Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
A thousand generations [music and singing] falling down in worship to sing the song of [singing and music] ages to the land. Yes. [music] and all who've [singing] gone before us and all will believe. [music] Sing [singing] the song of ages to the end. Your [music and singing] name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your [singing] name stands above [music] them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers in your name stands [music and singing] above them all. And the angels cry. Holy. [music] All creation cries. [singing] Holy. You are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. [music] And if [singing] you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, [singing] sing the song [music] of the lamb. If you walk in freedom [music] and if you [singing] bear his name, [music] sing the song forever to the land. Yes, we'll [music] sing the song forever. Amen. And the angels [music and singing] cry. Oh, all [singing] creation cries. [music] Holy you are [singing] lifted high. Holy, holy [music and singing] forever your people sing. [singing] Holy to the [music and singing] king of kings. Holy. You will always be [music] holy. Holy forever. Your name [music] is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above [music and singing] all. Jesus. Sing it to her. Dominions, all powers and positions.
Your name stands above them all. [singing] Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your [singing] name stands above [music] all. All [singing] [music] dominions. all powers and positions. Your name [music] stands above them all. And the angels [singing] cry, "Holy all creation cries, [singing] holy. [music] You are lifted high. Holy, [music] holy forever. [singing] You're holy forever, Lord. Yes. Thank you, Jesus. We bow [music and singing] down. We are crowned at the feet. [music] throughout [singing] the feet of Jesus. [music] The greatness [singing] of his mercy [music] and love at the feet [singing] of Jesus. We cry holy, holy, holy. [singing] We cry holy, [music] holy, [singing] holy. We cry holy, [singing] holy, [music] holy is lamb. [music] Holy [singing] is lamb. [music] We bow down. We [singing] bow down. We lay our crowns at the feet [singing] of Jesus. The greatness [singing] of his [music] mercy and love at the feet [singing] at the feet of Jesus. And we [singing] cry holy, holy, [music] holy. [singing] We cry holy, holy, holy. [music and singing] We cry holy, holy, [singing and music] holy is the lamb. [music and singing] Holy is the lamb. That's the best part of it, y'all. Thank you, Jesus. [music and singing] Let's get on that. Holy is the lamb. Just say it to him. You're so holy on the lamb. Holy,
[music and singing] holy is the lamb. You're so holy, Lord. [singing] We worship you, Lord Jesus. [music] We thank you, Lord. Thank you for your presence, Lord. [music] And we [singing] bow down. We lay our crowns at [music] the feet of [singing] Jesus. The greatness [singing] of his mercy [music] and love at the feet [singing] of Jesus. [music] And we [singing] cry holy, holy, holy. You're so holy. We [music] cry holy, holy, holy. [music] We cry holy, holy, [singing] holy is the lamb. Holy [singing] is the lamb. [music] You [singing] are awesome [music] in this place. Mighty [singing] God, sing it to him. You are awesome [music] in this place of the Father. You are worthy [singing] of all praise. To you our lives we raise. [music] You are awesome in [singing] this place, mighty [music] God. You are awesome in this place. [singing and music] Mighty God, you are awesome in this [singing] place of the Father. You are [singing and music] worthy of all praise. To you our lives we raise. [music] You are awesome [singing] in this place. Mighty [music] God, you are awesome in this place. Mighty [singing] God, [music] again you are awesome in this place. [singing] Mighty God, [music] we cry. We cry holy, holy, holy. [singing] We [music] cry holy, holy, holy. [singing] We [music] cry holy, holy, holy [music] is the lamb. [singing] [music] Holy [singing] are you, Lord.
[music] Awesome. Please one more time. [music] And you [singing] are awesome in this place, mighty [singing and music] God. You are awesome in this place. Oh the Father, [singing and music] you are worthy of all praise. [singing] To you our [music] lives we praise. You are awesome [singing] in this place. Mighty God, you are awesome in this place. [singing] Mighty [music] God, yes Lord, you are awesome in this place, [singing] mighty God. Let's sing that [music] one more time. You're awesome. You are [singing] awesome in this place, mighty [music] God. Yes, you are awesome [singing] in this place above. Sing it to him. You are worthy of all praise. To you our lives we [singing] raise. [music] You are awesome in this place. Mighty [singing and music] God, you are awesome in this place. Mighty [singing and music] God, you're awesome in this place. Mighty [singing] God. Hallelujah. Lord, you are awesome in [music] this place. You promised where two or three are gathered together in your name that you are in the midst. Lord, you inhabit the praises of your [music] people. You're looking for people, Lord, that will worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord [music] God, we try to be that today, Lord God, to worship you, to declare you are holy. Yes. [music] And that there is none. None like you, Lord. Jesus name. Jesus. [music] Jesus name. Somebody praise the Lord in this place right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We worship the Lord this morning. Thank you, Jesus. I do believe the Lord is heading us toward revival. But before he heads us toward revival, he's got to root out some things of our hearts that we don't even sometimes realize is there. So, get ready for an adventure this morning. You may be seated. Hallelujah. Thank you, Johnny and Julie. That's great. I I hadn't heard that song in a long time. Awesome in this place. I used to play it and I love it.
Hallelujah. Well, I know it's our Thanksgiving meal today, our fellowship. And I know you probably smell food down there, but you're not going to get to it quickly. So, just go ahead get that out of your mind this morning. We have a journey to go on and it may take a moment, but you're going to uh you're going to need this one. All right. And this is a series I'm doing. It's just called the heart of mankind. This will be part two. Um just to review a little bit. And we can go ahead and start the PowerPoint this morning. Um, and I have so much I don't know if I got it all on PowerPoint or not, but at least you'll get the idea. But just know as we get into this this morning that you think your heart is like this, and God knows it's really like all of this. And I know you see the little bale idol in there because he's in there. But I'm gonna tell you who that little bale idol is today. That little bale idol, you're going to find out in a minute exactly what idol that is in your life and what it produces. And what's so wild is, and we're going to I'm going to quote an author. Now, let me say this at the outset. There's a guy is an author by the name of Bob Sorgay. I haven't read his book. Why don't we just put him up real quick? But he's kind of he's written a book years ago. I remember enemy and he called it, if y'all can find that envy, the enemy that's hidden within I think something like that. Um, now this is not an endorsement of everything he writes because I don't know what everything he writes or whatever what he believes, but a couple of books that NY's read over the years of his and what I've heard from her there's he's got some good stuff and this is one of them. Um, but I haven't read this book, but we're going to play a little clip from him in a moment. But he's a speaker who can't talk. He's reduced to a whisper because of a debilitating vocal injury he suffered over 20 years ago being a praise and worship leader. Now I want to say that at the outset because today is going to be about the idols in our heart and even for Christians how good things and even ministry can become idols and that we can hide a lot of our selfish desires.
