# When Jesus Is Your Jury

An episode of [Elevation with Steven Furtick](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/216015753), 26 Jul 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/cbb40a38-726f-4243-a86e-b0ed01477640/4db3e484-b080-466a-8e2b-b493015aa061/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=ff9164b2-aa64-410d-9ee1-b0ed0147765c

What is the voice in your head saying about you? When you’re wrestling with self-limiting beliefs, it’s tempting to try to impress people to prove yourself. But that only fuels the unfulfilling cycle of performance. Pastor Steven teaches us how to find freedom from human opinion and reach a new verdict about our worth so we can walk in our purpose. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 4, verses 1-5 – God alone judges his faithful servants John 8, verses 1-11 – Jesus offers mercy instead of condemnation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
[0:11] Speaker 2: new sermons every week.
[0:13] Speaker 1: Hope you're blessed today.
[0:20] Speaker 3: I really am excited to continue a series today that
[0:23] Speaker 3: I started last week, and I'm.
[0:25] Speaker 1: Calling the series. You're ready. I know that voice.
[0:30] Speaker 3: I know that voice, and we're talking about how to
[0:34] Speaker 3: discern God's voice and then do what it says.
[0:39] Speaker 1: Aren't both of those important?
[0:41] Speaker 3: You know what I noticed about us sometimes as believers
[0:44] Speaker 3: in Jesus, we get so caught up in the parts
[0:47] Speaker 3: of what God has spoken that are hard to discern,
[0:50] Speaker 3: and we ignore the parts that are hard to do.
[0:54] Speaker 3: Some things that God has spoken to us about they're
[0:57] Speaker 3: not hard to discern.
[0:58] Speaker 1: He just told us to do that, to forgive, but
[1:01] Speaker 1: that's hard to do. I'm gonna come over to this side.
[1:05] Speaker 1: I feel resistance on this side of the room. Maybe
[1:07] Speaker 1: it's better over here. I'm gonna just check the waters
[1:09] Speaker 1: on this side.
[1:10] Speaker 3: Sometimes the Lord will tell you confess your sins one
[1:13] Speaker 3: to another. That's easy to discern, that you need to
[1:16] Speaker 3: be honest about your sin. It's hard to do because
[1:20] Speaker 3: I want you to see me like that, so I
[1:22] Speaker 3: want to keep this armor on. Well, we're talking about
[1:24] Speaker 3: not only discerning the voice of God, but being able
[1:27] Speaker 3: to do what he speaks.
[1:29] Speaker 1: And I want you to be seated today.
[1:31] Speaker 3: Normally I share my scripture while you're standing, but I
[1:33] Speaker 3: want you to be seated because I want to talk
[1:35] Speaker 3: you into the scripture today. So take your seat wherever
[1:37] Speaker 3: you are and turning your bible please to First Corinthians,
[1:41] Speaker 3: chapter four, verse one through five. First Corinthians four one
[1:47] Speaker 3: through five. Thank you for your word.
[1:53] Speaker 1: Lord.
[1:54] Speaker 3: Somebody say what Samuel said. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.
[2:00] Speaker 3: We talked about Samuel last week and how he attuned
[2:05] Speaker 3: his ear to the voice of God, and so that
[2:07] Speaker 3: before he spoke for God, he had to learn to
[2:09] Speaker 3: hear from God.
[2:11] Speaker 1: Very important.
[2:12] Speaker 3: The apostle Paul was another preacher who had to hear
[2:16] Speaker 3: from God before he could speak for God, because there
[2:19] Speaker 3: was a time in his life when he persecuted followers
[2:22] Speaker 3: of Christ and he thought he was serving God, and
[2:25] Speaker 3: he had to come to that all important place that
[2:28] Speaker 3: really measures your maturity in the Lord, where he said
[2:31] Speaker 3: I was wrong.
[2:33] Speaker 1: Try to say that one time. See how heart it
[2:34] Speaker 1: is to say I was by a vow wrong.
[2:45] Speaker 3: And he spent the rest of his ministry not trying
[2:47] Speaker 3: to make it up to God, but trying to spread
[2:50] Speaker 3: the message of the God who had saved him by grace.
[2:52] Speaker 3: After spending his whole life trying to earn God's favor
[2:57] Speaker 3: through keeping the law in First Corinthians. After for Paul
[3:00] Speaker 3: is well into his established ministry and he's doing something
[3:04] Speaker 3: we would never think that someone.
[3:05] Speaker 1: Of his caliber would have to do.
[3:07] Speaker 3: He's defending himself to the Corinthian church. Not that like
[3:13] Speaker 3: they really had any right to judge.
[3:14] Speaker 1: Him, because they were wild. They were so wild.
[3:19] Speaker 3: I'm talking about sexual immorality in the church. It was
[3:22] Speaker 3: different back then. They had stuff going so crazy that
[3:29] Speaker 3: believers were suing each other because they couldn't mediate any
[3:32] Speaker 3: other way.
[3:33] Speaker 1: It's different back.
[3:34] Speaker 3: Then, and they were also not only dysfunctional, but they
[3:37] Speaker 3: were divided. So, yeah, one group in the church like
[3:40] Speaker 3: we like when Paul preaches. Then there was another group
[3:43] Speaker 3: that was like, well, we like when a Paulus preaches.
[3:46] Speaker 3: And Paul speaks into all of that, telling them you
[3:48] Speaker 3: should be eating meat by now, but you still need
[3:51] Speaker 3: milk because you have not yet developed your digestive system
[3:54] Speaker 3: to realize that if God's word is being preached, he
[3:57] Speaker 3: can use anything he wants to bring it to you,
[4:00] Speaker 3: the one he wants to bring it to you anytime
[4:02] Speaker 3: he wants to bring.
[4:02] Speaker 1: It to you.
[4:04] Speaker 3: But then it gets personal, and I've spent a lot
[4:06] Speaker 3: of time debating how to share this message today because
[4:09] Speaker 3: it is personal to me. I have determined that the
[4:12] Speaker 3: greatest way for me to make it personal to you
[4:14] Speaker 3: is to share how it's personal for me. But first,
[4:16] Speaker 3: let's see how it is personal for Paul. First Corinthians four,
[4:19] Speaker 3: verse one. This, then, is how you ought to regard
[4:23] Speaker 3: us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with
[4:28] Speaker 3: the mysteries God has revealed. Let's read that again, entrusted
[4:33] Speaker 3: with the mysteries God has revealed. There are some mysteries
[4:38] Speaker 3: that God has not revealed. Paul says, we are not
[4:41] Speaker 3: responsible for what God has not revealed. We are entrusted
[4:45] Speaker 3: with the mysteries God has revealed. There are some things
[4:49] Speaker 3: in your life that God has not shown you yet.
[4:52] Speaker 1: You are not responsible for what.
[4:53] Speaker 3: God has not revealed, and you get to trust Him
[4:58] Speaker 3: with those mysteries. But then, Paul says, we have been
[5:01] Speaker 3: entrusted with the mystery of the Gospel that has been
[5:05] Speaker 3: revealed through Jesus Christ.
[5:07] Speaker 1: Look at verse two.
[5:09] Speaker 3: Now it is required that those who have been given
[5:12] Speaker 3: a trust must prove famous. No, that's what everybody in
[5:17] Speaker 3: our day wants to be, is famous. But Paul said,
[5:19] Speaker 3: if you've been entrusted with it, you don't have to
[5:22] Speaker 3: be famous. You just have to be faithful. You don't
[5:26] Speaker 3: even have to be that smart. You just have to
[5:28] Speaker 3: be faithful. You don't even have to be perfect, You
[5:31] Speaker 3: just have to be faithful. Verse three is where I
[5:34] Speaker 3: want to pick up our thought for today. I care
[5:37] Speaker 3: very little if I am judged by you or by
[5:42] Speaker 3: any human court, indeed touching nation. So I don't care
[5:44] Speaker 3: what you think about me. You didn't convince them. Say
[5:48] Speaker 3: it again. I don't care what you think about me.
[5:53] Speaker 1: Now ask them, do you like my outfit? Does it
[5:55] Speaker 1: look good on me? Does it make me look fat?
[5:58] Speaker 3: I hear a preacher one time, even preaching, he said,
[6:00] Speaker 3: I don't preach for the praise of men.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Amen. Amen, I see the irony anyway. We all need validation.
[6:10] Speaker 1: And so last week I talked about values.
[6:14] Speaker 3: You'll know God's voice when you have God's values. To
[6:19] Speaker 3: ask God to speak to me about something that he
[6:22] Speaker 3: hasn't revealed when I'm not doing what he has revealed
[6:25] Speaker 3: is kind of missing the point. Because if I have
[6:28] Speaker 3: God's values, watch this. I can go to any college
[6:32] Speaker 3: and be a Christian. If I had God's values, I
[6:34] Speaker 3: could show up on any job and be a witness.
