SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we've come, uh, that's a word we don't use a whole lot in our culture, exalt.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've come basically to lift you up a little uh uh a lot higher than we are, because we like to make much of ourselves and we live in a culture that makes much of us.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's why social media is so popular.
SPEAKER_01: We can go manage strangers' impression of us, and they don't even have to know who we really are.
SPEAKER_01: That we're a bunch of neurotic, fear-based people who struggle with acceptance or whatever our issue is.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we uh we want to embrace what we sang a few minutes ago when we said, You are our strength and we are weak.
SPEAKER_01: So we're freed up to be weak today.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to have it all together, we don't have to be perfect, we don't have to be uh feel superior or better than anybody or anything else.
SPEAKER_01: We could just be here as we really are, or as we'll talk about today, our true self.
SPEAKER_01: We've come to slay the imposter in us.
SPEAKER_01: That nervous, insecure man or woman that takes over different periods in our life and misrepresents who we are and who Christ died for us to be.
SPEAKER_01: We're capable of so much more today, and because of the gospel, we can experience so much more.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what we ask for today that the fruit of the gospel will be borne out in our lives and the reality of God will be demonstrated in our lips.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this now in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to the New Testament, kind of crack it open in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not real familiar with the Bible, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Crack it up into the middle and hang a right, and you'll find uh uh uh after the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, keep going, you'll see first and second Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and we're in a series we're calling, it's a three-part series, we're calling the story.
SPEAKER_01: The story, because uh we do not, or I do not take for granted that we all understand what the story of Christianity is.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people think that it that the story of Christianity is that God's up there in the sky watching you, and when you screw up, he's gonna get you and really just lay the wood to you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Bible tells a different story.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that God laid the wood to his son Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And and when he did that, that his death was purposeful.
SPEAKER_01: It was payment for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: And so you and it's a relationship with God is now possible, as is forgiveness, which means everything you've ever done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to assume you've done bad stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just ask this question.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you in this room, besides me, my hand is up first, have done something that you pray to God, nobody ever finds out.
SPEAKER_01: It's so horribly embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01: Could I see your hand?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are kind of like, no, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: You're liars.
SPEAKER_01: You should have had your hand up.
SPEAKER_01: You just lied in church, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the thing: the story, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: The story of Christianity is not how you gotta hide that and keep God from finding that out.
SPEAKER_01: God already knows.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we talk about the story, uh last week we talked about knowing the story, uh, and we talked about how God is consequential and how because of what Jesus did, that he came, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, he was buried, rose again, appeared to people, verifiable, tangible life.
SPEAKER_01: Not only is God consequential, but belief is possible.
SPEAKER_01: The life of Jesus gives us something to kind of hang our lives on.
SPEAKER_01: And then the third thing we said last week by way of introduction that the cross is necessary.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why the cross is necessary, because it's central to the story that God is telling.
SPEAKER_01: It is central to the story that God is telling.
SPEAKER_01: That story is a story of separation, mediation, and reconciliation.
SPEAKER_01: God is a God.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this.
SPEAKER_01: I said this to somebody this week, and the guy said, Come again.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because he said, Yeah, I'm not much on spiritual things and you know, the whole God, you know, I'm I'm just, you know, hey, uh, you know, I'm just yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, you got a bad taste in your mouth about whole God and Jesus in church?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean, just yeah, I don't want to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, okay, you don't want to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you one thing about it?
SPEAKER_01: Then I'll leave you alone.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, All right.
SPEAKER_01: What if I told you that God is not watching you counting all your sins?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that ain't the God I heard about when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, just just what if the God of the Bible is not watching you to count all your sins to keep a record of what a screw up you are?
SPEAKER_01: And I walked off and he said, Hey, mister, come back.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I thought we weren't talking about it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I mean, why didn't God count my sins?
SPEAKER_01: Because if we've sinned once, we're guilty of breaking the whole law.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible establishes that we're sinners, not the degree to which you're sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Some people are really good sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Have you met my family?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, your family's got sinners in it?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, and they all think they're getting to heaven because their brother's a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: So, oh, see, the story, some of you here today and you don't know the story you got told is not the story that the Bible tells.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh last week we talked about knowing the story.
SPEAKER_01: This week I want to talk to you about living the story.
SPEAKER_01: Living the story, and I'm gonna read about six or eight verses in the Bible, and I'm gonna focus on one half of a sentence where he says this.
SPEAKER_01: He says that we believe that Christ died for all, and he died for all those who live should no longer live for themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna talk to you about living the story.
SPEAKER_01: The first step in living the story is escaping yourself, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Not as not as self-hatred or self-denial or any of that kind of stuff, but just really as just kind of, hey, self-understanding.
SPEAKER_01: I want to begin reading in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11, so you get the context.