and selfish motives within the shroud of ministry, good talk, all good things. Nobody would say they were bad, but the Lord had to take away his ministry from him to make him the man of God he was supposed to be. Had to tear it down. And uh it's an amazing testimony and that's why it says through the journey God has given him an empowering message that explores God's purpose purposes in trials. He said it's not the fire that changes you but your pursuit of God in the fire. Okay? And sometimes I I've said this many times that that years ago when I went through the end of my marriage, my ministry, church. It was horrible to me, but it was one of the best things that ever happened to me because God ripped away everything and made me realize that a lot of that stuff I was doing was still motivated from the idol of self and not for him. And I'll show you why in a second. But I wanted you to see this because he goes the enemy envy, the enemy within overcoming the hidden emotion that holds God's plans hostage. And what I will say to that, I'll add to this is God's real plans for you. See, God's real plans for you and what you think they are a lot of times aren't the same thing. Oh, but they're good ministry goals. We have a goal for revival. It's a good goal. We want souls to be saved. We want to see miracles, signs, wonders. We want to see the gifts of the spirit move. Do you know even all of those desires can be selfish because they can serve the idol of self and the praise of man toward you. Oh yeah. See y'all are quiet as Episcopals this morning. Let's go back to the PowerPoint and y'all pardon me. I had a little fun with Grock yesterday. illustrating some of these things. Just seeing what it would do. But I'm going to show you one of the things that Bob Sorgay says I think when it comes to his uh one of the quotes that you will hear or you're going to have to listen closely but he says that this problem and I'm going to tell you
the idolatry of self and the sin of envy deep in the heart he says this is the most common problem that nobody has. Nobody admits that the really the God of my life is me. And if I see anybody that has the things that I want, I begin to turn into something on the inside that's motivated. And get this, it'll make the nicest Christian become a little monster. Subtly. [snorts] Subtly. Mind you. See, y'all remember the story of Abselum. All right. No doubt. I have no doubt that Abselum loved his father David. Okay. But he also loved himself. He was very handsome fellow. Had the long beautiful locks of hair. I'm sure the ladies loved him. He was a king's son. I mean, he should have been content with his position as a prince. But for some people, even second in command is not good enough. Didn't we learn that from a angel? And what happens is is when self is the idol soon will follow envy. And envy simply defined, I remember looking it up years ago, envy simply defined in the Webster's dictionary is a resentful awareness of another's advantage. Basically, if you feel someone's a little higher than you, has a little more than you, maybe God's blessed them, and you don't feel blessed. Maybe God's healed them and you're not healed yet. Maybe God's provided for them and you're still suffering lack. Maybe God's touched their marriage and yours is still in hell. You see a lot of times in what Bob Sorg say he said he found himself it was easy to get in there and how did he put it suffer with the suffering you know he said but he could not really rejoice from the heart when he saw his brother or sister getting blessed. He saw this one guy. He said he saw his book kept appearing higher in the bestsellers list than his. Just a little
bit, right? He said, "What God?" He asked God, "Why does this guy bug me? God didn't do anything to him?" And he said when he when he realized that was there, he said,"I realized that my focus is on myself and wanting myself to be the highest." Because see, let me just go on and tell you about the little evil idol of self that's in us. It wants the respect the praise, the adelation of men. Now sometimes it's based in all these things, different things, insecurities, but at its root, it's evil. We can give all the excuses we want. Mom and dad talk mean to me. Okay, that still gives you no right to have your little idol of self in there. But I'm jumping ahead. I can't help myself. I guess we have a lot to dig into today. This is something going to review a little bit from last week. And this verse is going to be your key verse. You should get this verse memorized. And this is something you want the Lord to do. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Again, the reason he says that is because it's not just that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, but it hides very well. Hides itself in the heart of a Christian with all kinds of good things around it. But the Lord says, I search the heart. I try the reigns even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. But the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Your your heart will deceive you. Here's a few verses. I'm just going to run down. Listen to this one. The one at the top really blows my mind. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Y'all hear that? He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool, but who so walketh wisely shall be delivered. Meaning that if you're going to walk wisely and be delivered fully from this sin and this demonic stronghold of self and envy, you're going to have to not trust your heart. You're going to have to understand that sometimes your heart wants what it wants. You ever heard anybody say that?
Especially when they're an adulterer or adulterous. Heart wants what it wants. No, that's not the heart. But we we won't go there. The heart wants what it wants. Yeah. Okay. But I want to show you this real quick. We'll pop back to these verses. Now, I know some of you won't remember these bands here cuz it's but I mean, there it is. Trust your heart. I listened to this yesterday. I had heard it in years now. That's the devil talking. God just said if you trust your heart, you're a fool. But the king said you should trust it. Ain't that interesting? Here it goes. Remember I I was going to put you a little medley together, but I just didn't get to it. I didn't go to bed till 5:30 this morning. So Oh, here's Disney. Follow your heart. Cinderella 2. Let me just read this. Who says the rules must stay the same forever? What do you think that's attacking? The eternal word of God. Whoever made them had to change the rules that came before. Oh, really? Huh? So make your own way. Show the beauty within. When you follow your heart, there's no heart you can't win. So reach for the sky. It's not high as it seems. Just follow your heart. Go as far as your dreams. Dare if you want. Don't fear you'll fall. Take a chance because it's better than no uh never to chance it at all. There's a world for changing and you've just begun. Don't let them tell you it's simply not done. But when you follow your heart, your heart, you shine as bright as the sun. Follow your heart. Then of course there's the Thompson twins from the 80s. Follow your heart. But he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And here's the deal. If the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and is the center of the carnal nature and both the Holy Spirit at the same time, this is what the Bible talks about as crucifying the flesh, mortifying. You have to but before you can crucify anything, before you can kill anything, you've got to be able to identify it. You got to be able to see it and you got to acknowledge that it's there and admit it. Not so easy. Y'all nodding your heads. But if I pointed out some things I know to you in private and brought correction, you would not you would be highly offended. And what part of you would be offended? Self and that little green monster, right?
Now, let's look at it. Remember, we just said the heart is deceitful. So, let's just read Jeremiah 23:16 real quick. Thus sayith the Lord of hosts, talk not into the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. Lot of this going on in the body of Christ. I call it prophylan. I don't want to hear what comes out of somebody's own mind and emotions, out of their own will, out of their own even it's even if it's out of their own spirit if it's not God speaking. And it's real easy to let that happen. That's why I don't even want to hear any of the crap from Morning Star Bethl. I'm sorry if you if you're tainted down that road. Don't for one second come prophesying to me because I know what's in there. And yeah, any Christian, God might override that sometimes and they might get it right, but when they're getting it right and wrong, right and wrong, there's something wrong. Okay. Now here it says Jeremiah 23:17 right after this he says they say still unto them that despise me the Lord hath said you shall have peace and they say unto everyone that walks after the imagination of his own heart no evil shall come upon you. Let me tell you what that is. That right there is one idolatrous heart speaking a word to confirm the idolatry in another. And everybody feels so good. Uh-uh. This is the problem. Here's another just James 1:26. If any man among you seems to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, meaning control, saying, "Thus sayaith the Lord, you better control that, bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart." This man's religion is vain. I believe you cannot truly prophesy purely, minister purely, love purely until you recognize these things in your heart. begin to tear them down. Remember before revivals, we can go through all the Old Testament stories. Before great revival broke out among God's people, somebody came in and started tearing down the altars of Baal and Ash, right? But we don't have groves to Baal and Ash in Christianity. We hide them in here.
He that trust in his own heart. This is somebody who's a little too confident and sure. A little too secure. Careless. Somebody say careless. Careless. You going to put thus sayeth the Lord on something, you better be that because you might still be a Christian, but you're being careless and you're going to get yourself in trouble. And let me just say this, this is why there is so much in, you know, 1 Corinthians 14, it talks about what? Let the prophets speak, let the others judge. Why do why do prophecies supposed to get judged? Why? Because they could be wrong. They could be out of our own heart. Now, in the New Testament, we're not under the same condemnation in the sense they were in the Old Testament. They they started false prophesying in the Old Testament. They were just to be killed. God would kill them or sometimes he'd let them go on to test his people, but literally they could be stoned for it. Now, there's a difference in the new says. You can be a false prophet or you can be a wrong prophet. Okay? Let me say this. Anybody can make a mistake in the gifts of the spirit. That doesn't mean you're false. All right? Anybody can make a mistake. But if it's ongoing continuous problem and you keep getting it wrong, there's something that's got to be fixed in here. Now, I really didn't mean to go there on this today, but this is something that begins to reveal our hearts. That's why when I see somebody that's got a word every day out there, a vision, I'm like, "Yeah, okay. Ain't no way this is all from God. right? They need to get back to just studying their Bible and speaking what's already written here because they're going to be way off base. But let's keep going. Now, let's go back to Jeremiah again about these. He said, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings." Well, that's also dealing with this sin of the deeprooted selfish desires and envy that makes us start doing evil things. I'm going to show you what envy makes you do. But he says, "Am I a god at hand, sayaeth the Lord, and not a god a far off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Sayeth the Lord. Do not I feel heaven and earth? I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my names. I have dreamed. I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets? Yay, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.