[6:37] Speaker 3: If I have God's values, I can take a wrong decision,
[6:40] Speaker 3: repent and God will make it right.
[6:42] Speaker 1: Because when I have God's values, I hear God's voice.
[6:46] Speaker 3: Today, I want to switch it a little bit, and
[6:48] Speaker 3: I want to talk about not values, but verdicts. Verdicts.
[6:54] Speaker 3: It's a courtroom term, he said. He said, I care
[6:59] Speaker 3: very little if I'm judged by you Verse three.
[7:02] Speaker 1: So he must care a little bit, but not too much.
[7:05] Speaker 3: I kind of care, but not enough to be controlled
[7:07] Speaker 3: by it. I'm gonna brush my teeth. I don't wanna
[7:09] Speaker 3: have bad breath.
[7:11] Speaker 1: You know I'm gonna.
[7:12] Speaker 3: I'm gonna try to do my best, but but I'm
[7:14] Speaker 3: not controlled by it. I care what you think, but
[7:17] Speaker 3: I'm not controlled by it.
[7:19] Speaker 1: I don't. I don't.
[7:21] Speaker 3: I don't have to prove it to you or any
[7:23] Speaker 3: human core And this gets deep Verse three part B. Indeed,
[7:27] Speaker 3: I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear,
[7:34] Speaker 3: but that doesn't make me innocent because my heart is deceptive.
[7:39] Speaker 1: It is the Lord who judges me.
[7:42] Speaker 3: Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time.
[7:47] Speaker 1: Wait until the Lord comes.
[7:49] Speaker 3: He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
[7:53] Speaker 3: and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time,
[7:58] Speaker 3: each will receive their praise from God.
[8:03] Speaker 1: Here's the title of my message.
[8:05] Speaker 3: I want to talk about when Jesus is your jury.
[8:12] Speaker 1: Come on, y'all, got quiet.
[8:14] Speaker 3: I know you're trying to write it down, but you
[8:15] Speaker 3: can multitask shout while shout while you're right, when Jesus
[8:19] Speaker 3: is your jury? Because I'm telling you there are internal
[8:27] Speaker 3: verdicts that are happening in your mind and your heart
[8:30] Speaker 3: every single day about others, about yourself, about your life.
[8:35] Speaker 3: And I want to talk about that a little bit.
[8:37] Speaker 3: And I chose the word jury because that's the job
[8:41] Speaker 3: of a jury, right to declare a verdict after examining
[8:46] Speaker 3: evidence and in your heart. Even at this point in
[8:50] Speaker 3: my message today, you have already made certain verdicts about
[8:55] Speaker 3: the word that I'm preaching today. You've already started deciding
[8:58] Speaker 3: is this for me or is this for someone else?
[9:01] Speaker 3: Do I agree with what he's saying or do I
[9:02] Speaker 3: disagree with what he's saying. Do I think Pastor seven
[9:05] Speaker 3: looks good with his shirt tucked in or does it
[9:07] Speaker 3: look kind of weird because he normally does And I
[9:08] Speaker 3: can't decide.
[9:09] Speaker 1: You know all the things that you think, and.
[9:11] Speaker 3: You laugh at that, you laugh at that, but it
[9:14] Speaker 3: is a very peculiar thing to be a public minister.
[9:18] Speaker 3: And this is where I want to share with you personally.
[9:21] Speaker 3: My eighteen year old son, Graham is preaching a lot
[9:25] Speaker 3: right now. And you say, you must be proud of
[9:27] Speaker 3: my am, But I'm proud.
[9:27] Speaker 1: Of all my kids. They don't have to preach to
[9:29] Speaker 1: make me proud. Yet at the same time, it is
[9:32] Speaker 1: kind of fun to teach him a little bit about preaching.
[9:36] Speaker 3: And he started asking me questions about preaching, like how
[9:38] Speaker 3: do you do an introduction? And you know, how do
[9:41] Speaker 3: you transition from one point to the other. Here's one
[9:43] Speaker 3: thing he said to me. And I don't know if
[9:45] Speaker 3: this means he's just like very self aware or a
[9:47] Speaker 3: little bit arrogant, but he goes.
[9:49] Speaker 1: I'm such a funny person.
[9:51] Speaker 3: How do I get my humor to come across more
[9:53] Speaker 3: when I preach, because they don't laugh when I talk.
[9:55] Speaker 3: You see what he did. It's their fault they're not laughing.
[9:57] Speaker 3: I'm funny. How do I get them to come.
[9:59] Speaker 1: Up to the my level?
[10:01] Speaker 3: Delusion can be a tool for the preacher, But he.
[10:06] Speaker 1: Is funny and he is learning. And one day he
[10:09] Speaker 1: walked past me where I study in the house.
[10:11] Speaker 3: I'm going to share this personally, but it's not autobiographical.
[10:15] Speaker 1: It's for your application, So listen to this.
[10:18] Speaker 3: I study in our house at a dining room table
[10:20] Speaker 3: with about seven empty chairs.
[10:23] Speaker 1: I like studying there number one because it's.
[10:24] Speaker 3: Close to the food, and number two I like it
[10:29] Speaker 3: because those empty chairs help me prepare. Here's why I
[10:34] Speaker 3: sit with the Bible. I say, Lord, speak to me.
[10:38] Speaker 3: I need you to show me in your word what
[10:39] Speaker 3: it says, not what I think, not what I preached
[10:42] Speaker 3: about it last time. And Lord, even if I don't
[10:45] Speaker 3: completely understand it, I want to share it because I
[10:47] Speaker 3: would rather give the people a word that is fresh
[10:50] Speaker 3: and messy than something that is moldy but has no meaning.
[10:57] Speaker 3: So as I'm studying a lot of times, I get
[10:59] Speaker 3: a little I love alliteration so I start making everything
[11:03] Speaker 3: start with P, like it's gonna do today in this
[11:05] Speaker 3: sermon when I give you the outline. But after I've
[11:07] Speaker 3: made everything start with the letter P, and after I've
[11:10] Speaker 3: tried to figure out lines that I can say, stories
[11:12] Speaker 3: I can share, illustrations that I can do, I start
[11:15] Speaker 3: talking to the empty chairs.
[11:17] Speaker 1: Please don't commit me to the outreach partner.
[11:19] Speaker 3: That helps with mental health when you hear this, but
[11:23] Speaker 3: I start talking to the empty chairs, or rather I let.
[11:25] Speaker 1: Them talk to me. And there are people in there
[11:29] Speaker 1: helping me prepare to preach. They don't know.
[11:32] Speaker 3: They're there, but they're there. Eric, you're there. I shouldn't
[11:37] Speaker 3: tell you this. You might start wanting to get paid
[11:39] Speaker 3: or something like that. Help me with my sermon.
[11:42] Speaker 1: But sometimes when I'm all lost, and what does.
[11:43] Speaker 3: The Greek say? What does the Hebrews say? You know,
[11:46] Speaker 3: God speak to me, speak to me. I look at
[11:48] Speaker 3: the empty chair, and I say, if Eric was sitting
[11:50] Speaker 3: right there, and I know some of the strain and
[11:53] Speaker 3: the stress that he's carrying. I've known him since we
[11:54] Speaker 3: were little boys. I know that he was adopted, and
[11:57] Speaker 3: I know that that's complicated for him.
[11:58] Speaker 1: And I know that he instantly deals with the issues.
[12:01] Speaker 3: From certain things that happened before he even had a
[12:03] Speaker 3: conscious memory. What does Eric need to hear from you Lord,
[12:08] Speaker 3: even if it doesn't start with a letter P, even
[12:11] Speaker 3: if it messes up my outline, even if it means
[12:14] Speaker 3: I'm not going to get up there to sound so smart?
[12:17] Speaker 1: What does Eric need to hear?
[12:19] Speaker 3: Sometimes you're there, Matt's smart, So sometimes I'm like, you know,
[12:23] Speaker 3: Matt's really smart, really successful.
[12:26] Speaker 1: But success brings pressure.
[12:28] Speaker 3: So what does the person who's successful but under pressure need.
[12:31] Speaker 1: To hear today? Because you tend to think that the only.
[12:34] Speaker 3: People who need a touch from the Lord are people
[12:36] Speaker 3: who are down low. But there is a pressure that
[12:38] Speaker 3: comes with blessings that you have to learn how to
[12:40] Speaker 3: manage as well.
[12:41] Speaker 1: So what do I say to the person.
[12:43] Speaker 3: Who is winning and weary? I said, what do I
[12:46] Speaker 3: say to the person that's winning and weary? So I
[12:49] Speaker 3: bring them all around me. I bring Holly around me.