SPEAKER_01: This guy named Paul is explaining why he and the people that he's doing life and ministry with, why they live like they do, why they value the things they value and why they love what they love.
SPEAKER_01: He writes these words in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others, but what we are is known to God.
SPEAKER_01: And I hope it is also known to your conscience.
SPEAKER_01: We are not commending ourselves to you again, but we're giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.
SPEAKER_01: For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God.
SPEAKER_01: If we're in our right mind, it is for you.
SPEAKER_01: For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, and therefore all died.
SPEAKER_01: That's the story from last week.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to know a lot of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: If you can just know and unpack the implications of that one phrase right there, that one has died for all and therefore all died.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 15 is where I want to just put the plow on the ground this week.
SPEAKER_01: He says, And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible teaches unapologetically that one of the purposes, the major purposes of Jesus' death on the cross, what we call the crucifixion, is that you and I could escape living a life that's based on, motivated by and for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Now, living the story means we ex we escape this ingrained obsession with self, because I see lots of people in counseling who have a great self-image, but no sense of self-worth.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just to play on words.
SPEAKER_01: I see a lot of people in counseling who have a great self-image.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they they outwardly they think a lot of themselves, you think, man, that person's cocky or she's kind of vain or whatever, but they don't have a sense of self-worth.
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you start on the outside and work in, they look and sound good, but the closer you get to their core identity, away from what they do, what they own, uh to who they are and what it's based on, it's pretty undeveloped, unfamiliar territory.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want us to understand when I talk about escaping self, uh, that involves three things, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Three statements that I want to make, and I'll talk about them a little bit, and then we'll come back at the end.
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll be quiet.
SPEAKER_01: Or as I like to say, I'll shut up.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, I heard that and I recognized your voice, Antonio.
SPEAKER_01: First one, and I'll shut up.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and here's what we'll do.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting today, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna dim the lights and hum kumbai God, try to make you feel bad.
SPEAKER_01: I am not here to create an emotion for you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to invite you to think about some things from a biblical point of view, and then we'll give you some soul space at the end just to think about it and ask yourself, hey, what stood out to me?
SPEAKER_01: And then I'll speak a blessing over you, and you can get out of here and go eat lunch and take a nap, because that's what God wants you to do on a Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, now you're paying attention.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if we're going to live in the story, we have to escape ourselves, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says Jesus died, so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for him.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: That does not happen because of effort, that happens because of understanding.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't happen because you just, man, I'm gonna do it if it kills me.
SPEAKER_01: It will.
SPEAKER_01: It happens because of understanding, and that produces this winsome person, this new creation the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: Escaping the self.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the first thing we gotta do is we've got to believe what is most true about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta believe what is most true about ourselves, and that sounds innocuous and like, please, I'm not even gonna write that down.
SPEAKER_01: That is the most threatening thing you will ever do.
SPEAKER_01: That is the most threatening thing, is just to open yourself up to believe what is most true about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again, and I'll demonstrate in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: That is the most threatening thing you can and will ever do.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this affects the Christian and the non-Christian.
SPEAKER_01: It affects the Christian and the non-Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for the non-Christian who's who's not unwilling to believe what is most true about them, there's no need for change.
SPEAKER_01: There's no need to change.
SPEAKER_01: Why change?
SPEAKER_01: You know, big deal, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's great.
SPEAKER_01: I had a conversation this past week with a guy, a friend of mine, not a believer, very scientific, very biological.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, well, we're just carbon masses, you know, and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, when you talk to people and they say stuff, you need to ask, you need to think two words, origin and extent.
SPEAKER_01: Origin and extent.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, origin, where did this come from?
SPEAKER_01: What do you base this on?
SPEAKER_01: And extent.
SPEAKER_01: How far, to what extent are you willing to spool this logic out?
SPEAKER_01: Because he basically said, you know, hey, I'm I'm a good guy, I try my best, and when I die, and I said, okay, can we spool this out to its nth degree to the ultimate conclusion?
SPEAKER_01: You die, and I said, You don't believe in a God, but do you believe there's gonna be a judgment?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, I think there's gonna be a judgment, and and and but basically, I mean, God knows we're all gonna, we all did our best, and so we're all gonna get in.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay, if you did your best and you're all gonna get in.
SPEAKER_01: And if you could get in just on the basis of doing your best, like the last time your wife said you pick your clothes up, did you say, I did my best?
SPEAKER_01: That's what my kids say.
SPEAKER_01: When I say clean your room, I go back there, I'm like, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I did my best.
SPEAKER_01: They're 14, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This cat's like 44.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I I I the can I just are you open to the fact that just doing your best isn't gonna get you in?
SPEAKER_01: Because if doing your best gets you in, why does Jesus have to die?