So he's saying this this heart if we follow it a little too much our own heart our own spirit our own emotions our own will that we are going to be prophets of the deceit of our own heart. This is where a lot of people come in. I I know God told me to divorce my wife or husband. No, he did not. You get what I'm saying? Is there biblical grounds to divorce your wife or husband? If there's not, then shut your mouth because God didn't tell you that. That's for somebody today. That was free. Remember we talked about it last night. The heart, the word le is where your conscience, the heart of moral character, the seat of the appetites. Notice that it's the place both of moral character and the seat of your lustful appetites. Like I said, this is where the war goes on. In fact, one of the definitions in the Strongs or the Justinius or I can't remember which one. I saw it the other day and I forgot to screen capture it, but it says the center of all spiritual life is your heart. Pretty serious place, right? The seat of emotions and passions, the seat of courage or fear. It's where you choose courage or fear. But remember, it's your will. It's where you choose things, right? Notice it says the heart very widely uh use figurative very widely for feelings, the will, even the intellect. Likewise, the center of anything um wisdom, the inner man, the will, the heart. All right, just need to refu to review this a little bit. There's we have a spirit, soul and a body, right? But it all converges. The spirit and the soul converge here in the heart. Okay? The center of all spiritual life. So out of that so if if the center of all spiritual life is this place called your heart. I mean this is the place where see this is the place where you can do all kind of stuff on the outside that looks good but where the inside can be filthy and it can be filthy with just the desire to be successful. I want to read this before I go any further. Then came certain of the elders of the Israel unto me. Ezekiel 14 1-6. And sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, son of man. These men have set up their idols in their heart.
Somebody say idols in the heart. Idols in the heart. Now, you got to understand Ezekiel couldn't see anything. If he doesn't hear God say this, he doesn't know. But the Lord speaks to him. These men have set up idols in their heart. And then God says, "And put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?" What are they even doing coming to to you? They've got idols in their heart. Let me just tell you right now what when you when there is an idol in your heart of self desire, self-promotion, self success, you're going to I'm going to get to all this in a minute, but you getting the idea. If there is an idol there, it will derail everything else in your life. It will lead you astray. It will deceive you further. This is why he's saying they've got these idols in their heart. What are they doing coming to talk to you a prophet that I have cut all this stuff out of? See, Ezekiel was a prophet that was told, "I'm going to send you to the children of Israel to speak to them, but they're not going to listen. You're not going to be loved. You're not going to be excited about. You're not going to be the revival king, the hot evangelist in town. No, no, no. You're going to go talk to them and they're going to uh-uh turn their heads away, not listen. How would you like that calling? No. Because see, we're Americans. We're supposed to build big stuff with lots of people and big buildings and numbers and all that stuff. We wouldn't want a ministry where God tells you ahead of time, nobody's listening to you. [laughter] That's how you know that God was crucifying any self in Ezekiel so he could be a real prophet. And he says unto them, "Every man of the house," listen to this, "Every man of the house of the Israel that setth up his idols in his heart, and puteth the summing block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols." Therefore say unto the house of Israel, repent and turn yourselves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. So what he's saying is if you don't repent of this and turn away from it, then even if you come to me, I'm going to give you the answers that you want to hear.
Remember when the the mana wasn't good enough and God said, "All right, y'all want meat? Y'all want quail? All right, I'll send it to you." Until they were vomiting it out of their noses, that's when you're vomiting bad. It's one thing for it to come out of your mouth, but it starts coming out of your nose, it's bad day, right? But the Lord gave them what they wanted. He answered their prayer, but it wasn't the way they wanted. And let me tell you, the Lord, this is the part where you can fool everybody else, but you are not going to fool him. See, the problem is the mana should have been good enough. And you want me to tell you one of the biggest weapons against this idol of self and this idol of envy and this idol of strife. It's in your that that blows up into these things. One of the biggest weapons is contentment. Being thankful for what you have, for what God's blessed you with. That you're still breathing his air. That you're not in hell. Every day above hail's a good day. Amen. How many times could any of us have died before we came to know Jesus and ended up in hell? See what that little green smoke is there is uh it's from that idol itself. that's in there and envy. Now, this is something the Lord had me write yesterday, and I just I don't normally do this, but I wrote it down because I didn't want to lose what was coming to me. But I said the primary idol of pastors, evangelists and many Christians is ministry success in the eyes of other men that gains us respect or the praise of other men and women. This is particularly prevalent in many younger Christians who want to be like some famous or successful minister or ministry. This idol of perceived success or level of ministry, peer respect or numerical growth or financial increase to gain respect or praise that can be shrouded in all kinds of good biblical desires. Even desires for gifts of the spirit, revival or casting out demons and miracles and re or reaching the lost can be tainted by this deep hidden idol of coveting success in the praise of others. power, numbers, financial gain, or signs and wonders can just be a means to an end for our deep needed idols of success and the praise of men. I believe
this is why the Lord does not give us a lot of times the great miracles that we want because they would destroy us. See, he could handle it. A lot of us can't. It can be fueled by deep insecurities or fear of what others think is failure or hurts from reproaches or doubts of others about our calling. But one thing is sure, these idols can lead us to being further deceived and can lead to the sin of covetousness, then envy, then strife, then division, then confusion, and every evil work. I'm going to tell you right now, every problem that arises in a church that is not intentionally done by a Satanist, witch, [snorts] Jesuit infiltrator, but every problem that comes from a genuine born again Christian is rooted in this. Y'all hear me? See, I love my pictures. That's coming out of a dry place there. Christian heart with envy turns into a little monster, doesn't it? I'm going to show you how the scriptures def show you the progression of this. All right. Envy. And this is one of the words, the Justinius Hebrew Cali lexicon. You'll see jealousy and envy. I call them the the uh evil twins, the satanic twins of destruction. But it says excited by the prosperity of others. Isn't that interesting? Now what jealousy is is when you pour gasoline upon the fire of envy and jealousy is when it becomes it turns into anger. But usually it never gets to that point unless it's a relationship jealousy. Okay. Um here's going back to the Webster dictionary 1828. Envy, pain, uneasiness, mortification, or discontent excited by the sight of another's superiority or success accompanied with some degree of hatred or malignity. I love it. Malignity. What is malignity? Cancer. It starts growing. What does hatred mean? To love less than you should. See, whenever you start feeling like, you know, I should have that. I want that. I want what that person has. When you start thinking you can pastor this church and you ain't called to do it, good luck. I'll retire and watch you destroy it. Because if you're not called to do it, you won't be able to do it.
Right? But I can tell you this right now, there's a lot of people sit in in congregations all the time. They start thinking they can do it better. You have no idea what you're asking for. And often usually with a desire and effort to depreciate the person and with a pleasure in seeing him depressed. Meaning once you start feeling joy when you see somebody who is a superior or being blessed more than you or whatever now you're in trouble. Says envy springs from pride. Ambition. Somebody say ambition. Ambition. Oh, there's a lot of ambition in the church world. I want to be this. I want to be an elder. I want to be a deacon. I want to be on a praise and worship team. I want to I wanna I wanna I wanna I want to be a pastor. I want to do this. I want to preach. I want to teach. I want to And you say, "Well, aren't those good things, Pastor Dean?" Are they? Let me just go and tell you, you should be someone that the Lord has to drag into a place like that. You understand the difference between I want to and I don't want to, but I'm being dragged by God. Mortified that another has obtained what one has a strong desire to possess. And I'm just going to be honest. When I was a young minister and I saw what I perceived as, look at that, man. That would be awesome. Even the Brownsville revival was a problem for me in my 20s because I had prayed and longed for the revival. And then all of a sudden, I hear this thing going on in Pensacola, Florida. But you know what I realized? I when I got there, it took me years to realize. See, I had a gift to preach and teach. I had supernatural gifts of revelation from God. But I was in my 20s. Those men were in their 40s and 50s. And God had made them ready to handle that. If God had handed me the Brownsville Revival in my 20s, it would have never made it five years. it would have never touched the whole world. I wasn't ready, but I thought I was that. Oh, but that's a good thing to want revival. Ah, I wanted it because I was a young man struggling for respect.