[12:52] Speaker 3: I bring Holly to the table, and I realize that
[12:54] Speaker 3: she needs to hear honor your husband's and submit to them.
[13:00] Speaker 3: And then I put some kids in the church, you know,
[13:03] Speaker 3: because they're not necessarily stressing about the same things that
[13:06] Speaker 3: you know a fifty seven year old is stressing about,
[13:09] Speaker 3: So Lord, show me what my fifteen year old daughter.
[13:11] Speaker 3: So Abby's there and Holly's there, and it's just me
[13:14] Speaker 3: and a Bible to the naked eye. But I got
[13:16] Speaker 3: every chair filled with people who have needs that only
[13:22] Speaker 3: God knows and only God can meet. And I told
[13:27] Speaker 3: Graham one day he walked by and said, why do
[13:29] Speaker 3: you study in this room? I said, because these chairs
[13:32] Speaker 3: are full, because it reminds me that after I hear
[13:36] Speaker 3: from God, I'm speaking to them and it helps me
[13:40] Speaker 3: to filter. Am I coming up here to be impressive?
[13:46] Speaker 3: Or am I coming up here to be a blessing?
[13:49] Speaker 3: One time the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said,
[13:52] Speaker 3: you can impress them or bless them, but you can't
[13:54] Speaker 3: do both at the same time.
[13:56] Speaker 1: And if your primary.
[13:57] Speaker 3: Coast or listening to me, you think I'm talking about preacher,
[14:00] Speaker 3: and I'm talking about every room you walk into. I'm
[14:02] Speaker 3: talking about how you interact with your family. I'm talking
[14:05] Speaker 3: about how you show up in social situations. I'm talking
[14:08] Speaker 3: about sitting with someone who's going through something. Are you
[14:11] Speaker 3: trying to be impressive or a blessing? Paul said, one
[14:15] Speaker 3: time I forgot everything I knew, so I could remember
[14:18] Speaker 3: the Cross of Christ. I count it all dung for
[14:21] Speaker 3: the sake of knowing him. I preach the foolishness of
[14:25] Speaker 3: the cross. It's foolishness to those who are perishing, but
[14:28] Speaker 3: to those of us who are being saved, it's the
[14:30] Speaker 3: power of God. So when I preach, I want to
[14:33] Speaker 3: please Jesus and I want to help Eric. I want
[14:37] Speaker 3: to help Matt. I want to help Holly, she needs
[14:39] Speaker 3: a lot of help. She's married to me. I want
[14:43] Speaker 3: to help Abby. I want to help them. So they
[14:46] Speaker 3: are there and they are preaching to me, and I
[14:49] Speaker 3: showed Granddad. I said, before you can hear from God,
[14:52] Speaker 3: you need to remember that you're speaking to them and
[14:55] Speaker 3: you're a servant of God's purpose.
[14:58] Speaker 1: Before you are.
[14:59] Speaker 3: A speak you are not speaking for status.
[15:02] Speaker 1: You are a servant of the living God.
[15:05] Speaker 3: You serve the word of God, the bread of Heaven,
[15:09] Speaker 3: French to the hearts of hurting people, and is a
[15:13] Speaker 3: privilege to do it. And then I pulled out my
[15:15] Speaker 3: phone and I showed him a text message. I said,
[15:19] Speaker 3: I just got this text the other day from John.
[15:23] Speaker 3: John has been in our church for almost twenty years.
[15:26] Speaker 3: He was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's. He's in the middle
[15:30] Speaker 3: of a battle with Parkinson's. And while I'm sitting here
[15:33] Speaker 3: preparing my sermon, parsing the sentences in the original languages
[15:38] Speaker 3: that I hardly understand, and trying to prepare to get
[15:41] Speaker 3: up here and preach to you, I'm remembering John and
[15:45] Speaker 3: the fact that he has Parkinson's, and he sent me
[15:48] Speaker 3: a text that said, Pastor, these last few weeks of
[15:51] Speaker 3: preaching have helped me so much. You see, I have
[15:55] Speaker 3: pneumonia right now, and on top of the Parkinson's.
[15:58] Speaker 1: It's a lot.
[15:59] Speaker 3: But with God's help, I will continue to fight and
[16:03] Speaker 3: show up every day.
[16:05] Speaker 1: So I'm not preaching.
[16:10] Speaker 3: To be impression. If I'm preaching to help John. I'm
[16:13] Speaker 3: preaching to John today. Do you understand today that John
[16:18] Speaker 3: would love to be in this building but he can't.
[16:21] Speaker 3: He would love to be in your seat and he can't.
[16:24] Speaker 3: And some of you are scrolling on snapchat. Well, I'm preaching,
[16:28] Speaker 3: and somebody would give anything to be in your seat,
[16:31] Speaker 3: you see, because the word of God, this is my
[16:35] Speaker 3: weapon to fight through my weakness. I told Graham, your
[16:45] Speaker 3: job is to please Jesus and help John. That's all
[16:50] Speaker 3: you gotta do. That's all you gotta do when you preach,
[16:54] Speaker 3: Please Jesus and help John. So I'm preaching for two
[16:59] Speaker 3: people today, Jesus and John.
[17:02] Speaker 1: That's my job. Paul said, I got a job.
[17:05] Speaker 3: I love the apostle Paul because he understood the assignment.
[17:07] Speaker 1: He said, I got a job to do.
[17:10] Speaker 3: I gotta take the gospel to the gentiles. Touch somebody,
[17:12] Speaker 3: Say you got.
[17:13] Speaker 1: A job to do.
[17:15] Speaker 3: Look at them like you expect them to report and
[17:17] Speaker 3: log their hours. Say you got a job to do.
[17:21] Speaker 3: I got a job to do. You got a job
[17:23] Speaker 3: to do. Mom, you gotta raise those kids. No, you
[17:26] Speaker 3: don't have to control them, but you gotta be there
[17:28] Speaker 3: for them.
[17:29] Speaker 1: You gotta. You gotta co labor with God. Collaborate with
[17:33] Speaker 1: God to raise that child. And watch this. You have
[17:36] Speaker 1: a job. You have a job.
[17:38] Speaker 3: Students, you have a job. And it ain't just for
[17:41] Speaker 3: you to chat. GVT your way to a c and
[17:44] Speaker 3: get out of this thing you got. You got a job.
[17:49] Speaker 3: Somebody in your great might commit suicide if they don't
[17:52] Speaker 3: meet Jesus.
[17:53] Speaker 1: You've got a job to do.
[17:55] Speaker 3: You gotta show them the one who said you got
[17:57] Speaker 3: a reason to live. You gotta job. Say, I got
[18:02] Speaker 3: a job, not unemployed in the Kingdom of God.
[18:05] Speaker 1: I've got a job. I've got a job to.
[18:08] Speaker 3: Do as a mom. I got a job to do
[18:10] Speaker 3: as a student. I got a job to do as
[18:12] Speaker 3: a small business owner. I gotta figure this out. I
[18:14] Speaker 3: got a job to do as a creative. I gotta
[18:17] Speaker 3: learn how to do this these graphics in a way
[18:19] Speaker 3: that inspire people. I got a job to do, not
[18:22] Speaker 3: just when I show up to work, but as I
[18:23] Speaker 3: work on myself.
[18:24] Speaker 1: I got a job to do.
[18:26] Speaker 3: I gotta work on me so that I don't pass
[18:28] Speaker 3: down to the next generation what I struggled with, so
[18:31] Speaker 3: that I can be a chain breaker in my family.
[18:34] Speaker 1: I got a job to do.
[18:39] Speaker 3: And then I told Graham, you got to know your job,
[18:45] Speaker 3: but you also got to know your jury.
[18:52] Speaker 1: Your jury.
[18:54] Speaker 3: Let me ask you something, just me and you. You
[18:58] Speaker 3: love it when the preachers says that, like, there's a
[19:01] Speaker 3: bunch of us, okay, But if it was just me
[19:04] Speaker 3: and you and we could talk about it, who's your jury?
[19:09] Speaker 3: Paul said to the Corinthian Church. You're not my jury.
[19:13] Speaker 1: The Lord is.
[19:14] Speaker 3: And he's not saying that so he can get away
[19:16] Speaker 3: with sin. You only God can judge me, Paul got stown,
[19:21] Speaker 3: But not like that, all right, not like that. He
[19:27] Speaker 3: wasn't saying that as excuse, just liv anyway he wanted
[19:28] Speaker 3: to is sin is actually a higher standard that.
[19:30] Speaker 1: I'm called to than what you think about me.
