for food to actually bring about a spiritual awareness to what he was doing.
SPEAKER_00: I love how God uses everything everything's on limits for the Lord to speak to you about, used his hunger that was in his belly to actually give this vision here.
SPEAKER_00: He saw heaven opened up and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
SPEAKER_00: And it contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as reptiles and birds and then a voice told him get up Peter kill and eat activity to obey God.
SPEAKER_00: And this would have been shocking to Peter because he was a Jew and Jews don't eat these things.
SPEAKER_00: They never have up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking generational weight to not be the guy who messes up the diet like there is there is pressure to eat right here.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can understand why he's shocked verse 14 he shoots back to this voice like I don't know where you find the guts to do that, but he he found him somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: That's the weight of the reputation here of the tradition.
SPEAKER_00: Surely not, Lord, Peter replied I've never eaten anything impure or unclean And then comes verse fifteen and here's the gut punch this is the verse that should destroy all comparison in your life for the rest of your life The voice spoke to him a second time do not call anything impure that God has made clean goes on to say that Peter and God had that very exchange three total times because of the transformational quality of what God's telling him to do.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that if you receive a righteous man essentially honoring him's reward.
SPEAKER_00: So many people see someone and say I could never do that I could never talk like that I could never preach like that I could never love like that I could never lead my family like that I could never lead my business like that person leads their business.
SPEAKER_00: Like all this weight of comparison that has become rehearsed and so commonplace in our thinking like maybe you're like well I don't compare myself here but this lane is like a deep neurological rut in my brain that when I think about this field or this group of people, I immediately go to my lack in that arena because it's so rehearsed and ingrained comparison.
SPEAKER_00: But this voice of God was delivering Peter from that mindset.
SPEAKER_00: And that voice of God is here, I believe, to deliver us of the mindset of comparison to any area of our life where we sell ourselves short because we compare ourselves to somebody else who's done it already or better or different.
SPEAKER_00: You're not saved by what you do or what gifting you have.
SPEAKER_00: You're saved and thank you Jesus that we're saved by receiving Christ is all.
SPEAKER_00: And so the the great reminder tonight that when God looks at you, he doesn't see your righteousness he sees Jesus's so if I were to ask you well whose righteousness is greater Jesus's or yours it's a trick question because there's only one righteousness in the equation.
SPEAKER_00: And I think just getting a hold of that is part of the arrival to not being bogged down by comparison.
SPEAKER_00: It's remembering new covenant creation that that when God looks at you, he just sees Jesus's righteousness so you can step out with your best foot forward in full on confidence knowing you don't have to compare yourself to anybody for anything that you're enough and then verse 16 this happened three times and immediately the sheep was taken back to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.
SPEAKER_00: They called out asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
SPEAKER_00: While Peter was still thinking about the vision the spirit said to him Pause He's still thinking about what God just said and then the spirit talks some more to him It's wonderful that when God speaks to you we were just praying in that room back there tonight, Chuck, you were praying about encounters tonight.
SPEAKER_00: We want to encounter the Lord that encounters with God are always multi-layered that it's not just God drops in, encounters you and then leaves to go do whatever it is God does.
SPEAKER_00: Like he stays and continues and revisits and re-revelations and brings more and says hey what's reminds you what's the last thing I said I'm here to give you confidence.
SPEAKER_00: So when Peter is pondering that nothing is unclean anymore there's no reason for comparison anymore God speaks again and I think that's admirable.
SPEAKER_00: I love that about God.
SPEAKER_00: In the next few verses mentions how Peter goes to Cornelius's house and there's a large gathering of Gentiles and so verse 25 as Peter entered the house Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Cornelius is desperate for an encounter with God himself.
SPEAKER_00: And he equates Peter to being God's man so he just drops on the floor with expectation.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter brings a little instruction tells him to stand up I'm myself only a man and while talking with him Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people it's the Gentiles it's the whole representation this is for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: We're not comparing this one against this one.
SPEAKER_00: We're blowing comparison out of the water and he says to them you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or even visit a Gentile yet here I am essentially in front of a sea of you guys.
SPEAKER_00: And he's addressing the issue of comparison right off the bat.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it interesting that one of the first things God wants to highlight to a group of essentially new believers to new covenant possibility is this idea that we're not doing the comparison thing.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to honor all God's creation because it's that important to start with like that's an origin point for the kingdom realizing that there's no comparison in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you guys this like has set me free and I'll I'll tell you a story here in a second about maybe maybe when the major line of the sand happened now jump to verse 33.
