Being Set Free From Selfishness

Thank you, Lord, that we have a place where we can come, that doesn't cost us a cent. A place where we can get together, that nobody hinders us, except for a little bit of traffic to get here. Even though the devil tries to stop us from gathering, Lord, when we meet you, in your presence is fullness of joy and life.

Help us to understand the things that we've heard, that you continue to lead us and guide us by your presence and by your spirit, that we would grow spiritually, not become frustrated through the process. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, in this life, like from young on, growing up and having a mom that did everything for me is, it was great, but the problem is, you don't always marry the exact same person of your mom, and you don't get served the way that mom serves you.

You know, my boys don't even understand how much they're being served and how selfish they are. And Jesus didn't come into this world to be served, but to serve. What our brother shared is allowing the selfishness to be put to death by the word of God, the sword, and to become willing to serve.

Now sometimes I get put in a position to serve, like we've had someone staying with us for three weeks, and there's a willingness, but then there's a chafing against the yoke, because serving continually, night and day, without a break, can be taxing. And it's not that there's strife or division or anything, it's just, it's taxing. If you have a mother who has small children, and she loves the children, and she'll do what she can for them, but you know what? It's taxing.

And it's tiring, and sometimes we just want to ship them somewhere for a few hours just to get a break. And Jesus wanted to sometimes just get away to be alone with his father, just to find some rest. And when he'd go someplace, he'd go across the lake with his disciples and say, Hey, we're going to rest here.

There they were, more people, more needs. You know, and the disciples, they were following Jesus, but at the same time they were a part of it. Here's all these people, you know, and so Jesus would pray for them.

He would heal them. He would teach them. You know, and then it comes a point in time where it's getting late, and the brothers say, Listen, send them away.

This is too much. You know, they haven't eaten. And Jesus, you know, after having worked the whole day, after having toiled in the field, after having ministered to thousands, you know, the disciples are ready to sit at Jesus' feet and allow him to just speak into their life again and to have him feed them.

And he says, No. He says, You feed them. There's more to do.

The job's not done yet today. And he's like, Lord, we've got nothing. Like, where are we going to get money to feed all these people? Like, where are we going to find enough bread? Well, he says, What do you have? You know, and sometimes I think I'm at the end of myself.

I think I've got nothing left, and then I say, Lord, is there anything left in the tank? And you know what? There's grace there. His grace is sufficient. You say, Well, it's not much.

Well, what do you have? Just I have a little bit of grace. Okay, well, rather than getting mad or kicking people out or taking your stand or telling them how you feel, ask for more grace. He gives grace for grace.

Come to him in that moment and allow him to fill your tank. You know, the boys go on the job site, and a lot of them, they've got these tanks on the back of their truck, and if the machines are running dry, well, they always know they've got some in the tank. But you know what? It takes faith.

Well, I hope there's fuel in the tank. I hope so. I haven't filled up in a while, quite a while.

I hope it's in there. No, that's why coming to him is so important, that his joy may be in us and that joy may be full, that the peace of God, as brothers shared, which surpasses all understanding, would guard our hearts and our minds so that we would continue after we've exhausted and done the day, that we would still have grace in the tank to give what we have and ask Jesus to multiply it. Well, we have five loaves and two fish, but what is that among so many? It's that unbelief.

We look at our lack rather than looking unto him. You know, we understand Jesus is the man, and if you don't believe that Jesus came in the flesh, well, you're not of God. And we see him as a man having emptied himself, and we see him born as a man.

We see him struggling as a man. We see the temptations. We see him tested and tempted in every way, in all points, as we are, yet without sin.

We see him travailing through loud cries and tears to him, his father, who can save him from death, and he's heard because of his godly fear. We see him going through the struggle of being weak in the flesh as we are weak, being tired, subject to the same elements that we are subject to. Yet, there's this revelation of the Son of God.

The manifestation of the Son of God. Fully man, yet fully God. And so even the disciples had to learn, as they had once come to have a revelation that Jesus is the Christ, where they had literally worshipped him when he came into the boat.