[19:31] Speaker 3: Because when people judge, they do it on the surface,
[19:35] Speaker 3: and they do it as a summary, So they just
[19:40] Speaker 3: label you at the level they can see you. And
[19:43] Speaker 3: I think if Paul had had kids, he would have said,
[19:44] Speaker 3: I don't care if you think I'm a good dad.
[19:47] Speaker 3: You don't see how I parent my kids. So for
[19:50] Speaker 3: every mom that has a job, who's your jury? Who
[19:55] Speaker 3: gets to render the verdict whether you're doing a good
[19:57] Speaker 3: job at it or not? And does does that jury
[20:00] Speaker 3: exists in real life or only on your screen through
[20:03] Speaker 3: cultivated moments that were curated to impress others, so that
[20:08] Speaker 3: you are comparing the mom that you are to the
[20:10] Speaker 3: mom that they pretend to be.
[20:14] Speaker 1: What's your job? Who's your jury?
[20:16] Speaker 3: Whose popularity would you give anything to earn? Who are
[20:20] Speaker 3: you doing it for? I want to break this message
[20:24] Speaker 3: down into three points that start with the letter P
[20:29] Speaker 3: because John likes alliteration. You told me that one time,
[20:33] Speaker 3: but I think it'd be simplest. If we talk about
[20:35] Speaker 3: the verdicts.
[20:36] Speaker 1: In your heart. You know what I mean when I
[20:37] Speaker 1: say verdict, You're no good at.
[20:41] Speaker 3: This, You're unworthy, You're the problem. You'll never change. It's
[20:49] Speaker 3: too big for you. You don't have the experience those
[20:53] Speaker 3: verdicts in your heart. Those verdicts in your heart come
[20:56] Speaker 3: from a jury. Who's your jury. We're going to talk
[21:00] Speaker 3: about praise. That's the first thing we're going to talk about,
[21:04] Speaker 3: and then we're going to talk about patience, and.
[21:07] Speaker 1: We'll close the message in about three and a half hours.
[21:13] Speaker 3: Talking about power, praise, patience.
[21:19] Speaker 1: And power.
[21:21] Speaker 3: It's interesting that Paul uses this phrase in verse five.
[21:25] Speaker 3: I'm gonna put it on the screen again for you,
[21:28] Speaker 3: where he says, hang on, let me turn back there. Yeah,
[21:32] Speaker 3: each will receive their praise from God.
[21:36] Speaker 1: Do you see that right there at the bottom of
[21:38] Speaker 1: the screen.
[21:38] Speaker 3: I'll give you a second to take it in because
[21:40] Speaker 3: we're used to seeing give praise to God. But that
[21:45] Speaker 3: looks kind of weird to see it on the screen
[21:47] Speaker 3: that you also can receive praise from God. Now, who's
[21:54] Speaker 3: praise you crave the most? Will tell me a lot
[21:58] Speaker 3: about what you are chained Two who's praise you crave
[22:05] Speaker 3: the most. So when I started explaining to Graham about
[22:10] Speaker 3: the jury, I had to tell him a story about
[22:12] Speaker 3: another John. See, there is a part of me that
[22:15] Speaker 3: when I preach, I want to be accurate.
[22:17] Speaker 1: I want to be correct. I want to do a
[22:19] Speaker 1: good job. And there's one memory that stands out in
[22:23] Speaker 1: my mind.
[22:24] Speaker 3: Several years ago, and this is the only time that
[22:27] Speaker 3: this has ever happened. I was criticized for my ministry.
[22:32] Speaker 1: I'll see if you believe that or not.
[22:35] Speaker 3: Y'all know better than that because they say it to
[22:37] Speaker 3: you too about going.
[22:38] Speaker 1: To church here, so I get it right.
[22:40] Speaker 3: And this is the part that's kind of personal, but
[22:42] Speaker 3: I want to give it to you so it can
[22:44] Speaker 3: be personal for you. There was a man named John
[22:49] Speaker 3: one time who was being interviewed, and he is a
[22:52] Speaker 3: great theologian.
[22:54] Speaker 1: He's in heaven now and he is a great theologian.
[22:57] Speaker 1: What's his name? John.
[23:00] Speaker 3: They were doing a lightning round with him at a
[23:02] Speaker 3: theological panel, and they were saying, we're going to say
[23:05] Speaker 3: a name of a person, or the name of an event,
[23:09] Speaker 3: or the name of an organization, and we want you
[23:11] Speaker 3: to lightning round, just respond what you think about that person. Now,
[23:15] Speaker 3: I was very unsuspecting because honestly, I really loved this
[23:19] Speaker 3: guy's teaching, and I studied his books and seminary I
[23:24] Speaker 3: mean cemetary, I mean seminary.
[23:27] Speaker 1: And I studied his books to the point.
[23:29] Speaker 3: Where I actually had started buying volumes of his different
[23:33] Speaker 3: commentaries on the Bible. So it was really weird to
[23:36] Speaker 3: me because I was just watching this thing on YouTube
[23:39] Speaker 3: as a spectator, and I was like in the other
[23:40] Speaker 3: room getting ready to go preach on a Saturday night,
[23:42] Speaker 3: and they said my name, they go, they go Steven Ferdick.
[23:47] Speaker 1: I'm like, is my mom in.
[23:50] Speaker 3: Here somewhere calling me by my first and last name?
[23:53] Speaker 1: Like did they say my name? And I got back
[23:56] Speaker 1: to the screen just in time to see it. And
[23:58] Speaker 1: I'll never forget it because it wasn't just what he said,
[24:01] Speaker 1: It was how he sighed before he said it.
[24:04] Speaker 3: I was expecting him to say who, because I don't
[24:07] Speaker 3: think of myself as anybody that this man should know about.
[24:09] Speaker 1: I read his books. But he goes.
[24:11] Speaker 3: Ah, And what he said next was one word, but
[24:17] Speaker 3: it felt like it had about a million syllables. He said, unqualified.
[24:27] Speaker 3: I said, what did John just call me? And the
[24:34] Speaker 3: first thing I wanted to do was's fight.
[24:39] Speaker 1: You thought I was.
[24:40] Speaker 3: Going to say pray. No, I didn't want to pray
[24:42] Speaker 3: for him. I wanted to lay hands on him.
[24:44] Speaker 1: Because that's in the Bible too.
[24:47] Speaker 3: It's in the Bible, like something out of the Bible.
[24:53] Speaker 3: I can share it with you now because there's no
[24:56] Speaker 3: bitterness in my heart toward this man.
[24:59] Speaker 1: I'm sure in heaven and I'm.
[25:01] Speaker 3: Sure we'll eat grits and eggs together one day when
[25:05] Speaker 3: I get there, because I'm gonna.
[25:06] Speaker 1: Be there too, whether he wants me in there or not.
[25:08] Speaker 1: And I'm gonna knock on.
[25:09] Speaker 3: His door and I'm gonna say, I read your book.
[25:12] Speaker 1: Let's have a book club, John.
[25:18] Speaker 4: But you know what's weird is that sometimes when I
[25:23] Speaker 4: sit down to study, even though I forgave him, even
[25:27] Speaker 4: though I wrote a book called Unqualified.
[25:32] Speaker 3: And sent him one hundred and twenty dollars tie and
[25:36] Speaker 3: the book signed in the.
[25:38] Speaker 1: Mail, Yeah I did that. I don't even know they made.
[25:41] Speaker 3: One hundred and twenty dollars ties until I bought him one.
[25:44] Speaker 3: Even though I'm gotten over it, there are still sometimes
[25:49] Speaker 3: that I sit down to preach to one John and
[25:53] Speaker 3: find myself trying to.
[25:55] Speaker 1: Prove to another John.
[25:58] Speaker 3: But God said that's the wrong Joe, God, because God.
[26:02] Speaker 1: Did not call you to convince the jury.
[26:06] Speaker 3: God called you to please Him and help John.
[26:10] Speaker 1: So clap your hands. If you know I got nothing
[26:13] Speaker 1: to prove.
[26:20] Speaker 3: Wrong, John, write that down next time you find yourself
[26:25] Speaker 3: trying to prove something to somebody who isn't even paying attention.
[26:29] Speaker 3: By the way, you know what they're doing, trying to
[26:31] Speaker 3: prove themselves to somebody who isn't paying attention. So they
[26:35] Speaker 3: can prove themselves to somebody who isn't.
[26:37] Speaker 1: Paying attention because they're proven. And what are you proven to?
[26:40] Speaker 3: And what will it improve you if they do approve
[26:42] Speaker 3: of you? Here what I said, What would it improve
[26:47] Speaker 3: you if they did approve of you? So I'm saying,
[26:51] Speaker 3: like Paul said, I care a little bit, but I
[26:56] Speaker 3: can't be controlled by a jury when God has given
[27:00] Speaker 3: me a job. Even if it's not a person saying it.