SPEAKER_00: So I sent for you immediately and it was good for you to come and now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us so then Peter begins to speak.
SPEAKER_00: And he says I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.
SPEAKER_00: Like it was as much for Peter as it was for Cornelius and the Gentiles to hear the message Peter was about to speak that God had just given him that there's now no more comparison in the game.
SPEAKER_00: And it breaks the divide between the cool kids and the so cool kids if you want to say it like that.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when Cohen was born our firstborn I remember thinking for real like how am I going to love him and Natalie at the same time like all my love is still for her but now we've introduced a whole nother love receiver how am I going to do this and somehow figured out that all my love could still be for her and all my love could still be for him until we had Callum and then I'm like well divide three ways now I know it divided two ways it's like can I love two people and my wife all the same like maxed out and you know what I found out it's the power it multiplies.
SPEAKER_00: It's the power of a father's love.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Beckham came along I didn't have to add up math.
SPEAKER_00: I was like the math doesn't have to work the kingdom works and I don't have to have a favorite I don't have to have well it's your day to be loved you know it's I'll get to you tomorrow and none of that and so verse 44 while Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message why because God doesn't play favorites it's for all it's for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: What is the Greek word for all?
SPEAKER_00: It's all it's everybody and so it's it's it's for the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: So the word gets back to the disciples who aren't there in Cornelius's house but are wondering about this very thing.
SPEAKER_00: In fact they've been wondering about this ever since some missionary whispering started going around hey we're going out here.
SPEAKER_00: Like why would you do that?
SPEAKER_00: I thought this was just for us.
SPEAKER_00: Well because Jesus said go to all the nations yeah but like like actually or was that a metaphor?
SPEAKER_00: And so they're like wondering is this for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: So the word gets back to him uh finally Acts 11 so this whole story is like Acts 10 so now we're in verse 18 of Acts 11.
SPEAKER_00: The word gets back it says when they heard this that they as the rest of the Jews who were wondering is this for everybody they had no further objections and they praised God saying well so then even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life and it was a done deal.
SPEAKER_00: It was a settled now it is a sad and we won't talk about this tonight though we probably will head here at some point it is a sad commentary that the church in Jerusalem took as long as it did to really get the Great Commission movement.
SPEAKER_00: It was the church in Antioch actually 90 miles to the north of Jerusalem that was the first church to actually get hey this is for everybody and so we've got to become apostolic which means set ones we've got to start equipping mobilizing and sending you to talk about pioneers builders and settlers it was like hey we're on pioneer mode right now because this has to go and the Jerusalem church was really not here until Acts 11.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the church starts in Acts chapter two and so all of these moments all these stories all this persecution all this like back and forth this and them and is it for is I don't know and no I think it's just huddle down here and just make sure it's still for us.
SPEAKER_00: Our forefathers would be really mad if we took this outside the family kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Finally Acts 11 now the Jerusalem church has a clue too you have here's the point no business comparing it was settled many years ago not an option it's a biblical precedent it's a truth God does not show favoritism.
SPEAKER_00: And I think if I'm being honest comparison has tried to plague me a lot in my life I would find myself in rooms with people and think to myself surely my story's bigger than theirs, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like because I needed confidence.
SPEAKER_00: Like surely I've got a testimony that'll sell harder that'll show God's power greater than the next guy because if he outdoes me then where's that put me?
SPEAKER_00: Where do I find myself?
SPEAKER_00: Like it sounds so ugly to say out loud, but comparison's a thief and so it finds a place in you.
SPEAKER_00: So I remember here's the summer I was telling you about remember this Natalie I was asked to speak at Wind River Ranch.
SPEAKER_00: It's a Christian dude ranch in Estes Park, Colorado my mom worked there for 15 years.
SPEAKER_00: My uh brother-in-law, the actual same one who was not a good basketball player at the beginning of junior high and then was a good one at the end because his coach built him up worked there also.
SPEAKER_00: And we were vacationing as we often do and did that particular week when the speaker fell through for the camp that week.
SPEAKER_00: And so the head of uh the camp said Becky my mom who worked there do you think your son who's a pastor in a church would be up for speaking at Windriver Ranch this week to about I don't know 15, 20 families that paid very, very good money to be there.