They worshipped him, and as a man, he receives worship as a man. So that tells us he's more than just the man. He is also the Son of God.

No angel receives worship. No human being is to receive worship. Yet Jesus himself, as a man, receives worship.

Because he cannot deny himself. To have that revelation, these disciples had to come to it, and they just kept doubting. Why are you doubting? Where is your faith? What is going on here? What do you have? Bring it to me.

Let me show you who I am. And he prayed to his Father, and he blessed, and he broke. And in blessing and breaking, there is provision.

We chafe against the oak. We fight and fight and fight. We kick against the goads.

And then we wonder why it's so hard. We have to look unto Him and be broken. And when we're broken before Him, He's able to multiply the loaves and the fish.

He's able to give us grace for grace. So it's in our weakness we find strength. It's not in our strength that we can push through.

It's when we're weak, we find our strength in Him. We're tapped into the source. Yes, there is a travail and a struggle at times.

Waiting for our change to come, waiting for Him to do a miracle for us. But our faith can't fail us. If you look in the mirror, or you know what? When I had a change from the Lord, man, I didn't know anything against myself.

I was just glowing and happy, and we were going through just crazy things. And one day a family member came. I had a conviction, and the sword came and was dividing there.

And I had this list given to me of all the things of where I'm so selfish. And all these things that I just had no absolute none light on myself. When I saw that list, there was like 20 things on there.

15 of them I would have to say they were true. And I just didn't see it. I mean, you don't drive your kids to school.

You know, you don't watch them so your wife can have an hour for herself. You're out golfing with your buddies, and you don't care. You never make dinner for the family.

Your wife has to do everything. It just keeps coming. You don't homeschool your kids.

Your wife has to do everything. You just sit around and read your Bible. Sometimes you go to work, and sometimes you don't.

It just keeps going on and on. And the more I look at that list, the more I realize I'm a loser. And if I just focus on that, and I allow all that discouragement to get into my spirit, I will give up.

I'll go back to the liquor store and get a bottle. But if I look unto Him, you see, because of five things on that list, I've overcome. And the way they understood it, it wasn't true.

It wasn't true. There was a change that had happened. And so I had been walking in a way that the Holy Spirit had led me, and I understand that they didn't see it the same way, because those things were true in Him and me in me.

They weren't true in them because they didn't have the revelation. They didn't have the light on it. And so I focus on Christ.

I don't look at my insufficiency or how much is empty in the tank. I focus on the grace that I have, and I say His grace is sufficient for me. My strength is perfected in weakness, and I will call on the Lord who is able to answer me and show me great and awesome things I don't yet know.

Last night I had this dream, and I've been laboring. I say laboring. I've been laboring in my mind and in my spirit and through the Word on some different doctrines and different things that are coming across my daily thing here.

I used to, in the younger years, labor through the doctrines to know what I believe and why I believe them. And now I'm settled in what I believe. Not that I know everything, but I'm settled and I'm sure of what I believe.

And then someone comes along who's got a title beside their name, who has much more education than me, and they come and they challenge my belief system. And whether it's the Lord or the enemy, I don't want to be too proud to just write it off. And so I go back and I revisit.

And it takes time and it takes a lot of energy and work. And in doing that, I come to the same conclusion that the way that I believed 20 years ago and I still believe is exactly the same. Jesus is fully man, but fully God.

He's the Logos. He didn't cease to exist. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And as a man, he receives worship. In what I've studied recently, at least five times, as a man, as the glorified man after the resurrection in Matthew 28, twice, we see John falling as a dead man before him in Revelation 1. One who had his head on Jesus' chest. He's terrified at the presence of the glorified Christ.

And Jesus raises him up. Do not fear. Seeing Jesus in his glory.

And this dream that I had, I was at a men's conference. It was small, but prominent men. Men of reputation.

Men who have made a lot of money. But Christian men. And I didn't know, I was asked to pray at this meeting.

It wasn't my meeting, it was just a meeting. I don't even know if it was a business meeting. But I got up and I was given this opportunity to pray.