[27:07] Speaker 3: I bet you've heard it before.
[27:08] Speaker 1: Unqualified.
[27:11] Speaker 3: Why do I make his voice sound like you on
[27:15] Speaker 3: a respirator or something?
[27:16] Speaker 1: Unqualified? I could hear, I could hear the jury. We
[27:21] Speaker 1: have reached a verdict on.
[27:24] Speaker 3: Verdict, your honor, we pronounced him unqualified, and I'm like, yeah,
[27:32] Speaker 3: like Moses, Yeah, like the Virgin Mary, Yeah, like a
[27:38] Speaker 3: shepherd boy named David, Yeah, like a cousin fisherman, the
[27:43] Speaker 3: name Peter, anybody God ever use he bit it through.
[27:48] Speaker 1: They're dysfunction.
[27:50] Speaker 3: So come all right, we're talking about the praise that
[27:59] Speaker 3: come from God. Say it, the praise that comes from God,
[28:05] Speaker 3: the praise.
[28:05] Speaker 1: I wrote this down.
[28:06] Speaker 3: Stop performing for people that don't hold your prize. Say
[28:13] Speaker 3: it again, vertie for the people in the back of
[28:15] Speaker 3: the church who have been trying to impress somebody, but
[28:19] Speaker 3: there's nothing at the bottom of the box. You'll remember, Cereal,
[28:22] Speaker 3: you reach down in it and there's something at the
[28:24] Speaker 3: bottom of the box. Some of you are reaching so
[28:27] Speaker 3: far down for the approval of people, but there's nothing
[28:31] Speaker 3: in the bottom of the box. It doesn't matter if
[28:33] Speaker 3: they like, It doesn't matter if they don't.
[28:35] Speaker 1: You can love them, but do not perform for.
[28:38] Speaker 3: Them, because how can you commit to the praises of
[28:44] Speaker 3: God if you are addicted to the praises of people.
[28:51] Speaker 3: Mm hm m hm.
[28:57] Speaker 1: Stop performing for people. Hold your prize.
[29:01] Speaker 3: I didn't say something ministering to people who treat you
[29:04] Speaker 3: mean that's called turn the other cheek.
[29:07] Speaker 1: That's in the Bible. You gotta do that. God revealed that.
[29:11] Speaker 1: But you don't have to perform for.
[29:13] Speaker 3: I don't have to take first Corinthians four, verse five
[29:17] Speaker 3: and then go to Revelation twenty three about the Great
[29:19] Speaker 3: White Throne of judgment, the three different types of judgment
[29:21] Speaker 3: in the Bible. Just because John might be watching me
[29:24] Speaker 3: from heaven. I'm not preaching to that John. I'm preaching
[29:27] Speaker 3: to you. I have a job to do today. You
[29:31] Speaker 3: have a job to do. Are you performing for people?
[29:34] Speaker 3: He said, the Lord has my prize, So the Lord
[29:37] Speaker 3: is the one that I'm doing it for. I thought
[29:40] Speaker 3: that was so freeing for me. See, when you are
[29:48] Speaker 3: a servant, Okay, I'll go ahead and break down my
[29:50] Speaker 3: pride barrier and just doing I was trying.
[29:53] Speaker 1: To avoid it, but I can't now. I want to
[29:58] Speaker 1: say it right.
[30:00] Speaker 3: Look young up here, Okay, when you are a servant
[30:06] Speaker 3: of God's purpose, you won't be a slave to people's praise.
[30:16] Speaker 3: When you're a servant of God's purpose, I got to
[30:20] Speaker 3: move on, but I want to talk to you about
[30:21] Speaker 3: being a slave of people's praise. See, if you are
[30:27] Speaker 3: a slave of people's praise, you will be a casualty
[30:32] Speaker 3: of their criticism. So sometimes the danger isn't from the haters,
[30:40] Speaker 3: it's from the praise. Because if you become too addicted
[30:45] Speaker 3: to people's praise, people telling you you do a good job,
[30:48] Speaker 3: what about when God calls you to do something that
[30:50] Speaker 3: nobody's going to compliment you say, I know that voice.
[30:54] Speaker 1: That's not the collapse of the crowd, that's the call
[30:58] Speaker 1: of God.
[30:59] Speaker 3: Do you know the difference. I have to learn the
[31:02] Speaker 3: difference where the Lord will say to you sometimes I
[31:07] Speaker 3: need you to do something that's going to make the
[31:10] Speaker 3: crowd think you're crazy.
[31:12] Speaker 1: But the crowd's crazy, not you. And if your jury.
[31:16] Speaker 3: Of being a parent is other people telling you how
[31:19] Speaker 3: much screen time your kids should have, are they paying
[31:22] Speaker 3: for the data plan? You got to work that out
[31:25] Speaker 3: with God. You might have to parent all your different
[31:28] Speaker 3: kids different ways. The Bible says train up a child
[31:30] Speaker 3: in the way that they should go, not in the
[31:33] Speaker 3: way that your neighbor's child should go, not in the
[31:35] Speaker 3: way that some experts said they should go.
[31:37] Speaker 1: Get over it. There are no experts.
[31:39] Speaker 3: There's just guides along the way, And there is a
[31:42] Speaker 3: God who made you, and the God who made you,
[31:44] Speaker 3: knows what's in you, and he's the only one who
[31:47] Speaker 3: gets to decide if you've been responsible with what He've
[31:49] Speaker 3: been trusted to you.
[31:51] Speaker 1: And that's why it doesn't matter much.
[31:53] Speaker 3: When people praise you, because people don't know what God
[31:55] Speaker 3: gave you. So it could be possible that you were
[31:59] Speaker 3: given much more than you're working with and people are impressed,
[32:02] Speaker 3: but God is not pleased.
[32:04] Speaker 1: Only God knows what he gave you.
[32:06] Speaker 3: It could be possible that you are doing much better
[32:09] Speaker 3: than people would think, but you were given a very
[32:11] Speaker 3: rough start in life, and for you to be where
[32:15] Speaker 3: you are right now is the grace of God. And
[32:18] Speaker 3: don't let anybody's schedule intimidate you for where your life
[32:23] Speaker 3: is supposed to be right now. So if I'm not
[32:30] Speaker 3: a slave to their praise, I can't be a casualty
[32:34] Speaker 3: of their criticism.
[32:36] Speaker 1: Please God, help John, Please God, that's all I have
[32:40] Speaker 1: to do.
[32:40] Speaker 3: Please God, and help John and all of the Johns
[32:44] Speaker 3: that are in this room. And I think you got
[32:46] Speaker 3: to focus it down to know like Paul knew. He said,
[32:49] Speaker 3: I am entrusted with what God has revealed to me.
[32:54] Speaker 3: And that might be one certain thing for each season
[32:57] Speaker 3: that God reveals and says you are respond this. You
[33:01] Speaker 3: are not responsible for the outcome. You are only responsible
[33:05] Speaker 3: to apologize. You are not responsible for the outcome. You
[33:10] Speaker 3: are only responsible to show up. You are not responsible
[33:14] Speaker 3: to create something wonderful. You're just responsible to create consistently.
[33:19] Speaker 3: When I came off my summer break, I wrote.
[33:21] Speaker 1: A lot of songs.
[33:21] Speaker 3: Somebody said, did you write us a lot of great songs?
[33:24] Speaker 3: I said, a lot of songs. I don't know if
[33:27] Speaker 3: they're great yet. I'll let y'all decide that. That's not
[33:30] Speaker 3: my job.
[33:32] Speaker 1: I'm not the jury. I don't examine myself. I can
[33:35] Speaker 1: only show up.
[33:36] Speaker 3: That's all I can do and be what Paul called faithful.
[33:41] Speaker 3: And this kind of faith requires and this is a
[33:44] Speaker 3: very bad word, so we might need to bleep it out.
[33:46] Speaker 1: The sermon number two patience, bleep.
[33:51] Speaker 3: It out, or nobody's gonna watch the video.
[33:53] Speaker 1: Patience.
[33:55] Speaker 3: Verse five is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
[33:59] Speaker 3: And yet the Lord showed me something fresh for us today.
[34:02] Speaker 3: Can I give it to you? Can I give it
[34:05] Speaker 3: to you like God gave it to me? Somebody say, patience, Therefore,
[34:12] Speaker 3: judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes.
[34:19] Speaker 3: What's he talking about. He's talking about the day when
[34:21] Speaker 3: we'll stand before God. And you know, when I stand
[34:25] Speaker 3: before God, no matter who's up there going unqualified.
[34:30] Speaker 1: Don't let him in. I'm not gonna take a test
[34:33] Speaker 1: to get in. I'm not gonna take a test. I'm
[34:38] Speaker 1: just gonna do emotion.