And that's an idol. [clears throat] Whenever you want the praise of men and not just the praise of God alone, that is an idol in you. And you got to be honest when you recognize that little green monster. Rise up because it is envy of another place you want to be, another position you think you can, you should have or you are ready for. Pilate knew, this is the scripture in Matthew 27 where it says, "Pilate knew that for envy the Pharisees had delivered Jesus to him." For envy. That's in the Bible. Look it up. For envy. And it says here, what? Ill will, jealousy, spite, prompted by envy. What was it that they hated about Jesus? That they couldn't do what he could do. They did they didn't have what he had. That the crowds didn't follow them like they followed him. See, envy will lead to strife. Strife will lead to what? Division. And even to the point of being willing to harm your brother or sister that you once loved. Don't shout me down while I'm preaching. Good. It's interesting you break down these words. There's a good jealousy, right? God's jealous over us. So, we know it's not it it's one of those things. It can be good or it can be sin. But this is telling you that this is a corrupt jealousy. And you think, oh, I don't want this. I don't want to corrupt jealousy in my heart towards somebody else because they have something more than me, better than me, bigger than me, more powerful than me, more money than me, more whatever it might be. I don't want that. If God makes them a billionaire and I just get poor and poor and poor. Am I content?
Acts seven verse nine. And the patriarchs moved with envy and sold Joseph into Egypt. Moved with envy, resentful awareness of another's advantage. Their father favored him. Gave him the code of many colors. He had the dream and he was going to be in charge. You know what? If we kill this joker, what's going to become of his dreams? Maybe our father will love us like he loves him. See, the problem was they weren't content with their relationship with their father. Or maybe they weren't willing to do the work to make it better. And this is another thing. Let me just go on and tell you right now. This envy issue, this idol of self will always conflict with those in spiritual authority over you. See, Joseph was going to be lifted up in authority, both spiritual and governmental. and his brothers didn't like the fact that they were going to have to bow to it. So, let's get rid of him. But notice what it says. But God was with him. See, envy turns brother on brother. Oh, this is so bad, y'all. This resentful awareness of another's advantage. I don't like him telling me what to do. There's a lot of people I don't want. Pastor Dean just too strong. No. What people want is a pastor that basically exercises no authority. When when Samuel the prophet came to town, it says the elders trembled. If I make you nervous sometimes, I should. or I'm not a man of God, right? Because I know God's authority is upon me. And if you start toying with it or touching it in a way you shouldn't, I feel it. And I'm not a passive little weenie. So, I'm usually going to tell you, and that's not pleasant for you, right? Why do you think it says in Hebrews 13, "Obey them that have the rule over you." Why? Because it's not going to be good for you if you don't. And this is all think if you think about this thing, this idol of self and this sin of envy.
Notice what it says. Moved with envy. envy, effect, desire. And this word zuo or however you prono is the word where we get zeal from to have warmth of feeling for or against. Covet earnestly. See this is another thing. What is one of the big 10? Thou shalt not covet. meaning desire what someone else has to the point that it starts to disturb your life. Well, you know, I saw, you know, my friend and I, we both got businesses and oh, God's blessing business, but then I saw my friend's house. Ain't like my house. Maybe I need to go borrow a million dollars from the bank. So I can look like them. So I can feel what? Exalted. So I can feel respected. So I can feel and look successful in the and get the praise of men instead of being content with what I have and put myself in prison to the banksters. Right? But this is covetousness. I know a church, well NY's old church where she grew up in. There was a coup within the church, a literal coup d'eta plan to throw the pastor out and have a big 500 pound youth pastor take over. And the coup got discovered and the 500 pound youth pastor that was planning the coup with the people some of the people in the church got bigger probably around 600 lb and then died because he was touching God's authority. He was eaten up with envy and it caused a literal insurrection. But when you put your hand and and the authority they were coming after her p her former pastor Paul, he's a sweet guy. He he's he's actually too nice. There's a lot of pastors that are way too nice and get pushed around a bit. But God even stood up for him. God said, "You know what? You y'all think y'all push around Pastor Paul?" Well, we'll put a stop to your coup and put a stop to you.
Don't shout me down when I'm preaching. Good. Look at this. Proverbs 14:30. Look at the connection. A sound heart that is a heart that is healthy spiritually. A heart that is had the medicine of God applied to it. That's been delivered. That's at peace. That sound heart is the life of your flesh. It means it's your whole life. But envy will rot you in your bones. I think this is also a root of cancer. But I digress. A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottness of the bones. Now look at where where we we go down here. Here's a few verses. Y'all getting it off easy today. For ye are yet carnal, whereas there is among you envying, strife, divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men in the church? And in chapter one of first Corinthians, he said, "This church came behind in no gift." Meaning all the gifts of the Holy Spirit were in operation in first Corinthians church in the cor church of Corinth. Gifts of healing, working of miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, discerning of spirits, gift of faith, and what? 1:00:041 hour, 4 secondsBut there was envying, strife 1:00:121 hour, 12 secondsbecause of envying, divisions because of envying. 1:00:221 hour, 22 secondsAnd what he said, you are walking according to the carnal side of your heart, 1:00:301 hour, 30 secondsnot the spiritual side. So even though you were operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, guess what? You were still carnal. 1:00:371 hour, 37 secondsOh, come on now. 1:00:401 hour, 40 secondsSee, this is where you a lot of you. You think the gift of the Holy Spirit works through you and it makes you think you, oh, look at what's happening. I got the 1:00:471 hour, 47 secondsgift. No, no, no, no, no. You better pay attention. See, I have a gift to preach. 1:00:531 hour, 53 secondsIt doesn't mean my heart's right with God. Gifts and calling God without repentance. 1:00:591 hour, 59 secondsMy heart could be way off and preach under the anointing and power of God. 1:01:051 hour, 1 minute, 5 secondsFlow in the gifts, tell you the secrets of your heart. 1:01:111 hour, 1 minute, 11 secondsThis is what goes on in the church. This is what was wrong with King Saul. 1:01:181 hour, 1 minute, 18 secondsOne minute he was prophesying by the Holy Spirit, the next minute he's throwing javelins at at David because an evil spirit was working through him. 1:01:271 hour, 1 minute, 27 secondsAnd what was the reason that Saul was throwing javelins at David and chasing him in the wilderness for years? Envy. 1:01:361 hour, 1 minute, 36 secondsWhen they started singing about David has killed his tens of thousands, but Saul only has thousands. He let that eat at his heart. 