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, you got yourself a good point there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I believe Jesus was a good moral teacher.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up! And he's like, You you can't just blurt stuff out.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: I just went at one point, ah, and he's like, Oh, okay, do you have something to say?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you have nothing to say, so stop talking.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're visiting today, this is my friend.
SPEAKER_01: I love this man.
SPEAKER_01: We fundamentally and radically disagree with each other.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what's this got to do with me saying you must believe what is most true about ourselves?
SPEAKER_01: See, for the for the for the non-Christian, unless they embrace what the Bible says, there's no need to change.
SPEAKER_01: That's my friend.
SPEAKER_01: For the Christian who doesn't believe what is most true about them, there's no means for change.
SPEAKER_01: There's no means for change.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, some of you have been Christians for 22 years and you're about the same person spiritually you were, you know, the week you became a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Because you for you, the means of change is just determination and effort and trying.
SPEAKER_01: And oh, I got I watched this podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, did you get this teaching series?
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: How are you, at your truest core of who you are, how you really change?
SPEAKER_01: See, you got to believe what is most true about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I said that's the most dangerous, threatening statement.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I see a person.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, I refer to people that I see for counseling.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you every once in a come up to me and go, I would never see you for counseling because you would talk about me.
SPEAKER_01: No, I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: No one.
SPEAKER_01: These are people I've been seeing for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, hey, if my story helps people, you can tell people.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, great, we'll we'll see.
SPEAKER_01: I see one man who's single who won't get married because he says, I can't limit myself to one woman.
SPEAKER_01: Wow, you think a lot of yourself there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, are you did you just say that out loud?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, I got a really strong appetite.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Wow, you just said that out loud again.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, are you gagging on how full of yourself you are?
SPEAKER_01: Call it what you want, man.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: He said to me even one time, he said, Hey, I know how to make the ladies happy.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I just kind of threw up in my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you you shouldn't make fun of me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not making fun of you.
SPEAKER_01: I just really just kind of threw up in my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: And then I told him this, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: This is not who you now.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the worst part.
SPEAKER_01: You ready?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: He's a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, easy.
SPEAKER_01: Over here.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the guy could tell you when he got saved, when he got baptized, and blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: All this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and and here's the here's the other crazy part.
SPEAKER_01: I believe him.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I said, So what does Jesus think about this?
SPEAKER_01: I try not to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: How's that working for you there, Skippy?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I just said to him, I said, hey, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: He said, why don't you judge me?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you why don't you get mad at me and yell at me?
SPEAKER_01: Because he grew up in a Pentecostal church where the preacher said he was red-faced and mad every Sunday and he sweated a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, So you want me to scream at you and sweat?
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the energy for that.
SPEAKER_01: You sin a lot.
SPEAKER_01: I was sweating myself out.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, so I mean, what do you think about this?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I think this is not who you are at its core.
SPEAKER_01: This is not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: So you just enjoy it as long as you can.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, sin tremendously.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Do your elders know you say these things?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Let's call them and see.
SPEAKER_01: Because see, here's what I mean when I say the most threatening thing you can do is believe a simple statement like you got to believe in order to escape yourself, you have to believe what is most true about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: So I said to him, Hey, the next time you're hooking up with some willing participant, okay, because he says, We're considering adult, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: The next time you're hooking up with some uh willing participant, I want you to see my big fat head that look, I look like the love child, the pit bull in Uncle Fester, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I want to loom above you, look down on you, and go, This is not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I doubt that's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Okay.
SPEAKER_01: About two weeks later, I get an email from him.
SPEAKER_01: I need to come see you.
SPEAKER_01: You got any?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, I don't have anything.
SPEAKER_01: I got I can see you on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: So he comes around Thursday, sits down, he goes, I hate you.
SPEAKER_01: And I got up from behind my desk and I walked around.
SPEAKER_01: There's two chairs in front of it, and I sat beside him and I said, Please tell me why.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, you know, I was, you know, me and this girl, and and and and I don't know what happened, but in the midst of it, I just jumped up and said, This is not who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Say that again?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I mean, I just it was just weird.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was the most unnatural thing.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you sit, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Don't don't put this on me.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible says, and it says later in chapter 5, about verse 17, it says, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation, old things are passed away, behold, all things become new.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Once you taste what is new, you can't find satisfaction in what was old.
SPEAKER_01: It just, I'm not saying it's not interesting to you, and every once in a while you're like, that would be so much easier.
SPEAKER_01: Sure it would, but that doesn't nourish you anymore.
SPEAKER_01: It's like wearing your letter jacket back to your 20-year high school reunion.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everyone's laughing at you.
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, that was a long time ago, and it doesn't fit.
SPEAKER_01: Take it off.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: So see, it sounds really so and see.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing, and he's kind of like, why don't you get mad at me?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you like like my preacher growing up?
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks God's like his preacher growing up.