[34:40] Speaker 3: I'm gonna find the man on the middle cross and
[34:43] Speaker 3: point and say it like this, I'm with him, And
[34:48] Speaker 3: that's how I'm gonna get in. Because my eternal verdict
[34:53] Speaker 3: hinges on my relationship with Jesus, and I have accepted
[34:57] Speaker 3: him as the Lord and savior of my life, and
[35:01] Speaker 3: he died for me, and he covered me, and all
[35:04] Speaker 3: of the sin that I did was canceled. It's not
[35:07] Speaker 3: only canceled, but God has so loved me with his
[35:11] Speaker 3: love that he is conforming me to the image of
[35:14] Speaker 3: his son Jesus, and that is settled. That is the
[35:18] Speaker 3: eternal verdict over my life. But I'd like to say
[35:22] Speaker 3: that there are also internal verdicts that we make in
[35:25] Speaker 3: the meantime, and that's not always just based on your
[35:28] Speaker 3: relationship with Jesus.
[35:29] Speaker 1: That's based on your relationship with the Holy Spirit.
[35:33] Speaker 3: So those verdicts that go on inside of you where
[35:36] Speaker 3: you judge stuff. You judge stuff about yourself, like who
[35:41] Speaker 3: you think you need to be to be qualified for
[35:44] Speaker 3: a thing, or who you think you need to know
[35:46] Speaker 3: to get in certain doors. All of those judgments how
[35:48] Speaker 3: you think your life needs to turn out. Remember I
[35:50] Speaker 3: said last week that we can't ask God for directions
[35:54] Speaker 3: if we don't let him set the destination, like God
[35:57] Speaker 3: is not like GPS, where you put in the destination
[36:00] Speaker 3: and then God will just give you the directions to
[36:01] Speaker 3: the destination you chose. And so, in the process of
[36:05] Speaker 3: trusting God, in the process.
[36:07] Speaker 1: Of hearing God, there are some times.
[36:10] Speaker 3: Where I have to trust his timing even when I
[36:14] Speaker 3: don't feel like he's talking. And sometimes he's talking, but
[36:18] Speaker 3: I've already made up my mind what i want him
[36:20] Speaker 3: to say, so I can't hear what he says because
[36:23] Speaker 3: I already have the script written. This verse says something
[36:27] Speaker 3: about the appointed time.
[36:30] Speaker 1: Let's read it again.
[36:31] Speaker 3: Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. So Paul is saying,
[36:38] Speaker 3: don't judge things that happen in your life, don't judge events.
[36:43] Speaker 3: Don't even judge things that you call failure as being fruitless.
[36:49] Speaker 3: Some of the greatest fruit in your life is born
[36:52] Speaker 3: from the greatest failures.
[36:54] Speaker 1: Shall I say it again?
[36:56] Speaker 3: Some of the greatest fruit from your life will come
[36:59] Speaker 3: out of the greatest failures. How many can testify to that?
[37:02] Speaker 3: Just wave a hand at me, he says. Judge nothing
[37:05] Speaker 3: before the appointed time.
[37:08] Speaker 1: So right now this verse.
[37:11] Speaker 3: Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time.
[37:15] Speaker 1: Say it?
[37:16] Speaker 3: Therefore, judge nothing before. Okay, therefore, judge nothing before in
[37:24] Speaker 3: light of the fact that God is the judge, in
[37:27] Speaker 3: light of the fact that God is the jury, in
[37:30] Speaker 3: light of the fact that God knows what he has
[37:32] Speaker 3: entrusted to you. He says, therefore, judge nothing before the
[37:38] Speaker 3: appointed time.
[37:39] Speaker 1: So what time is it right now? Somebody check your
[37:42] Speaker 1: watch real quick.
[37:45] Speaker 3: Ten forty two am Eastern Standard time?
[37:50] Speaker 1: Is that right?
[37:51] Speaker 3: Ten forty two Eastern Standard time on Sunday's today's day?
[38:01] Speaker 1: What's wrong? Fili?
[38:05] Speaker 3: Like I lost the room? Y'all seem distracted. Are y'all
[38:12] Speaker 3: distracted by something? I'm trying to preach? But y'all see
[38:16] Speaker 3: that nobody's looking at me. Y'all seem distracted by something.
[38:19] Speaker 3: Y'all are distracted because you're judging something, something that you
[38:25] Speaker 3: didn't expect.
[38:27] Speaker 1: But something that I planned.
[38:32] Speaker 3: Because before I preach the sermon, I told Davide, when
[38:39] Speaker 3: I say what time is it, I want you to
[38:41] Speaker 3: start walking from the back of the church and walk
[38:45] Speaker 3: on the stage.
[38:46] Speaker 1: And when you walk, act like you're doing.
[38:49] Speaker 3: It on purpose, so the security doesn't snatch you. Act
[38:53] Speaker 3: like you know where you're going, so some redneck doesn't.
[38:56] Speaker 1: Jump up and tackle you.
[38:58] Speaker 3: Somebody'd be like, oh, I get no, no, no, he's
[39:01] Speaker 3: coming up here because I called him.
[39:05] Speaker 1: Because I called him.
[39:07] Speaker 3: See, you thought he was a distraction, but really he
[39:12] Speaker 3: was a demonstration.
[39:15] Speaker 1: You didn't know what he was there for.
[39:18] Speaker 3: But I told him before he started walking up the
[39:23] Speaker 3: stairs what I needed him there for. Because I said
[39:27] Speaker 3: at a certain time in my sermon, I'm gonna say
[39:30] Speaker 3: what time is it? At that moment, I don't want
[39:32] Speaker 3: you to ask anybody's permission. I don't want you to
[39:35] Speaker 3: push past anybody. I don't want you to second guest.
[39:38] Speaker 3: When I say what time is it? Start walking and
[39:41] Speaker 3: just stand there. And the people are gonna think, what's
[39:44] Speaker 3: he there for? But I told you before what you're
[39:48] Speaker 3: there for. Because I want to use you in this
[39:51] Speaker 3: sermon illustration. There have been some things in my life
[39:55] Speaker 3: where God put me in situations and I didn't know
[39:58] Speaker 3: what I was there. But before Joseph ever got thrown
[40:03] Speaker 3: into the prison, God knew what he would be there for,
[40:08] Speaker 3: to feed his entire family.
[40:11] Speaker 1: Y'all, don't hear me preaching. Paul was in prison in.
[40:14] Speaker 3: Philippi and he started praising God at night, and suddenly
[40:18] Speaker 3: everybody's chains came loose. He didn't start praising after the
[40:23] Speaker 3: chains broke. He started praising before because he knew.
[40:27] Speaker 1: What he was.
[40:28] Speaker 3: Therefore, I'm trying to say that when you know your purpose,
[40:34] Speaker 3: that when you know your father, when you know his fools,
[40:40] Speaker 3: let me put it plain, stop judging stuff that God
[40:44] Speaker 3: is not done with yet. Okay, that was pretty good
[40:52] Speaker 3: punctuation mark.
[40:54] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[40:55] Speaker 3: See, because he's there for a purpose. You judged it
[41:00] Speaker 3: before you knew what it was there for. You judged it.
[41:05] Speaker 3: You are judging certain things about you, and you are
[41:08] Speaker 3: calling them weaknesses. You are calling them weaknesses, but they're
[41:14] Speaker 3: really not weaknesses.
[41:15] Speaker 1: They're weapons. They are therefore God to use.
[41:20] Speaker 3: Paul said, one time I had a thorn in my
[41:23] Speaker 3: flesh and I asked God to take it away, but
[41:26] Speaker 3: he left it there for a purpose, so that I
[41:31] Speaker 3: might know his grace is sufficient. Don't judge it before
[41:38] Speaker 3: you get to see what it was there, for God
[41:42] Speaker 3: knows what he's doing. Am I preaching better than this
[41:46] Speaker 3: Episcopalian church of shouting?
[41:49] Speaker 1: I don't need their praise.
[41:51] Speaker 3: Hey, cuse, the Holy Ghost is telling me this word
[41:55] Speaker 3: is working, all right, Go sit back down.
[42:00] Speaker 1: And don't run back up here again.
[42:01] Speaker 3: If he runs back up here again, he's not authorized
[42:04] Speaker 3: for an illustration.
[42:08] Speaker 1: And a powerful april.
[42:09] Speaker 3: I thought it was a distraction, but Pastor was using
[42:13] Speaker 3: it for a demonstration. If that's true of me, how
[42:18] Speaker 3: much more is God using things. You think it's a distraction,
[42:22] Speaker 3: you're judging it, you think it's a disappointment.
[42:24] Speaker 1: You're judging it. Don't judge it before God gets to
[42:27] Speaker 1: show you.