1:01:461 hour, 1 minute, 46 secondsAnd just because David had more integrity than Saul had, Saul was threatened by that. 1:01:541 hour, 1 minute, 54 secondsAnd we find out what Saul wanted. Did Saul really want to obey the Lord? No. 1:01:581 hour, 1 minute, 58 secondsHe said, "Just come with me, Samuel, so the people will honor me." 1:02:061 hour, 2 minutes, 6 secondsOh gosh, there's so many pastors that if they were to die right now 1:02:131 hour, 2 minutes, 13 secondswouldn't be walking in because their entire ministry has been a sham 1:02:231 hour, 2 minutes, 23 secondsbecause they have had this sin of envy in their hearts and they've been doing nothing but trying to build a kingdom to 1:02:311 hour, 2 minutes, 31 secondscompare to somebody else's. Why do you think Paul said comparing ourselves among ourselves is not wise. Don't do it. 1:02:411 hour, 2 minutes, 41 secondsI'm not supposed to be that guy over there. 1:02:451 hour, 2 minutes, 45 secondsI'm supposed to be what God tells me to be. 1:02:491 hour, 2 minutes, 49 secondsGalatians, let us not be desirous of vain glory. 1:02:561 hour, 2 minutes, 56 secondsWant that's wanting people to look up to us. 1:03:021 hour, 3 minutes, 2 secondswanting people to praise us. Look, I appreciate y'all when y'all compliment me on something or y'all respect me about something, but it makes me kind of 1:03:101 hour, 3 minutes, 10 secondscringe on the inside because I like yesterday 1:03:181 hour, 3 minutes, 18 secondstell the Lord all the time, I'm the last one you should have up preaching in front of people because I have all this creepy stuff in 1:03:261 hour, 3 minutes, 26 secondsmy heart. This this evil envy thing, it's there and I have to acknowledge it. I have to deal with it. 1:03:341 hour, 3 minutes, 34 secondsI have to fight it all the time. 1:03:411 hour, 3 minutes, 41 secondsLet us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 1:03:501 hour, 3 minutes, 50 secondsThis is a command to the churches of Galatia, not to the heathen. 1:03:581 hour, 3 minutes, 58 secondsRemember the most common problem. No one has yet. I am finding it everywhere. James 1:04:061 hour, 4 minutes, 6 seconds3:14, "But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, [snorts] glory not, lie not against the truth. 1:04:171 hour, 4 minutes, 17 secondsCome in singing, but you so mad you ain't on the praise and worship team. 1:04:261 hour, 4 minutes, 26 secondsCome in. Oh, I what God showed me, but that pastor won't ever let me up preach. 1:04:381 hour, 4 minutes, 38 secondsAmen. Or old me. 1:04:401 hour, 4 minutes, 40 secondsThis one though. James 3:16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion 1:04:481 hour, 4 minutes, 48 secondsand every evil work. Let that one sink in a moment. 1:04:561 hour, 4 minutes, 56 secondsLadies, somebody got a prettier watch than you, a ring bigger diamond than you? Thinner than you? 1:05:061 hour, 5 minutes, 6 secondsNo gray hair yet. 1:05:161 hour, 5 minutes, 16 secondsLadies fight for this. I know. 1:05:191 hour, 5 minutes, 19 secondsand y'all start disliking somebody else just because you think they have it better than you. 1:05:251 hour, 5 minutes, 25 secondsYou don't know what hell they're going through. Problem is you're not content with you. 1:05:391 hour, 5 minutes, 39 secondsAmen. Or on me. 1:05:441 hour, 5 minutes, 44 secondsBut notice, if we don't root this out of the church, out of us, out of our hearts, it's going to start strife, 1:05:531 hour, 5 minutes, 53 secondsthen confusion, then every evil work. What is every evil 1:06:001 hour, 6 minuteswork? a full-blown insurrection, adultery, lust, 1:06:081 hour, 6 minutes, 8 secondsall of it will break out because the heart will be gone to this idol. I should say idols. 1:06:231 hour, 6 minutes, 23 seconds2 Corinthians 12:20, "For I fear lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, or the way 1:06:301 hour, 6 minutes, 30 secondsI would like to find you, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not, lest there be debates, envyings, 1:06:381 hour, 6 minutes, 38 secondswrath, strife, backbiting, whispering, swelling, tumults." But look what's in there. 1:06:471 hour, 6 minutes, 47 secondsAnd let me just go on and tell you right now, the sin of envying is in the list 1:06:541 hour, 6 minutes, 54 secondsof Galatians 5 that says that if you live habitually in that state, you do not go to heaven. 1:07:021 hour, 7 minutes, 2 secondsThis how serious this is because it is the exaltation of self 1:07:091 hour, 7 minutes, 9 secondswithin the heart. It is an idol set up in the heart. Idolattors will not go to heaven. 1:07:211 hour, 7 minutes, 21 secondsIt must be torn down. There it is. 1:07:241 hour, 7 minutes, 24 secondsGalatians 5. You can read verse 20. But 21 he goes on. Envings, murder, drunkenness, rev such night, such like 1:07:321 hour, 7 minutes, 32 secondsof which I tell you before, I have also told you in time past that they which do such things, practice habitually shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 1:07:441 hour, 7 minutes, 44 secondsAnd then I just wrote my thoughts here. 1:07:451 hour, 7 minutes, 45 secondsHere I said envy and jealousy in the heart reveal the idol and the idol self self-importance and a self-tainted 1:07:531 hour, 7 minutes, 53 secondsagenda. All these works of the flesh have to be crucified by us humbling ourselves acknowledging that these evil 1:08:001 hour, 8 minutestwins are in our deceived hearts and will ultimately cause strife in the body of Christ. And look, we all know the 1:08:081 hour, 8 minutes, 8 secondswell-known stories. Cain and Abel, Joseph, I mentioned King Saul and David. But the envy was in the garden. 1:08:201 hour, 8 minutes, 20 secondsShe found out somebody knew more than she did. Woman can't have that. 1:08:261 hour, 8 minutes, 26 secondsWait a minute. Now I got to know. Choir mind's got to know, right? She knows more. Somebody knows more than me. And I 1:08:341 hour, 8 minutes, 34 secondscan eat this little fruit and I can know too. I'm eating up. 1:08:401 hour, 8 minutes, 40 secondscouldn't stand that there was a knowledge out there that this little snake and God had that she didn't have. 1:08:481 hour, 8 minutes, 48 secondsShe was forbidden to have curiosity beyond God's limits. This is what gets 1:08:551 hour, 8 minutes, 55 secondseverybody in trouble. Curiosity kill the cat. Remember that little saying? It'll kill you too eternally. 1:09:061 hour, 9 minutes, 6 secondsLet me show you something here. This is going to be quite creepy for y'all. 1:09:121 hour, 9 minutes, 12 secondswho envied God's position. He wanted to be like God. 1:09:221 hour, 9 minutes, 22 secondsI will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit in the mount of the congregation the size of the north. I will be like the most high. He was not 1:09:311 hour, 9 minutes, 31 secondscontent with being given wisdom and beauty and position and power 1:09:401 hour, 9 minutes, 40 secondsand a relationship with God that it wasn't enough. Why is it never enough? 1:09:501 hour, 9 minutes, 50 secondsWhy is where God put us in our life never enough? 1:09:581 hour, 9 minutes, 58 secondsSome creepy crap right here from Grock. Satan's fall. 1:10:071 hour, 10 minutes, 7 secondsI want that knowledge. 1:10:121 hour, 10 minutes, 12 secondsThis one was so bad I couldn't do a illustration for it. It would scare the children. Cain and Abel. 1:10:221 hour, 10 minutes, 22 secondsI didn't want to scare the children. 1:10:281 hour, 10 minutes, 28 secondsNow, let's play. I want to play. Now, you're ready to hear the Bob Stoate clip. 1:10:381 hour, 10 minutes, 38 secondsYou're going to have to listen closely because he has a difficult time talking. 1:10:561 hour, 10 minutes, 56 seconds[music] 1:11:001 hour, 11 minutesI call it the most common [music] problem that nobody has. 1:11:061 hour, 11 minutes, 6 secondsI remember this one time flipping through a magazine and there's this name that just keeps on coming up over and over. And it's not just this magazine. 