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, I don't know I'll ask him well he's on vacation is that what you want to spend your vacation on is come up with about seven talks for the night and answer families' questions about everything and it's like well okay so I brave enough to say yes.
SPEAKER_00: So I say yeah sure I'll I'll do that you know hey family push pause on the vacation we'll get you next year probably not my finest moment and I hide away and I try to get with the Lord and figure out what to say to this family these families at Wind River Ranch and made a fatal mistake before it ever started and got on the website of Wind River Ranch and pulled up who are the other speakers this summer I found some names on there.
SPEAKER_00: One was Mac Powell lead singer of Third Day one of the most famous Christian bands of all time he he's gonna be here in a few weeks awesome um who else was there uh Will Davis founding pastor of Austin Christian Fellowship ACF in Austin five different churches just retired he's like the who's who of Austin pastors by the way um huge veteran of the faith Trent Dilfer if you recognize his name it's because he won the Super Bowl as the Baltimore Ravens quarterback in 2001 in Super Bowl 35.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be there in a few weeks in fact that blue truck that you see being driven around the ranch he donated it cool um Trevor Morgan award-winning songwriter and singer multi-dove winner he's coming Carrie Underwood's gonna be there not that year we were there use her name to embellish she sh she showed up a few years later though and her hockey player husband they didn't speak but they were there my brother in law is like yeah I got to have dinner with Carrie and her husband and everything like wow um Danny Werfel won the Heismith University of Florida played for Steve Spurrier into the NFL I'm like what am I doing speaking?
SPEAKER_00: What have I ever accomplished that anybody would want to listen to me when this is the lineup of who's been and who's coming and some of these guys are like on cyclical repeat can you imagine the families were like we got who we you mean we could have come a week later and and sang next to Mac Powell you know like the songs we grew up in and we got who's Chris Bell?
SPEAKER_00: Chris Chris Ball who's that and I mean like my level of confidence sunk past the floor and I'm like why did I say yes to this and trembling.
SPEAKER_00: Now the truth is probably most of these families were just glad to have anybody and they were probably there for the mountains anyway in the horseback riding and everything else.
SPEAKER_00: And a fresh voice sure like that's actually what people were thinking.
SPEAKER_00: But when comparison rolls in your brain you can't think logically even all you can see are the lies and the facades and the fakes and all the stuff that's actually not true because you live underneath of comparison and in and I just felt my stomach grab that summer and the Lord showed me you've been running with comparison as a running buddy for a while.
SPEAKER_00: And it's time to break up with comparison dump him.
SPEAKER_00: Be done with it and if you don't it'll rob the glory that God wants to give in your life through you the flow of the spirit and it'll turn your honor into something counterfeit.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's not it's one thing to not even be able to live out your destiny because you're stuck in comparison but you're also shortcoming all of the people around you that you're called to influence by you being you and carrying what you carry by not doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a lot at stake to stay under the weight of comparison.
SPEAKER_00: So God I repent from partnering with comparison and deliver me today afresh and give me kingdom eyes to honor those around me.
SPEAKER_00: And if you reverse the scripture in Matthew 1041 like read it backwards uh reward comes out of the prophet when you honor them like how crazy of a thought is it that your your honor can actually unlock the destiny in others next to you that's that's radical and powerful and probably the right ingredient to actually change a city like by measurables like not just a cute phrase oh that God changed my life like what what changed?
SPEAKER_00: What what how do we measure it?
SPEAKER_00: Like what actually changed?
SPEAKER_00: Like that stuff I believe is like noticeable when honor is put on display um and the way Jesus honors is almost offensive.
SPEAKER_00: You know it's like he stood in front of Simon the fisherman who's largely to this point just another rinse and repeat and said you're not a fisherman you're an apostle sent to the nations like that's who you are and like the fishermen are scratching their head like that's who he is?
SPEAKER_00: Who are you looking at?
SPEAKER_00: Like no he's been here the whole time with us stinking smelling like a fisherman.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he's sent anywhere ever been outside of his little zip code.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus just does that time and again he he he finds the people like Paul who's a Christian killer and says you're gonna write much of the New Testament like you're gonna have that kind of an impact before he ever has the impact.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's almost offensive because it feels like it feels like you're almost making fun like I'm all that like don't don't patronize me.