[42:28] Speaker 3: What it's all right, But paul says something so important
[42:39] Speaker 3: that I hope you saved a little room for dessert,
[42:43] Speaker 3: because if you read this what Paula is saying, He's like,
[42:45] Speaker 3: you can't judge me. I'm holy, you can't judge me.
[42:50] Speaker 3: I know I'm walking with God.
[42:51] Speaker 1: In fact, he.
[42:52] Speaker 3: Makes this statement, and I think this is the problem
[42:54] Speaker 3: with only using this scripture, So I want to use
[42:56] Speaker 3: one more today.
[42:58] Speaker 1: For this installment, get something out of this. Praise the Lord.
[43:06] Speaker 1: Oh that therefore befo A thing really really got me
[43:09] Speaker 1: when I was studying, But.
[43:12] Speaker 3: I realized there's somebody listening to me who doesn't know
[43:15] Speaker 3: what it is. Therefore, and that what Paul said, not
[43:20] Speaker 3: all of us can say. You know, when he said
[43:23] Speaker 3: I don't judge myself verse four, my conscience is clear. See,
[43:29] Speaker 3: we can't all say that when he said it is
[43:34] Speaker 3: the Lord that judges me. Just a few words later,
[43:37] Speaker 3: do you see that in verse four part B, it
[43:40] Speaker 3: is the Lord that judges me. We can all say
[43:42] Speaker 3: that because it's ultimately going to be God's job to
[43:46] Speaker 3: judge us.
[43:47] Speaker 1: Ultimately. Ultimately, I mean.
[43:50] Speaker 3: That doesn't mean that people won't hand out consequences and
[43:53] Speaker 3: that your life won't have certain verdicts that are just
[43:56] Speaker 3: you know, handed to you by life. But it means
[43:59] Speaker 3: that ultimately God will judge you. But the part that
[44:02] Speaker 3: we might be tripping over is we can't all say,
[44:05] Speaker 3: like Paul, my conscience is clear, because there are a
[44:10] Speaker 3: lot of you who are listening to me, and you're
[44:13] Speaker 3: hearing this through the filter of guilt. And when I
[44:19] Speaker 3: read to you about Paul saying, you can't judge me.
[44:24] Speaker 1: I know that my conscience is clear.
[44:26] Speaker 3: You're thinking to yourself, people can't judge me because they
[44:29] Speaker 3: don't even know.
[44:30] Speaker 1: How bad I really am.
[44:33] Speaker 3: And even sometimes listen to me, when someone tries to
[44:37] Speaker 3: give you praise or a compliment or lift you up,
[44:40] Speaker 3: you won't let it in because there is something that
[44:43] Speaker 3: you know about you. So now I want to call
[44:47] Speaker 3: on a third person named John. If you go to
[44:52] Speaker 3: John chapter eight with me briefly, there is a perickopee
[44:56] Speaker 3: about a woman who was caught in the act of adultery,
[45:04] Speaker 3: and she was brought before Jesus to be judged by
[45:08] Speaker 3: a jury of religious professionals.
[45:11] Speaker 1: For our purposes.
[45:12] Speaker 3: Today, you may not be dragged in front of Jesus
[45:16] Speaker 3: to be judged by a group of people. It may
[45:19] Speaker 3: be by your own regret, resentment, dark nostalgia, remembrances of
[45:26] Speaker 3: things that you did, and current struggles with things.
[45:29] Speaker 1: That you still do.
[45:31] Speaker 3: The Bible says in John chapter eight, verse one, that
[45:35] Speaker 3: Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and at dawn
[45:38] Speaker 3: he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the
[45:41] Speaker 3: people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them,
[45:44] Speaker 3: so get the picture.
[45:45] Speaker 1: It is as it should be.
[45:47] Speaker 3: Jesus, the Savior, is at the center, and everyone is
[45:51] Speaker 3: gathered around him, and he taught them. Verse three, The
[45:57] Speaker 3: teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought a woman
[46:01] Speaker 3: caught in adultery. So while the crowds are being taught,
[46:05] Speaker 3: this woman is caught, and she is brought before Jesus,
[46:09] Speaker 3: the one who taught the crowds.
[46:11] Speaker 1: Now they brought the woman.
[46:13] Speaker 3: Who was caught in adultery, and they get they do
[46:16] Speaker 3: something that religion always does. See, when the passage started,
[46:20] Speaker 3: Jesus was at the center.
[46:23] Speaker 1: But when they got involved, Sin was at the center.
[46:26] Speaker 3: So they say, look at her sin, Jesus, we caught her.
[46:30] Speaker 3: The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
[46:33] Speaker 1: Brought a woman caught in adultery.
[46:36] Speaker 3: They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus,
[46:39] Speaker 3: teach her. This woman was caught in the act of
[46:44] Speaker 3: adultery in the law. They're quoting scripture. This must be
[46:49] Speaker 3: God in the law. They're talking about the Bible. This
[46:52] Speaker 3: must be God in the law. Moses commanded us to
[46:56] Speaker 3: stone such women.
[46:57] Speaker 1: Now, what do you say.
[46:59] Speaker 3: That is a dangerous question to ask Jesus if you
[47:02] Speaker 3: don't really want to answer, don't ask him if you
[47:04] Speaker 3: don't want to know, because Jesus might not agree with you.
[47:08] Speaker 3: It is a dangerous thing when you have made a
[47:10] Speaker 3: Jesus in your mind that only ever agrees with you.
[47:15] Speaker 3: Jesus might think different about it than you. Jesus might
[47:18] Speaker 3: see it different than you. Jesus is my jury. Jesus
[47:22] Speaker 3: is my jury. So they asked the question, teacher, what
[47:25] Speaker 3: do you say about it? Hey, there, what do you teaching?
[47:28] Speaker 3: All these wonderful things? But we're bringing you a woman
[47:31] Speaker 3: who was caught. We caught her red handed. We caught
[47:34] Speaker 3: her in the act. We know what the Bible says.
[47:36] Speaker 3: And they were using this question as a trap in
[47:40] Speaker 3: order to have a basis for accusing him. But it's
[47:44] Speaker 3: a bad idea to try to trap the answer with
[47:47] Speaker 3: your questions. I said, you better not try to trap
[47:52] Speaker 3: the answer with your questions. See, I've got to come
[47:56] Speaker 3: to him and say what do you think? And I
[47:59] Speaker 3: think the most powerful thing in the Bible is what
[48:02] Speaker 3: happens right in the.
[48:03] Speaker 1: Middle of the verse. But Jesus been down.
[48:09] Speaker 3: And started to write on the ground with his finger.
[48:14] Speaker 3: Notice he stoops before he speaks, he stoops before he speaks.
[48:22] Speaker 3: He doesn't have to stoop. He's God. He doesn't have
[48:25] Speaker 3: to stoop. He is the highest name, the name above
[48:28] Speaker 3: every name, the name at which every need will bow.
[48:30] Speaker 1: He doesn't have to stoop. But instead of.
[48:33] Speaker 3: Clearing his throat to speak, he rolls up his sleeves
[48:37] Speaker 3: to get dirty and get to work in the life
[48:41] Speaker 3: of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery,
[48:45] Speaker 3: and whatever he wrote in verse seven, they were not
[48:48] Speaker 3: satisfied with his actions, the Bible said. When they kept
[48:52] Speaker 3: questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let
[48:56] Speaker 3: any of you who is without sin be the first
[49:00] Speaker 3: one to throw a stone at her.
[49:03] Speaker 1: And again he stooped down and rode on the ground.
[49:07] Speaker 3: And at this those who heard begin to go away,
[49:13] Speaker 3: one at a time, the older ones.
[49:16] Speaker 1: First, I wonder what they did in the sixties, baby,
[49:20] Speaker 1: what were they doing at Woodstock? And this is really
[49:25] Speaker 1: good news.
[49:27] Speaker 5: Until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.
[49:37] Speaker 5: And Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where is
[49:43] Speaker 5: your jury?
[49:47] Speaker 3: Has no one condemned you? No one, sir? She said,
[49:53] Speaker 3: Then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declared, now and
[50:02] Speaker 3: leave your life of sin. One Baptist preacher said, it's
[50:07] Speaker 3: a good thing they drop their rock, because Jesus can
[50:12] Speaker 3: change water into wine. And if he can change water
[50:16] Speaker 3: into wine, if one of those boys would picked up
[50:18] Speaker 3: a rock and thrown it at her, Jesus would have
[50:22] Speaker 3: turned it into rubber mid air, and that rubber rock
[50:25] Speaker 3: would have bounced off of her and bounce back into
[50:29] Speaker 3: a rock and bust their brains out. That's what the
[50:31] Speaker 3: Baptist preacher said. But just touch your neighbors, simply say
[50:35] Speaker 3: you better.