SPEAKER_01: That God's a sweaty guy with a big fat pineapple face going, I'm gonna get you.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, That's not the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: You you the guy who it's the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He says things like this come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and you'll find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke upon you.
SPEAKER_01: So I come around the desk and sit beside you.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus says, get yoked up with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And learn of me, for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I didn't hear about that God growing up.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, that's not my responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Why do you tell us that?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why, because as a Christian, the greatest thing you can give someone is this authentic, transforming, receptive presence that just kind of flavors them.
SPEAKER_01: Just kind of just wafts over them, just flavors them with the fragrance of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the Bible says we are the aroma of Christ to those who are perishing.
SPEAKER_01: It's what a man named Henry Nowen called hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say hospitality, you think about your friends coming to your house, eating off your grill, drinking your beer, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are kind of like, Were you at my house yesterday?
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: Hospitality is this.
SPEAKER_01: It's this, it it it we think it's a woman word, it's a very manly word.
SPEAKER_01: Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Hospitality is not not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that last part again.
SPEAKER_01: Hospitality is not to change people.
SPEAKER_01: I often I am not a good counselor.
SPEAKER_01: Dude, if you have a therapist, go see your therapist because I'm not good.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you come to see me for the first time, one of the first things I will say is, I do not have the power to change you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's establish that.
SPEAKER_01: Now I will make you angry, you will swear at me.
SPEAKER_01: You won't be you're not the first, and you won't be the last.
SPEAKER_01: It's not my goal, but I embrace that because you are committed to your false self, and I'm here to call out your true self.
SPEAKER_01: And guys are like, Yeah, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just here because my wife told me I had to come.
SPEAKER_01: Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean when I say, hey, I just you gotta embrace what's what's true about our true ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we got to turn from our false self to our true self.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't check out on me and kind of go, that sounds like psychology.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me define it for you.
SPEAKER_01: When I say we must turn from our false self to our true self, you say, What do you mean, false self?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a damn your false self is that person that you revert to when you feel pressure.
SPEAKER_01: Your false self, man, is the guy that manifests himself when someone cuts you off in traffic.
SPEAKER_01: That's why your wife reaches on and puts a hand on your leg and says, You're a better man than that.
SPEAKER_01: And you think, No, I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: Tell you what, we'll pull these trucks over and I'll show you a man you never seen before.
SPEAKER_01: And your wife's like, I don't care about that, and I just want to show you what I'm capable of, woman.
SPEAKER_01: That's your false self.
SPEAKER_01: What I mean when I say our false self, our false self, I'm referring to the person you had to become to survive up to this point.
SPEAKER_01: The person you had to become in order to survive up to this point, that is your false self.
SPEAKER_01: Some other people refer to it as your imposture.
SPEAKER_01: This person is typically marked by mistrust, reactivity, and defensiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, Oh, that's my husband.
SPEAKER_01: Honey, I'm glad you're here today.
SPEAKER_01: This person is marked, is characterized by mistrust, doesn't trust anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I don't trust I trust me.
SPEAKER_01: Reactivity and defensiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And this is usually a response to the difficulties of early childhood and adolescence.
SPEAKER_01: And really it's kind of evolved and forms around two things.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what gets you attention and what allows you to avoid things you you don't know how to face.
SPEAKER_01: It's attention and avoidance.
SPEAKER_01: So the two real driving factors in this creation of the false self.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I see a lady for counseling who's I think she's in her early 40s, late 30s, early 40s, and it is consistently immoral in all our relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And and we we unpack it and walk it back.
SPEAKER_01: It started when she went through puberty, and she said, I was the first girl in my friend group to my body to change, and guys noticed me, and I like being noticed.
SPEAKER_01: And so I continue to pay the price to be noticed.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: That is beautifully self-aware and sad.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean by this false self.
SPEAKER_01: And I say to her all the time, this is you know, this is not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but i I I disagree with you, this is who I've always been.
SPEAKER_01: And then she goes, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: This is not who I am, because the Bible says, and I referenced verse 17 of chapter 5 here, the Bible says, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation.
SPEAKER_01: The old things have passed away.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, all things have become new.
SPEAKER_01: This this is not who you are because this is the same old thing.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're just continuing to live out who you became when your body changed, and boys said, Oh, yes to you.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm here to tell you there's a God in the world that says yes to you, and he redeems and forgives all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And she looks at me and says, I wish that were true.
SPEAKER_01: And I smile and say, It is.
SPEAKER_01: It is true.
SPEAKER_01: That's the beauty of Christianity and the truth of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean when I say your false self, your true self.
SPEAKER_01: I mean by that I'm referring to who you were created to be in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it refers to it as a new creation.
SPEAKER_01: This cannot be earned, it must be received as a gift.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the message of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Who you've always been can die, and a new you can rise in its place.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, God celebrates when this happens.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be ashamed of who you've always been.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible's not ashamed or afraid of that.