1:11:181 hour, 11 minutes, 18 secondsIt's other [music] magazines. I'm flipping through. He's leading the cruise, the articles by this guy, and 1:11:251 hour, 11 minutes, 25 secondsthen the ad featuring this guy, and bestselling paperback of the month, bestselling [music] hard cover of the month, and the guy is always at the top. 1:11:371 hour, 11 minutes, 37 secondsAnd I'm like, why does this guy bug me? 1:11:421 hour, 11 minutes, 42 seconds[music] 1:11:431 hour, 11 minutes, 43 secondsWhat is going on here, Lord? something has gone off inside of you and the Holy Spirit [music] says it's because it's his book that's the number one 1:11:511 hour, 11 minutes, 51 secondsbestseller and not yours. [music] When the Lord starts to reveal your heart, there's probably nothing more 1:11:591 hour, 11 minutes, 59 secondsagonizing than when he starts to [music] show you the real motives inside. 1:12:061 hour, 12 minutes, 6 secondsEnvy is distress [music] over another's success. 1:12:141 hour, 12 minutes, 14 secondsIt's the master at masquerade. 1:12:181 hour, 12 minutes, 18 secondsIt always pretends to be a noble motivation. 1:12:241 hour, 12 minutes, 24 secondsCain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, 1:12:301 hour, 12 minutes, 30 secondsenvy is an issue among the brothers. And it goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. 1:12:411 hour, 12 minutes, 41 seconds[music] 1:12:411 hour, 12 minutes, 41 secondsEnvy remains hidden until an occasion comes along. [music] What's the occasion? 1:12:521 hour, 12 minutes, 52 secondsSimply God blesses your brother. 1:12:571 hour, 12 minutes, 57 secondsWhen promotion comes [music] to your brother, it is amazing the whirlwind of emotions and [music] 1:13:061 hour, 13 minutes, 6 secondsfeelings that get loosed. You see, when my brother was hurting, I could get in the saddle and pray with them. I could 1:13:151 hour, 13 minutes, 15 seconds[music] weep with those that wept. But now that it's time to rejoice with those that rejoice, [music] 1:13:221 hour, 13 minutes, 22 secondssomething gets kicked off that we didn't even know was there. 1:13:301 hour, 13 minutes, 30 secondsFor where envy and selfseeking [music] exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. It's real. It's powerful. 1:13:441 hour, 13 minutes, 44 secondsIt's destructive. [music] It happened among the disciples. 1:13:511 hour, 13 minutes, 51 secondsJames and John take Jesus and they say, "Hey, Lord, would you be willing to put James on your left and me on your right 1:13:581 hour, 13 minutes, 58 secondswhen you come into your kingdom?" And then the 10 found out about it. When the 1:14:061 hour, 14 minutes, 6 seconds10 heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. [music] How did Jesus confront envy? 1:14:171 hour, 14 minutes, 17 secondsHe called them to himself. 1:14:201 hour, 14 minutes, 20 secondsHe gets [music] them close around him and he says, "You know that those who are [music] considered rulers over the 1:14:281 hour, 14 minutes, 28 secondsGentiles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. 1:14:351 hour, 14 minutes, 35 secondsYet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among 1:14:411 hour, 14 minutes, 41 secondsyou shall be your servant." Jesus confronted envy in tenderness, in gentleness. 1:14:541 hour, 14 minutes, 54 secondsEnvy is diffused in love. 1:15:021 hour, 15 minutes, 2 secondsThe ultimate answer for envy [music] to be established in the love of God. 1:15:081 hour, 15 minutes, 8 secondsLord, I know you love me. I find my identity and your affections for me. I 1:15:151 hour, 15 minutes, 15 secondsam complete in your love. And now that I know who I am, I can love my fellow man 1:15:231 hour, 15 minutes, 23 secondswith a free heart. [music] The ultimate answer for envy is love. 1:15:441 hour, 15 minutes, 44 secondsSee, love puts others first. Love doesn't have to be you recognized. 1:15:551 hour, 15 minutes, 55 secondsYou do something good for the Lord. You want everybody to see it. You got a problem. 1:16:031 hour, 16 minutes, 3 secondsSelf-seeking. 1:16:101 hour, 16 minutes, 10 secondsYou know the 1 Corinthians 13 when it talks about love does not envy. 1:16:171 hour, 16 minutes, 17 secondsWe forget that, doesn't it? Love and envy cannot coexist together. 1:16:261 hour, 16 minutes, 26 secondsThis goes on between wives and husbands. Nancy and I call it the peeing contest. 1:16:361 hour, 16 minutes, 36 secondsWell, I did this. 1:16:391 hour, 16 minutes, 39 secondsWhy didn't you do that? You should do that because I do this. And D, 1:16:531 hour, 16 minutes, 53 secondswhy don't you just do what you're supposed to do and love your spouse and let God deal with him? 1:17:051 hour, 17 minutes, 5 secondsQuit the self-seeking. Think about it. 1:17:131 hour, 17 minutes, 13 secondsAll the strife, most of the arguments, 1:17:211 hour, 17 minutes, 21 secondsself-seeking, the idol of self has been touched. It has been discomforted. 1:17:301 hour, 17 minutes, 30 secondsTherefore, I must get into the peeing contest. 1:17:391 hour, 17 minutes, 39 secondsLet me read a few more. 1:17:431 hour, 17 minutes, 43 secondsCharity 1 Corinthians 13:4, charity suffers long or means is patient. 1:17:491 hour, 17 minutes, 49 secondsIs kind. Charity envieth not. Love envithth not. Charity vaunteth not 1:17:571 hour, 17 minutes, 57 secondsitself. Means does not boast itself. Is not puffed up. Romans 13:13. Let us walk honestly. 1:18:071 hour, 18 minutes, 7 secondsRomans 13:13. Y'all put these up if you can. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in 1:18:161 hour, 18 minutes, 16 secondschambering and wantedness, not in strife and envying. This is all over the place. 1:18:251 hour, 18 minutes, 25 secondsum envy and strife because it leads to it. 1:18:351 hour, 18 minutes, 35 secondsDoesn't start out that way. 1:18:381 hour, 18 minutes, 38 secondsDoesn't start out that way. And you know what? I listening to that little 1:18:471 hour, 18 minutes, 47 secondsmessage from Bob Sorg there just made me think about some of the people who've gotten their 1:18:551 hour, 18 minutes, 55 secondsproverbial panties in a wad or as my wife says got their butt on their shoulders. 1:19:011 hour, 19 minutes, 1 secondUm, but it's all about that. It's it's the self-seeking. 1:19:081 hour, 19 minutes, 8 secondsIt really is. If there was no envy, no idol of self, 1:19:141 hour, 19 minutes, 14 secondsif there was contentment, there wouldn't be strife and division in the church. 1:19:231 hour, 19 minutes, 23 secondsThere wouldn't be abselums trying to steal hearts of people like happened in the this church. 1:19:361 hour, 19 minutes, 36 secondsYou see, what we're going to do here over the next few weeks is we're going to delve deep into our hearts and find out what's there. 1:19:471 hour, 19 minutes, 47 secondsand we find out what's there. Because when the idol of self is disturbed, 1:19:551 hour, 19 minutes, 55 secondsit's usually disturbed when we are personally corrected. 1:20:031 hour, 20 minutes, 3 secondsSome of you have experienced that. 1:20:071 hour, 20 minutes, 7 secondsAnd you have a choice at that moment to let that idol be pushed over your 1:20:161 hour, 20 minutes, 16 secondslittle self idol that you feel has been disrespected, misunderstood. 1:20:251 hour, 20 minutes, 25 secondsI didn't really say it that way. Didn't mean it that way. Whatever. So the excuses start coming. No, you say the 1:20:321 hour, 20 minutes, 32 secondsidol of self is upset and it resents 1:20:401 hour, 20 minutes, 40 secondsyou telling me or correcting me about something that I need to deal with. 1:20:461 hour, 20 minutes, 46 secondsThis is the problem in a lot of teenagers who think they know stuff and they resent you trying to teach them or train them. 1:20:581 hour, 20 minutes, 58 secondsThat's because the idol itself is really big when you're in your teenage years. 1:21:041 hour, 21 minutes, 4 secondsMatter of fact, it's just developing into its full-blown little bale entity. 1:21:141 hour, 21 minutes, 14 secondsAnd that's why it hates authority and it wants to be where the adult is, but not ready to be there. 1:21:231 hour, 21 minutes, 23 secondsBut see that same issue that we see in teenagers and younger people is in children and babes 1:21:321 hour, 21 minutes, 32 secondsin the church who think they should be adults after being saved two or three years. You know, they should be spiritually mature and in the same place as somebody's been saved for 40 years. 