[50:36] Speaker 1: Drop your rock.
[50:38] Speaker 3: You better drop your rock, because none of us really
[50:41] Speaker 3: wants Jesus to start bringing forth all of the evidence,
[50:46] Speaker 3: of all of the thoughts, and all of the things,
[50:50] Speaker 3: and all of the times and all of the struggles.
[50:54] Speaker 3: But what I love about the passage is that they
[50:57] Speaker 3: were caught up in what a sinner she was. I
[51:01] Speaker 3: don't know if you noticed, but they accused her. See,
[51:05] Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit is not an accuser. That's Satan's job.
[51:08] Speaker 3: The Holy Spirit is an advocate. And when Jesus is
[51:12] Speaker 3: your jury, when Jesus.
[51:14] Speaker 1: The perfect one, this thoughtless one.
[51:16] Speaker 3: The lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
[51:18] Speaker 3: the Bride in the Morning Star, the Lily of the Valley,
[51:21] Speaker 3: the Rose of Sharon.
[51:22] Speaker 1: When that God gets.
[51:24] Speaker 3: Down in the dirt, it doesn't matter what people declare
[51:28] Speaker 3: over your life. Even you can't judge you when Jesus
[51:34] Speaker 3: is your jury, because the Bible says, help me preach somebody.
[51:39] Speaker 3: The Bible says that as he stooped down and began
[51:43] Speaker 3: to ride in the dirt, they said, the law commands
[51:47] Speaker 3: us to stone such women.
[51:50] Speaker 1: Oh she's such a sinner. Oh she's such a sinner.
[51:54] Speaker 3: So remember this power to change belongs to God. See
[52:02] Speaker 3: Jesus did not tell her you have permission to keep sinning.
[52:07] Speaker 3: He told her, now that you've met me, you have
[52:10] Speaker 3: power to stop. So that's why anytime the enemy starts
[52:16] Speaker 3: telling you you're such a sinner, you can't be used
[52:19] Speaker 3: by God.
[52:19] Speaker 1: You're such a sinner.
[52:20] Speaker 3: God can't forgive you for that you're such a sinner. See,
[52:23] Speaker 3: you're missing the whole point. The point isn't that I'm
[52:25] Speaker 3: such a sinner or.
[52:26] Speaker 1: That I'm such a saint. Is that he's such a savior.
[52:30] Speaker 1: Come on, come on, come on, come on, he's such
[52:32] Speaker 1: a savior. Yeah, but you're such a sinner.
[52:36] Speaker 3: And so when the enemy starts beating your brains out
[52:38] Speaker 3: with these rubber rocks, when the enemy starts throwing stuff
[52:42] Speaker 3: at you and hurling, and there's verdicts in your head,
[52:44] Speaker 3: you say, yeah, I'm such a sinner. I'm not here
[52:47] Speaker 3: because I'm such a saint. I'm here because he's such
[52:50] Speaker 3: a savior. As a matter of fact, he's such a
[52:53] Speaker 3: savior that, in one gospel account, when the woman with
[52:56] Speaker 3: the issue of blood snuck up and touched the hymn
[52:59] Speaker 3: of his garment, didn't even touch him, just touch the
[53:03] Speaker 3: him of his garment, the dirty part of his garment,
[53:06] Speaker 3: the part that dragged through the streets when she touched
[53:09] Speaker 3: the hem of his garments. Normally, if the unclean touches
[53:12] Speaker 3: the clean, the clean becomes unclean.
[53:15] Speaker 1: But he's such a savior. He's such a savior.
[53:19] Speaker 3: That when you touch this savior, it doesn't make the
[53:22] Speaker 3: clean unclean. Baby, it makes the unclean clean. He's such
[53:26] Speaker 3: a savior. He's such a savior. He is such a savior.
[53:32] Speaker 3: Touch somebody, say he's such a savior. He's such a savior.
[53:37] Speaker 3: He's such a savior that when he got to the
[53:40] Speaker 3: grave and it was four days into lazarus death, he
[53:44] Speaker 3: had to call Lazarus by name because there was so
[53:48] Speaker 3: much power in his word that if he had just
[53:51] Speaker 3: said get up, every dead body in Jerusalem and Bethany
[53:55] Speaker 3: would have got about the brave because it's such a savior.
[53:59] Speaker 3: There's enough in one word from God. And he is
[54:04] Speaker 3: such a savior that one drop of his blood can.
[54:09] Speaker 1: Make the foul liss clean.
[54:10] Speaker 3: He's such a savior that when the thief on the
[54:13] Speaker 3: cross turned to the man in the middle and said,
[54:16] Speaker 3: I know I don't deserve it. I know I've wasted
[54:19] Speaker 3: so much time. I know I deserve to be up
[54:21] Speaker 3: here and you don't.
[54:22] Speaker 1: But would you remember me?
[54:24] Speaker 3: I don't even know who you are yet, I don't
[54:26] Speaker 3: even really get it yet. But would you remember me?
[54:28] Speaker 3: And he said, today you'll be with me in paradise.
[54:33] Speaker 3: So I'm telling you today, the power of my testimony
[54:36] Speaker 3: and the power of my confession, and the power of
[54:39] Speaker 3: my thought, and the power of my overcoming and the
[54:41] Speaker 3: power of my victory is not that I'm such a saint.
[54:46] Speaker 1: Is that he is such a savior.
[55:00] Speaker 3: Law commands us to stone such a woman. She's such
[55:03] Speaker 3: a sinner, don't you hear that sometimes about yourself. You're
[55:07] Speaker 3: such an idiot. Yeah, but Jesus is sucher than you.
[55:14] Speaker 3: I think I should preach a message called you know
[55:15] Speaker 3: we talked about he's a savior. He's such a savior,
[55:19] Speaker 3: and he's sucher than your sin. He's such a savior.
[55:24] Speaker 3: He's such a savior that they only had the power
[55:31] Speaker 3: to catch her in the act of adultery. But he's
[55:35] Speaker 3: such a savior. He has the power to catch you
[55:39] Speaker 3: when you fall and stand you back up again. So
[55:51] Speaker 3: when the verdict goes in my mind, you're unqualified, or
[55:54] Speaker 3: you're dirty, or you're unworthy, or you're a peace trash
[55:57] Speaker 3: or and man, I gotta.
[55:59] Speaker 1: Tell you something.
[56:01] Speaker 3: In one of those chairs around my table is me.
[56:06] Speaker 3: I ap preach to me because I hear it all
[56:10] Speaker 3: the time. You're such a moron. Come on, how many
[56:14] Speaker 3: of you liked me struggle with self talking. You're not
[56:16] Speaker 3: gonna pay for therapy, so this is all you're gonna
[56:17] Speaker 3: get today listening to me.
[56:18] Speaker 1: Talk to you.
[56:22] Speaker 3: When I went to therapy for the about the third
[56:24] Speaker 3: or fourth time, I was describing all of these thoughts
[56:27] Speaker 3: that go in my head. I was describing my jury.
[56:30] Speaker 3: The therapist didn't call it that. That's what I've learned,
[56:33] Speaker 3: that it's a jury making a verdict. But she interrupted
[56:37] Speaker 3: me with a question. She said, Hey, I hear you
[56:40] Speaker 3: saying some really harsh things about yourself.
[56:42] Speaker 1: Whose voice is that? That's a good question.
[56:50] Speaker 3: And sometimes my voice in my head sounds more like
[56:53] Speaker 3: the serpent that accused us than.
[56:54] Speaker 1: The Savior that advocates.
[56:59] Speaker 3: So I shared First Corinthians four one through five to
[57:02] Speaker 3: let you know that Jesus is your jury and that
[57:07] Speaker 3: you have a job. But I read John eight to
[57:10] Speaker 3: know that your job is not to be Jesus.
[57:15] Speaker 1: Your job is to trust him.
[57:18] Speaker 3: And he did for you what you couldn't do for you.
[57:22] Speaker 3: And so when the when the such a start this week?
[57:25] Speaker 1: And they will.
[57:26] Speaker 3: You're such a You're such a You're such a bad man,
[57:29] Speaker 3: you're such a Whose voice is that? It's not the
[57:33] Speaker 3: voice of the savior, it's the voice of shame. And
[57:36] Speaker 3: you know what, Shame can't lift you out of your sin.
[57:44] Speaker 3: Shame can't lift you out of your sin, and grace
[57:47] Speaker 3: will not leave you in it.
[57:51] Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
[57:54] Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
[57:57] Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
[57:59] Speaker 2: the available. I also want to take a moment and
[58:02] Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
[58:05] Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
[58:08] Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
[58:11] Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
[58:14] Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
[58:17] Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
[58:21] Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
[58:24] Speaker 2: and subscribe.
[58:25] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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