SPEAKER_01: But that person can die, that person can go away to never resurface again.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, every once in a while he'll he he or she will stick her head up and go, Hello.
SPEAKER_01: Like the other day, I heard ACDC singing back in black, and my old self said, Hello.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: I went to high school every Day of the tenth grade, baked out of my gourd.
SPEAKER_01: Listening to ACDC, Back in Black on A-track.
SPEAKER_01: You punk kids don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking over your head right now.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he gets to that line and says, let loose from the noose, I'm just like, yeah, that's not me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: That's just, you see, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: That this that this is the message of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Who you can be, who you've always been, can die.
SPEAKER_01: And this new creation, this, what I would say is your true self, not your false self.
SPEAKER_01: Your false self was created around what you have to do to get attention or to avoid the chaos of your family of origin.
SPEAKER_01: If everything's just all hell's breaking loose, you look around and think, okay, what do I do?
SPEAKER_01: To not, oh, okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: And you get stuck in being that person, not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: I see a couple.
SPEAKER_01: Um he is a uh good man.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he's not a believer, he's not a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Uh they come to see me.
SPEAKER_01: I've been seeing them for three years.
SPEAKER_01: I see them uh it used to be uh every two weeks, and then it was once a month, and then he got mad and they didn't come back for four months, and then he calls and says, Hey man, can you see us?
SPEAKER_01: Are you mad at us?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you saying I'm mad at you?
SPEAKER_01: You're the one that stopped coming to see me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna chase you down.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna call you up and say, You haven't been in in a while.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not the country club.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you gotta come pay your dues.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Why do we see that?
SPEAKER_01: I see them because he has been consistently unfaithful to his wife for years.
SPEAKER_01: Probably 20, no, about 15 different women.
SPEAKER_01: And she sits there and we both say the same thing to him.
SPEAKER_01: This is not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: This is not who you're created to be.
SPEAKER_01: And he says to us, why don't y'all just leave me alone?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's a real sinner.
SPEAKER_01: He, my favorite part of him is he walks in, he has his cigarettes in his shirt pocket.
SPEAKER_01: And he comes in the pastor's office with his cigarettes.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all leave them in your truck.
SPEAKER_01: He just walks in rocking them.
SPEAKER_01: And he sits down and he says, How long is this gonna take?
SPEAKER_01: Because I ain't smoked a cigarette in three hours.
SPEAKER_01: And I say, How much attention you got?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'll open the valve all the way up and just dump the back back the dump truck upon you, or we can go a little bit at a time.
SPEAKER_01: And his wife just smiles and says, We're here for a full session.
SPEAKER_01: That's 75 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_01: And he's and he said to me one time, one of the last times I saw him, he said to me, How do you know it's not who I am?
SPEAKER_01: You always say, This is not your true self, this is your false self.
SPEAKER_01: I said, That's right.
SPEAKER_01: This is the little immoral boy in you who was raised by a disconnected immoral father.
SPEAKER_01: And this is all you know to do, so it's what you do.
SPEAKER_01: It's not your true self.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know?
SPEAKER_01: I said, because we hadn't thrown a party yet.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, That don't make no sense.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, My people say that every Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Can I tell you, I said, can I show you out in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible forbids partying.
SPEAKER_01: That's a lie.
SPEAKER_01: You went to the church with that other guy who had the fat-faced preacher that sweated and screamed a lot.
SPEAKER_01: I said, matter of fact, Jesus in Luke chapter 15, I turned over there.
SPEAKER_01: Don't turn there.
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you, it's you can check it, write it down.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 15, it begins, and the Bible says that the sinners and the tax collectors are gathered around to hear Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a real bona fide sinner, I'm glad you're here today.
SPEAKER_01: Keep coming, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because I like you.
SPEAKER_01: I like everybody else, but I really like you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus, it says that the sinners and tax collectors were gathered around to hear Jesus, and then the Pharisees, the preachers of the day, they all grumbled to themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They said, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus heard them.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, You think I welcome sinners and eat with them?
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you a story.
SPEAKER_01: When I was a little kid, I had two older brothers and they'd grab my nose and twist it until my eyes watered.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, ah! That's what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: He kind of thumps the nose of the religious people and says, You guys don't even get it.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells these three stories.
SPEAKER_01: One's about a lost sheep, one's about a lost coin, and one's about a lost son.
SPEAKER_01: And the first two end with this right here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm quoting now from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I tell you, there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 righteous people who need no repentance.
SPEAKER_01: The problem with most of us in this room, the reason you don't progress spiritually is because you're the 99 righteous people who don't need repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And I said to him, I said, there's hope for you because you're a real sinner.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you come and confess your sin to me.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think it's funny.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's horribly tragic, but it's your false self.