1:21:451 hour, 21 minutes, 45 secondsStri is where a lot of this comes from. I'm just telling you. 1:21:541 hour, 21 minutes, 54 secondsLet me tell you something. You know, and I I look at this and I know I talk about this all the time. The last thing I've ever wanted to do as a minister is build 1:22:021 hour, 22 minutes, 2 secondsa building. Y'all understand that? I've been doing this planting churches for since 1993. 1:22:121 hour, 22 minutes, 12 secondsNever have built a building. 1:22:161 hour, 22 minutes, 16 secondsnever went to the bank to borrow money to build a building. Could have done it several times 1:22:261 hour, 22 minutes, 26 secondsbecause none of that interests me only if God wants to do it. 1:22:321 hour, 22 minutes, 32 secondsAnd even then, everything in me right now does not want to do this. 1:22:411 hour, 22 minutes, 41 secondsBut see, that's one of the ways I know I'm not trying to do this be seen. I'm trying to trying to grow some empire. 1:22:481 hour, 22 minutes, 48 secondsCould care less. 1:22:511 hour, 22 minutes, 51 secondsBut God here here's something. Here's something. Remember it says follow your heart. Trust your heart. 1:22:591 hour, 22 minutes, 59 secondsRight? All the the devil's always stuff. 1:23:011 hour, 23 minutes, 1 secondNo. The only one you can trust is when you know that you know that you know that you know something is God. 1:23:121 hour, 23 minutes, 12 secondsAnd most of the time because we get such confusing messages spiritually from our own heart and the devil attacking us and 1:23:201 hour, 23 minutes, 20 secondsall kind of stuff going on around us, the only way we can know for sure is these scriptures right here. 1:23:341 hour, 23 minutes, 34 secondsAnd we always have to seek and ask God, am I doing what you want me to do, or is 1:23:411 hour, 23 minutes, 41 secondsit me doing something to try to exalt self, 1:23:501 hour, 23 minutes, 50 secondsto try to get the praise of men, to build my own kingdom, to look like 1:23:591 hour, 23 minutes, 59 secondssomething I am not, to look better than I am so I feel better about myself. 1:24:101 hour, 24 minutes, 10 secondsAnd men, we men struggle with this too because a lot of us did not have fathers that instilled in us what men need when 1:24:201 hour, 24 minutes, 20 secondsthey're boys is a father there that instills in them. 1:24:261 hour, 24 minutes, 26 secondsYou have what it takes. And most of our fathers failed at that. 1:24:411 hour, 24 minutes, 41 secondsSo we strive to get that 1:24:551 hour, 24 minutes, 55 secondsby outward things of success and money and And it's all vanity. 1:25:071 hour, 25 minutes, 7 secondsWhy do you think so many rich people, famous people commit suicide? 1:25:131 hour, 25 minutes, 13 secondsBecause they get all that stuff and it didn't fix the problem. 1:25:241 hour, 25 minutes, 24 secondsThe problem is no peace, no contentment, no satisfaction in a pure 1:25:351 hour, 25 minutes, 35 secondstrusting and relying on Jesus for everything instead of myself. 1:25:461 hour, 25 minutes, 46 secondsSee, honestly, I I don't say this because I don't love y'all. I say that I could walk away from all this tomorrow. 1:25:531 hour, 25 minutes, 53 secondsNot if God said it's over. I've walked away from ministries before. I had laid before me one time when I was in my 20s. 1:26:011 hour, 26 minutes, 1 secondCan you imagine this? to sit on the council of all the top charismatic Pentecostal ministers in the world, a 1:26:091 hour, 26 minutes, 9 secondsprivate council to travel with one of the most well-known ministers in the world to get paid a very big salary 1:26:181 hour, 26 minutes, 18 secondsto open and begin my own Bible college at CBN in Virginia Beach in my 20s. 1:26:291 hour, 26 minutes, 29 secondsHere you go. 1:26:321 hour, 26 minutes, 32 secondsspent a week there in Virginia Beach. 1:26:391 hour, 26 minutes, 39 secondsI thank God for this every day because as a young man 1:26:461 hour, 26 minutes, 46 secondsneeding a big income because I had a big family, 1:26:541 hour, 26 minutes, 54 secondswanting that honor and respect and praise of men, 1:27:021 hour, 27 minutes, 2 secondswanting to be successful, wanting to appear successful. 1:27:101 hour, 27 minutes, 10 secondsI get in the car to drive back from Virginia Beach and I get down the interstate headed back to Alabama from 1:27:171 hour, 27 minutes, 17 secondsVirginia. The Lord says, "You're not going there. 1:27:221 hour, 27 minutes, 22 secondsYou're declining the whole thing." Yes, sir. I got you. 1:27:331 hour, 27 minutes, 33 secondsWe're going to crucify that thing. all that crap that's in you. 1:27:381 hour, 27 minutes, 38 secondsI'm gonna help you this time because it's a little too much for a young man. So, I'm just gonna say absolutely no. 1:27:441 hour, 27 minutes, 44 secondsYou know what? I went back. I had no idea here. I'd been already traveling all over the United States with this big 1:27:511 hour, 27 minutes, 51 secondsministry, preaching on college campuses, Harvard, Yale, Boston College, you know, flying 1:27:581 hour, 27 minutes, 58 secondsin airplanes all the time, wearing suits, carrying briefcases, looking important. 1:28:071 hour, 28 minutes, 7 secondsThe Lord says, "I'm going to help you with this because this is too much for you now. 1:28:151 hour, 28 minutes, 15 secondsSo, you're not going." And I knew the Lord. I was close enough to Jesus to hear what he was really saying. 1:28:261 hour, 28 minutes, 26 secondsBut Lord, wait a minute. So many people are going to get saved. So many people are going to get healed. We're going to have all these big meetings. We're going to do all this evangelism. 1:28:371 hour, 28 minutes, 37 secondsNo, if you disobey me and do this is because the idol of self is in your heart. 1:28:491 hour, 28 minutes, 49 secondsSo, you know what I went back to do? I went back to Montgomery, Alabama, and started painting houses. I have no idea what I'm 1:28:561 hour, 28 minutes, 56 secondsgoing to do, but I'll just paint houses and I'm just going to be content painting houses 1:29:061 hour, 29 minutes, 6 secondsbecause I know God's called me to the ministry, but guess what? It's not for me to decide how, when, and where that 1:29:141 hour, 29 minutes, 14 secondsis done or the path that it's going to take. 1:29:211 hour, 29 minutes, 21 secondsYou understand? 1:29:241 hour, 29 minutes, 24 secondsEven when we started this church in 2009, the Lord tested me and Nancy and made us lay it down. 1:29:331 hour, 29 minutes, 33 secondsWere we willing to just We started We had so many problems in the beginning with so many bad folks. Sheree and 1:29:431 hour, 29 minutes, 43 secondsPatrick only ones that's lasted since the beginning. And at times that was questionable. 1:29:571 hour, 29 minutes, 57 secondsBut she can tell you she saw it all. But the Lord said, "All right, end it. Go move back to Georgia. Start something over there." Do you know we did? 1:30:091 hour, 30 minutes, 9 secondsAnd we did that for I don't know, several months. How long was it? I don't remember how long we did that. 1:30:161 hour, 30 minutes, 16 secondsYeah. But I think we didn't do the church for almost a year all together, wasn't it? because we didn't start back. 1:30:221 hour, 30 minutes, 22 secondsI don't remember. It was It was We went over there for Georgia. We did services over there for three months. That's where we prayed for Julie and saw the 1:30:301 hour, 30 minutes, 30 secondsthe demon grip on her voice trying to stop her from singing. See, we go way back. That was 2010. 1:30:381 hour, 30 minutes, 38 secondsBut what I'm saying is is that the Lord had me I remember being in Assembly of God church. 1:30:441 hour, 30 minutes, 44 secondsministry inside that church was growing, powerful, deliverance, leading prayer, taking people out on the street. People 1:30:521 hour, 30 minutes, 52 secondswere getting saved, delivered, healed, crippled, were walking. I saw that miracle in that church, 1:31:001 hour, 31 minutespraying for a woman that that was crippled, people getting saved on the street. The ministry that I was in within this large 1:31:091 hour, 31 minutes, 9 secondschurch went from like, you know, 20 or 30 to like 75. We'd have like 75 or 80 it more people than this in Sunday school on a Sunday morning. 