SPEAKER_00: I mean a little bit sure but the way God talks about you like brags on you to heaven because of all he's put in you because he knows what he's put in you that it almost sounds offensive like okay okay easy easy and he's like no you're actually even more than that so the big idea is that you have the ability through your honor to unlock glory in one another in Proverbs it says that the kind of word that kind words are like honey to the soul and healing to the bones so if you're the leader of your team of your family of your uh work environment are people uh feasting or are they starving?
SPEAKER_00: If the way people feast is on your kind words of honor, then they would be feasting if you're doing that.
SPEAKER_00: But if you don't because for whatever reason probably you're tied up with comparison not feeling like you're enough not not feeling like you're a good enough leader not feeling like you've broken through quite far enough for the team to really respect you, then probably your team is starving, not feasting, because they're not getting to feed on the kind words that is actually healing for their bones, for their life.
SPEAKER_00: You know the root word for glory and the root word for honor are the same thing?
SPEAKER_00: Same root word.
SPEAKER_00: So the first time glory shows up in scriptures in Exodus 33, it's that song we sing, you know, show me your face, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's Moses asking for the glory of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well that first that's the first time the word glory really shows up in Exodus 33.
SPEAKER_00: And um in the Ten Commandments also in Exodus when we're told to honor our father and our mother same word same word to honor your mom and dad as when Moses is asking for God to show him his glory tied together there is an undeniable connection between honor and the glory of God being known.
SPEAKER_00: Like you can't separate them.
SPEAKER_00: In Philippians 2 Paul flips the script on what status is and basically says what do you what do you do with honor?
SPEAKER_00: Because in Rome the Philippians when he writes to the Philippians uh it's a Roman occupied colony and so in Rome much like today by the way the way you got status is you climbed the ladder like show us you're worth it show us that you've got what it takes like prove it to us and then we'll honor you for it.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is writing uh because that's the world they lived in and it sounds quite like ours where maybe we applause when status separates you from the masses like what you do.
SPEAKER_00: But what God does with status Is quite contrary to the Roman way and maybe the modern day way.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul writes in verse 3 do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
SPEAKER_00: Do nothing out of an effort to climb the ladder on your own to gain status.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: If that's what it takes to do it, don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, um, because that's looking to your own interest, but instead, each of you to the interest of the others.
SPEAKER_00: You want status in this life.
SPEAKER_00: The way you get it is look to the interest of other people.
SPEAKER_00: Like Dylan, I keep coming back to it because it marked me so deeply this week.
SPEAKER_00: Dylan's view, in my eyes, went from here, which was already pretty good, to like way up here, because he took the time to be vested in the interest of a 10-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: Like that catches mine and heaven's attention, I know.
SPEAKER_00: When you and me pause and take notice of the opportunities in people around us and call that out and focus on that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what covenant family is.
SPEAKER_00: Hello, by the way, that that is actually the thing that causes the heart of God and the movement of heaven to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Titles born out of insecurity and selfishness mean nothing in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: In your relationships with one another, last bit of scripture here.
SPEAKER_00: Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus has, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has and had the highest status you can possibly have.
SPEAKER_00: Son of God, God Himself, all of creation made at his hands.
SPEAKER_00: You can't get any more status than that.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, which by the way is the worst kind of death you could possibly undergo if you're in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God then, I mean, just look at the cause and effect nature of this.
SPEAKER_00: So he does that, he's at the highest status.
SPEAKER_00: He comes and makes himself the lowest status with the lowest kind of death you can have.
SPEAKER_00: And what does God do?
SPEAKER_00: God then, therefore, exalts him back to the highest place and gives him the name that's above every name.
SPEAKER_00: Not because he had it in the first place, but because the kingdom way is that honor and status is achieved when you go low, not when you climb the ladder to go high, contrary to what we observe and see in popular media today.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a powerful person in the world, typically you got there through domination historically.
SPEAKER_00: But in the kingdom, it's it's a measurement of honor that gets you status.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't even go after honor to get status.
SPEAKER_00: It's a byproduct of it.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you go after honor to get status, well, then now you're playing a comparison game all over again and it's going to undercut the honor.
SPEAKER_00: It's an indirect way of like, man, my goal, my dream is to be on top of the summit one day.
SPEAKER_00: I want to get to the top of the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: But the way you get to the top of the mountain is not by hiking up the top of the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually saying, Those around me that I can love on and pour into and honor well.
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden one day you look up and you say, When did I get to the top of the mountain?