SPEAKER_01: It's not who you were created by God to be.
SPEAKER_01: It's not who you could be because of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how do you know that?
SPEAKER_01: Because there's never been a party.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a sheep or a coin, but you are a son and you act like a slave.
SPEAKER_01: That don't make no sense.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it does.
SPEAKER_01: You're being all macho and bravado.
SPEAKER_01: It makes sense.
SPEAKER_01: And his wife just puts her hand on his back and says, honey, listen.
SPEAKER_01: He mumbles at her, he yells at me.
SPEAKER_01: She has power over him.
SPEAKER_01: Women, you have power over your husband.
SPEAKER_01: You need to use that power.
SPEAKER_01: Not to manipulate, but just put your hand on him and regulate.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, hey, that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said to him, I said, the story of the prodigal son is about the son who said to his dad, give me my share of the estate, because to me, you're dead.
SPEAKER_01: I want my inheritance now.
SPEAKER_01: He goes out and squanders it on Jack Daniels and prostitutes, and he and he just dead, flat, broke, and busted.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's like that Chris Christofferson song, Sunday morning coming down.
SPEAKER_01: The beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had another one for dessert.
SPEAKER_01: He's at the end of the line here.
SPEAKER_01: And he has this aha moment and says, How many of my father's hired men have more than a food to spare?
SPEAKER_01: Here I am starving to death.
SPEAKER_01: I'll get up and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You have a sense of unworthiness, not identity.
SPEAKER_01: I don't make no sense.
SPEAKER_01: How long do I can smoke a cigarette?
SPEAKER_01: You can go now if you want to.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not keeping here against your will.
SPEAKER_01: Mr.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, keep talking.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: The father sees him coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And he hops off the porch and takes off running to him.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Quick, get a ring and a robe and sandals.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, This, this son of mine is dead and is alive.
SPEAKER_01: He was lost and now he's found.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You're still dead and lost.
SPEAKER_01: You've never been found and you're not alive.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, that's what I mean when I say we've never thrown a party for you.
SPEAKER_01: But we'd be glad to throw a party for you.
SPEAKER_01: But this is just your false self.
SPEAKER_01: This is not who you were created by God to be.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I say it is your false self, not your true self.
SPEAKER_01: One of the last times I saw him, he was like, Oh, you know, I just I think my false self is really who I am.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, nope, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I said, and I can prove it from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, okay.
SPEAKER_01: I said, can I come around there and touch your face?
SPEAKER_01: What'd you say?
SPEAKER_01: I said, can I come around there and touch your face?
SPEAKER_01: That's a question men don't ask other men.
SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Billy Bob, can I touch your face?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's a real man.
SPEAKER_01: He carries one of those clip knives on the back of his jeans, wears boots, he comes towering down the hall.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I said, Can I come around and touch your face?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, What do you want to touch my face for?
SPEAKER_01: To demonstrate to you what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: You're weird.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, I'm gonna touch your face.
SPEAKER_01: I think you're gonna like it.
SPEAKER_01: His wife says, honey, let him touch your face.
SPEAKER_01: So I walked around my desk and I said, I'm gonna say this and we're gonna be done.
SPEAKER_01: And you can go, and I said, You can go smoke all the cigarettes you want.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna change God's mind about you, and it's not gonna change my mind about you.
SPEAKER_01: And unlike President Clinton, you can even inhale when you smoke them.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, You're not coming over here to get my cigarettes, are you?
SPEAKER_01: Ha! Cigarettes are the least of your problems.
SPEAKER_01: You smoke, you ingest nicotine to self-medicate the pain of your false self.
SPEAKER_01: You seem really committed to this idea of a false self.
SPEAKER_01: I am.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
SPEAKER_01: And I grabbed this little face and I said, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, just read down there.
SPEAKER_01: It's right down there.
SPEAKER_01: He, God, made him Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us so that we can become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to live in sin anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You can be a righteous man because of what Jesus has done.
SPEAKER_01: His eyes just filled up with tears.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, That's that's why.
SPEAKER_01: That's why there's a party we're gonna have with your name on it.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't make you change, and she can't make you change, and she can't be good enough to outweigh your badness, but you can't be so bad that it overwhelms her goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess you gonna pray or anything.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not gonna pray.
SPEAKER_01: You go smoke to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not put off by it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't condone it, students.
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening, I don't wink at it and go, oh, that's funny, that's cute.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's dead and lost.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you men here this morning are living like slaves and servants, but God says you're a son.
SPEAKER_01: So come home.
SPEAKER_01: Come home.
SPEAKER_01: Well, aren't you tired of acting like a slave, doing the same thing you've always done, having no willpower to stop it?
SPEAKER_01: That's your false self.
SPEAKER_01: Lastly, this is not an invitation.