1:31:201 hour, 31 minutes, 20 secondsAnd the Lord said, "I want you to step away from this." Oh, everybody thought I could hear God until then. 1:31:311 hour, 31 minutes, 31 secondsWhat are you What are you doing? Obeying. 1:31:381 hour, 31 minutes, 38 secondsWhy things are going so well? Let me tell you, I'm going to end on this one, but let me tell you one of the best things that ever happened. You all know 1:31:461 hour, 31 minutes, 46 secondsthe story of Philip the Evangelist when he went to Samaria and revival broke out. 1:31:531 hour, 31 minutes, 53 secondsPeople are getting saved left and right. 1:31:561 hour, 31 minutes, 56 secondsMiracles are happening. Demons are getting cast out. 1:32:001 hour, 32 minutesHe calls for the apostles to come down because his job is not to oversee new believers. His job is to be an evangelist. So, he calls the apostles 1:32:081 hour, 32 minutes, 8 secondsdown, lay hands on people. Y'all know the whole story, but I want to say this. 1:32:121 hour, 32 minutes, 12 secondsThe best thing that could have happened to Philip the Evangelist was not to stay there for five years and become the 1:32:191 hour, 32 minutes, 19 secondssuperhero, the exalted one. The best thing was when God transported him away down into the 1:32:281 hour, 32 minutes, 28 secondsdeserts of Gaza to go talk to one man. 1:32:331 hour, 32 minutes, 33 secondsWhat was he teaching Philillip? And what was he teaching us? 1:32:421 hour, 32 minutes, 42 secondsYou got to be able to walk away from success. 1:32:471 hour, 32 minutes, 47 secondsYou got to be able to walk away from the praise of man, from that idol. You got to be willing to crucify it to do God's will. You got to let God, if he wants to, strip it all away from you. 1:33:001 hour, 33 minutesDavid Wilkerson. God gives him Teen Challenge, the biggest, most successful drug rehab in the world. 1:33:111 hour, 33 minutes, 11 secondsOne of the biggest ministries the world had ever known. 1:33:161 hour, 33 minutes, 16 secondsTurn it over to the Assemblies of God. I have something else for you. Spend six months with me and I'm going to tell you some things. 1:33:281 hour, 33 minutes, 28 secondsHe'd spent decades building that from a successful obedience of preaching 1:33:381 hour, 33 minutes, 38 secondsto those gangs in New York, but laid it down. 1:33:441 hour, 33 minutes, 44 secondsHow many pastors would walk away from their empire? God told them. Know why they can't? 1:33:531 hour, 33 minutes, 53 secondsBecause it's idol. Well, I guess I need to let y'all eat. 1:34:081 hour, 34 minutes, 8 secondsMake sure that you are crucifying, tearing down, rejecting, 1:34:161 hour, 34 minutes, 16 secondsresisting the idol of self, self-seeking, success, 1:34:251 hour, 34 minutes, 25 secondspraise of men and women, exaltation, riches, fame, whatever it may be. 1:34:351 hour, 34 minutes, 35 secondsremember when the uh flat earth crowd came in here? We're going to make you the famous flat earth and I'm like, "No thanks. 1:34:471 hour, 34 minutes, 47 secondsI'm obeying God. 1:34:491 hour, 34 minutes, 49 secondsOnly reason I'm preaching on this. Only reason y'all are here is because I obey God to preach it." And and let me tell you, that's another thing. 1:34:591 hour, 34 minutes, 59 secondsThat's why these preachers won't preach and teach certain things. 1:35:041 hour, 35 minutes, 4 secondsBecause to preach and teach all the truth of the Bible, you are not going to be loved and accepted by the masses. 1:35:141 hour, 35 minutes, 14 secondsYou are not going to build huge massive churches. You're not going to have multi-billion dollar budgets. 1:35:271 hour, 35 minutes, 27 secondsNo, you have to you have to build ministries like Joel Ostein. 1:35:331 hour, 35 minutes, 33 secondsWhat about sin? What about end times prophecy? That's not my ministry. 1:35:411 hour, 35 minutes, 41 secondsI'm I'm going to fill Yankee Stadium, not preach the gospel at all. You're all the children of God. 1:35:491 hour, 35 minutes, 49 secondsNo, you're not. Some of you are children of the devil. But that's a little detail we're not going to bother with because then everybody wouldn't like me. 1:35:571 hour, 35 minutes, 57 secondsEverybody wouldn't exalt me. my kingdom I have built would come down. 1:36:061 hour, 36 minutes, 6 secondsSo much of what we see that appears successful is going to be burned up in the fire. 1:36:171 hour, 36 minutes, 17 secondsAnd many many many people many Christians are going to hear depart from me you curse it into everlasting fire. 1:36:271 hour, 36 minutes, 27 secondsYou live for yourself. You built for yourself. You built this ministry for yourself. 1:36:361 hour, 36 minutes, 36 secondsYou did not do what I told you. 1:36:411 hour, 36 minutes, 41 secondsTake him. Bind him hand and foot. Cast him into outer darkness. 1:36:481 hour, 36 minutes, 48 secondsLet's stand. Happy Thanksgiving. 1:37:021 hour, 37 minutes, 2 secondsYes, it is. Told you we had a journey to go on. 1:37:081 hour, 37 minutes, 8 secondsI feel the weightiness of this, the seriousness of this more than anything I've preached in a long time. 1:37:171 hour, 37 minutes, 17 secondsI pray that you do the necessary work to get this crucified in your life. 1:37:271 hour, 37 minutes, 27 secondsAmen. 1:37:291 hour, 37 minutes, 29 secondsLet's pray. Father in heaven, I come to you today and I pray that you continue to reveal the secret things that we hide in our hearts. 1:37:401 hour, 37 minutes, 40 secondsThe things that rise up that we don't even think sometimes is there and then something happens and it rises 1:37:481 hour, 37 minutes, 48 secondsup or it gets exposed. 1:37:531 hour, 37 minutes, 53 secondsLord, I pray in the name of Jesus that we would all learn to be humble, to bridle our tongues, to respect 1:38:011 hour, 38 minutes, 1 secondauthority, to not envy another's blessing or position or whatever it may be. to not 1:38:101 hour, 38 minutes, 10 secondslet envying and strife and division grow in our hearts because of the idol of self and self-seeking and looking for vain glory. 1:38:231 hour, 38 minutes, 23 secondsThat's all just emptiness, vanity. 1:38:281 hour, 38 minutes, 28 secondsGod, help us become Christians that are truly crying out to you to cleanse us, cleanse 1:38:371 hour, 38 minutes, 37 secondsour hearts, to renew a right spirit within us, to create in us a new heart and a one that's right, one that loves 1:38:441 hour, 38 minutes, 44 secondsyou, one that's willing to do your will no matter what it cost us if we lose everything. If you say to lay down our 1:38:531 hour, 38 minutes, 53 secondsIsaac that you've blessed us with on the altar, can we? Will we? 1:39:021 hour, 39 minutes, 2 secondsThese tests will come. It's not a matter of if. They will come. 1:39:111 hour, 39 minutes, 11 secondsWhat will we do? 1:39:141 hour, 39 minutes, 14 secondsI pray that you give revelation, that you shine your light on these hidden things that are in our hearts, that we 1:39:201 hour, 39 minutes, 20 secondsmay acknowledge them, confess them, repent, tear down these idols in our hearts 1:39:291 hour, 39 minutes, 29 secondsso that we are not deceived and so that we can move forward in humility 1:39:361 hour, 39 minutes, 36 secondsand love and contentment and not cause strife and division, confusion and every evil work. 1:39:451 hour, 39 minutes, 45 secondsI pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 1:39:511 hour, 39 minutes, 51 secondsHoney dear, come here for a minute. I only have one, so come on. 1:39:581 hour, 39 minutes, 58 secondsDon't look at me crazy. I want you to bless the food. 1:40:051 hour, 40 minutes, 5 secondsYou look so you look so Thanksgivingy and fall like 1:40:111 hour, 40 minutes, 11 secondsand I do have a announcement after we sign off. So, is it fair to bless the food in front of people? Why don't we let them go? 1:40:201 hour, 40 minutes, 20 secondsAll right. Hug some necks before you leave. Bless y'all. Happy Thanksgiving. 1:40:301 hour, 40 minutes, 30 secondsAmen. Sync to video time