SPEAKER_00: Like it's an indirect byproduct of doing it kingdom way, which is honor.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say that the more you required, uh the more honor you're you get through servanthood, really, the more you're required to prefer others.
SPEAKER_00: Like you want to be honored, come low.
SPEAKER_00: And what does God do with it?
SPEAKER_00: He he exalts him.
SPEAKER_00: What does God do when you come low and you honor people?
SPEAKER_00: He exalts you.
SPEAKER_00: He lifts you up.
SPEAKER_00: He he gives you what he's always had to give you.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling out what he's always put in you so that more influence can be given.
SPEAKER_00: It's the whole idea of, you know, to him who's given uh little, little is required.
SPEAKER_00: But then the more you get, the more is required.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the direction in life you want to go.
SPEAKER_00: That's the flow you want with your life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hear it as extra weight and responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Hear it as incredible opportunity for destiny for your life.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you have any ranking in your corporate business, any ranking in your family, like Peter writes, um, men, you're the head of your household.
SPEAKER_00: Well, do you know how that really translates?
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways it really translates is you're the chief servant.
SPEAKER_00: Like your job as the leader of your house is to outserve your house.
SPEAKER_00: I believe if you're the leader of your company and you want a company that actually accomplishes things, you're the chief servant in your company.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that you do all the work and hey, you don't do any work.
SPEAKER_00: It means that you put yourself in position to honor and to empower and to be a gold displayer, whatever it takes to show everybody, hey, there's gold in you, there's there's potential in you, there's ability in you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to step into a greater degree of kingdom honor, then I believe it's looking at the world like Jesus saw Mary, a marginalized woman who who everybody else saw something different.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, nope, that's actually the woman who is going to show the rest of the world what it is to be a true worshiper.
SPEAKER_00: Like there is countless story after story, example after example, of Jesus taking the down and out when people say there's nothing about them worth honor.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, there's everything in them that's honorable, and let me highlight it for you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just the role model, that's the role he's given us, or it's the model he's given us to be a role model with.
SPEAKER_00: And my prayer for my life and for our life is that we would be excellent honorers, that we would know what it is to participate in kingdom honor.
SPEAKER_00: And part of that, and then we'll pray here in a minute, is as much about kingdom awareness as it is intentionality.
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by that is it's one thing to say, that sounds incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Sign me up for being a person of honor.
SPEAKER_00: I will do that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's another thing to actually be in your day-to-day life and catch the opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the power of awareness.
SPEAKER_00: Like we we called it head on a swivel back in playing football days.
SPEAKER_00: Like, your head is always on a swivel.
SPEAKER_00: Like you're looking.
SPEAKER_00: Where's the opportunity?
SPEAKER_00: Or in football's case, where's the threat if you're playing secondary?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, where am I about to get burned?
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I'm always aware, I'm always looking.
SPEAKER_00: I'm yeah, it's the whole idea of cease without, like, don't pray without like ceasing.
SPEAKER_00: Gonna always be a person of prayer, always tuning in to what God's up to and what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm fired off about it.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's necessary as an ingredient for a church to have an impact in a community and in a region to be the people who are the most honorable in any room they go into, in any region they walk into, even if they've been spat on in the face, kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just gonna choose connection if at all possible, rather than, oh man, you made me mad or you don't like me anymore, or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, what does honor look like in that moment?
SPEAKER_00: So I think you get the picture.
SPEAKER_00: I think you get the assignment.
SPEAKER_00: So now, um, like I say this every week, we won't necessarily always do this, but right now it's good training ground and it's good family development.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna pray together.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, out of all of it, whatever's on your heart, but I would say it's it's something like eyes to see people like Jesus sees them so that you can honor like Jesus wants to honor them.
SPEAKER_00: Like a fresh revelation of that.
SPEAKER_00: And so bless each other with that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take our last 10 minutes or so and and do that.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we thank you for your highlights.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, that when we pray and we ask you to show us some things that you do, that you actually come back and reveal what's on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And tonight, I feel like you have a word to us about the beauty of honor, and that it's more than an acute, polite hospitality thing to undertake, but rather rather it's a major origin point type of kingdom principle.
SPEAKER_00: And so I bless this room, and we're about to bless each other with the favor of God to be people that just honor the daylights out of the world around us in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Find a couple people to pray with and bless them with that.
SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
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SPEAKER_01: And again, thanks for listening to the Sozo KTX podcast.