SPEAKER_01: See, when the Bible says right there in verse 15, and he died, those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised again, that's not effort.
SPEAKER_01: That's understanding.
SPEAKER_01: So the last thing I say to you this morning, this is not an invitation to self-hatred, but self-awareness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an invitation to self-hatred, but self-awareness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not Christianity, it's not about I'm scum, I stink, I'm horrible, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: No, I say to my daughters all the time, hey, you know, you know, your dad loves you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm pleased with you.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing you can do to change my mind about you.
SPEAKER_01: And they roll their eyes and go, yes, dad, thank you, yes.
SPEAKER_01: And then they go get around their friends and they come back and go, Oh, dad, thanks for saying that.
SPEAKER_01: Because my friends, I mean, uh, they they made a B and their mom and dad put rice on the ground on the floor and made them kneel down on their knees on uncooked rice.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Right across the street at that high school.
SPEAKER_01: I told my kid, hey, make a C.
SPEAKER_01: It's liberating.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: It'll free you up in ways that all this academic performance pressure never will.
SPEAKER_01: You really don't care that I make a C.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Fail a class.
SPEAKER_01: I did.
SPEAKER_01: Look what a winner I turned out to be.
SPEAKER_01: It so disturbed them that some of her friends came to our house for a study group and they said, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: McClendon, can we ask you a question?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they walked in like this.
SPEAKER_01: Can we ask you a question?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Sure, what's the question?
SPEAKER_01: Do you really not care what grades Madison makes?
SPEAKER_01: I don't care at all.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lose one bit of sleep over it because whether she makes an A or an F, it's not gonna change the way I feel about her.
SPEAKER_01: Because for me to have that kind of unconditional love, because one of the girls was like, she couldn't even say that loud.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, why?
unknown: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I said, because for me to have unconditional acceptance and love from God and turn around and put my kids under the law of performance would make me a hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: And I ain't a hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: And they looked at me like does not compute.
SPEAKER_01: Does not compute.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about self-hatred, it it's about self-awareness.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, let me just say if you got a Bible, turn to the right to the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: We'll read a little bit and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: But let me just tell you what happens when you get beyond yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because we make it sound like in the church, like, oh, you're your self is horrible.
SPEAKER_01: You need to beat yourself up and be liberated.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: When you get beyond yourself, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: If you hear anything I've said this morning, hear this.
SPEAKER_01: When you get beyond yourself, when you escape self, when you stop living for yourself, here's why you stop living for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Because God so loves you that he died for you so you could go from being sin to being righteous.
SPEAKER_01: That liberates you.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't got to take care of yourself anymore because somebody else has come to take care of you.
SPEAKER_01: The little girl that grew up manipulating everybody in your family to get your way, and the only way you can get what you want is to continue to manipulate.
SPEAKER_01: You manipulate your husband, you manipulate your kids, you manipulate your friends.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes to say, Hey, I will give you for free what you're trying to earn by deception and manipulation.
SPEAKER_01: Just stop.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, Well, I've this, how am I gonna?
SPEAKER_01: Uh-uh, I'm because back to the story of the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the older brother?
SPEAKER_01: The older brother comes after the prodigal son, comes back, and the dad throws the party.
SPEAKER_01: And the older brother who's been good his whole life, he's a virgin Republican who watches Fox News every night.
SPEAKER_01: And he is beside himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: This guy went to UT and smoked pot and grew long hair, and he's a Democrat, and he loves the earth, and he's he believes in global warming, and you threw a party for him.
SPEAKER_01: And the father looks at him, don't miss this, and says, son, he says, You're not even so much as giving me a skinny goat so me and my friends could party.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, God doesn't give stuff to people who don't know how to party.
SPEAKER_01: And the father says, Son, all I have is yours.
SPEAKER_01: You could have been partying this whole time.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself today if you believe that, Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, Daddy.
SPEAKER_01: It's everything I have really.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Hey, all I have is yours.
SPEAKER_01: But here's why he couldn't party.
SPEAKER_01: Because all he understood was what he didn't have.
SPEAKER_01: See what happens when you get beyond yourself is you begin to like the person you've been trying to like all along.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: This kind of helps us get self-awareness.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 1 So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full of cord and of one mind.
SPEAKER_01: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Let each of you look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others.
SPEAKER_01: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Let me close by giving you four questions to ask yourself that will give you a greater sense of self-awareness, a greater dial you in on who what what your true self is really like.
SPEAKER_01: Question number one is this Are you participating with the Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 1, if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: By that I mean, do you sense that your life is meaningfully connected to who God is and what God is doing here on the earth today?
SPEAKER_01: Are you participating with the Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you just feel like, hey, I'm out here on my own doing my best, and I hope when I get to the very end that it's enough?
SPEAKER_01: And that's not Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, is your ambition singular or plural?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3 says, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.
SPEAKER_01: But in humility, count others is more significant than yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: When he says, do nothing from selfish ambition.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible's not against ambition, it's against self-centered ambition, where you live your whole life just for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You're like that guy that Jesus talks about in Mark's gospel, who was so rich he had to tear down his barns and build bigger barns.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently he didn't know any poor people.
SPEAKER_01: So he just stored his stuff in barns.
SPEAKER_01: I need bigger barns.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, You fool.
SPEAKER_01: Tonight your soul's gonna be required of you.
SPEAKER_01: That's selfish ambition.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, when in your presence do people feel more significant than you?
SPEAKER_01: When people are around you, do they walk away and go, I don't know why, but I just feel better about myself.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what do you what do you link that to?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I had lunch with David, and I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I know that happened today, but I just feel like I'm gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what the Bible says?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Which brings us to the last question.
SPEAKER_01: Are you pursuing humility in the right way?
SPEAKER_01: Because he says in humility.
SPEAKER_01: So the Bible assumes humility, but a lot of us go about it the wrong way.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: And being founded in human form, he humbled himself.
SPEAKER_01: How?
SPEAKER_01: By becoming obedient, even to the point of death.
SPEAKER_01: If you want humility, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't beat yourself up.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm such a worm.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just not good.
SPEAKER_01: You won't believe what I did last night, Pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you won't believe what I drank.
SPEAKER_01: I backed out.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember getting home.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I believe that the way you get humility is not by beating yourself up.
SPEAKER_01: The way you get humility is just by being obedient.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is the byproduct of just obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Just do what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Just do what God says.
SPEAKER_01: He humbled himself by becoming obedient.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is the intent of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It turns you, hear this, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: It turns you into somebody that even you can like.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: God, once again, the Bible comes winking at us this morning, inviting us to think differently about ourselves, not the way that we are prepared or conditioned to think about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible comes and says, hey, let's escape this fascination and obsession with self.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Christ died.
SPEAKER_01: So we could get beyond ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And once we get beyond ourselves, there's so much out there that we can be a part of, affecting and influencing.
SPEAKER_01: Because we've entrusted ourselves to God.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we can get beyond ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: So the question for you this morning is have you ever entrusted yourself to God?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you still checking the knots and the suit of fig leaves that you've sewn together to cover yourself?
SPEAKER_01: Are you still trusting yourself more than you're trusting God?
SPEAKER_01: Are you still going out and living out of this false self?
SPEAKER_01: Not who you are.
SPEAKER_01: I say to you this morning on the authority of the Bible that there's a party waiting to be thrown in your honor where people who know you and love you, people you've wounded and hurt and sinned against, will weep tears of gratitude over the fact that you're a new creation.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to try to manage tomorrow today.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, you said that each day has enough worry of its own.
SPEAKER_01: We give tomorrow to you, God.
SPEAKER_01: We trust you for what's gonna come.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, in this moment, God, I pray that there's men and women in this room that are just getting tired of their false self.
SPEAKER_01: Tired of continuing to live out of who they had to become to survive their family of origin.
SPEAKER_01: There's a party that God's waiting to throw over one sinner that repents.
SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of God you are.
SPEAKER_01: And that takes our breath away.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to manage your opinion of us.
SPEAKER_01: You already know everything about us.
SPEAKER_01: And you still receive us anyway.
SPEAKER_01: That's grace and that's the gospel, and for that we're grateful.
SPEAKER_01: So we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: When you came in today, you were given a little worship folder on the far right side.
SPEAKER_01: It has a little tear-off portion.
SPEAKER_01: If you've had a chance to fill it out, you would just tear it off and drop on these wooden boxes by the doors on your way out.
SPEAKER_01: And if today is one of the days that you worship God through giving, that's where you would do that as well.
SPEAKER_01: We do not collect an offering by passing the plate.
SPEAKER_01: We just put the box there.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that God so works in people's lives that He changes the way you think about your money, your sex life, your food, your grass, your car, your truck, your house, your kids, everything.
SPEAKER_01: So why would we not just trust you to do as God leads you to do?
SPEAKER_01: That's why we do that.
SPEAKER_01: We'll be available down front.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to pray with you if you got something going on, something stirred up in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: If you say, hey, I want to, man, come up to me after the first service and said, uh, I need to come to your office and drink coffee and kind of talk about some stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, nothing that comes out of your mouth is gonna change my mind about you.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I know that's why I want to come.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you don't have anybody like that in your life, myself and the rest of the pastors here would love to be that for you.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to like who you are and believe who you can become.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: God really did.
SPEAKER_01: Make Jesus sin.
SPEAKER_01: He took all of your sin on him on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Because he wants to give you all of his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: This is the good news of Christianity, and it's available to you.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you, dismiss.