And I thought to myself, looking at the faces, what am I going to say here? And so I said, you know what, I want to give thanks. I want to thank the Lord that he's blessed us. That he's been so good to us.

That he's provided for us. That he's multiplied our resources. He's multiplied our bank accounts.

He's doubled what we've received from him. And with our families and everything else. He's blessed us immensely.

But I said more than that. I want to thank you, Jesus. For the death on the cross.

And for what you've done for us. And when I said that. The back half of the people.

I thought they all sat down. I thought they thought I said amen. But they went down like a sack of potatoes on the ground.

And I recognized the faces of these men. They're local men. I know them.

They're prominent. They went down on the ground. And I thought, why would they sit down? Did I say amen? And then all of a sudden a wave of the presence of the spirit of God came over me.

And I woke right out of my sleep. It was like 6.20 this morning. And I realized that Jesus is the great I am.

The manifest presence of God came into the meeting in my dream and dropped them. And as they came forward they were falling in the presence of God. As John fell in the presence of Jesus.

I woke up. All my fur was on end. And I just felt the presence of God.

And I just woke up and walked around a little bit. And I was just meditating on that. And thanking him.

You know sometimes we get so excited about the blessing. But we forget the gift. You know when the magistrates or the magi came in Matthew 2. They come and there's this little baby there.

And it says they come and they worship this baby. They had a revelation of Jesus as the Christ. And even John.

The one whom Jesus loved. Who got so close to Jesus had that same revelation. Of the holiness of Jesus.

He's not our back slapping buddy. Although we can come to him. With all of our cares and our concerns.

And he won't cast us out. May the Lord give us. The reverence and the godly fear.

That is missing in the church today. In our culture. Because we don't understand the holiness of God.

You know. I've shared this before that. My kids are mostly grown up.

We have nine. Usually the youngest ones. Come still and they bang on my door at night.

They want to say goodnight. Doesn't matter if I'm sleeping. Doesn't matter what I'm doing.

They come and they want to say goodnight. And you know what. Doesn't matter who I am.

Doesn't matter what I'm doing. They have the faith. And the confidence that they can talk to.

Whether it's through the door. Or whether we come and we have a meeting. Whatever time.

With them and hug and kiss them. They can come. Jesus said the one who comes to me.

I'm not going to kick out. And as his children. We have the right to enter the throne room of grace boldly.

To ask for help in time of need. And quite often they come and ask for help. Hey my baseball pants are dirty.

I need them washed before the morning. Well you know what. In the big scheme of things.

That's absolutely way down there. Of importance. But not to him.

To him it's very important. And so understanding that that's where he's at. So that he feels comforted.

And he can rest assured that things will be taken care of for him in the morning. A load of wash gets put in at midnight. You want to know why? Because we love him.

And the Lord loves us. You know we come to him with some really menial things. And he answers them.

Why does he answer them? To show us his goodness. To show us his love toward us. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance.

And not only that. It's his kindness that draws us to move forward with him. You know I can get my kids to move with a stick.

But boy if they do it from a willing heart. So much better. Like 10 times, 100 times better.

If it's in their heart to obey. And that moves us from rules into relationship. You can't stay governed by living according to rules.

There's no life there. There's just only fear there. But even in relationship.

There has to be respect and honor. It says knowing the severity and his kindness we persuade men. When I first got born again I knew so much of his kindness.

Because he should have killed me and he didn't. But then I asked him about this fear of the Lord thing. Because I didn't believe it was for today.

I thought it was an Old Testament thing. And he taught me that. And I understood that the purpose of it is so that I won't look back.

From Exodus 20 after he brought the reading of the law. He put the fear in those guys. And he said God has come to test you that his fear may be before you.

So that you won't go back to your sinning. They were afraid in that moment to draw near to God. But with Jesus we can approach him because of the blood.

So it says we have come to Mount Zion. To the city of the living God. To the heavenly Jerusalem.

We have come. We can go from there. But I believe the point has been made that he's ushered in a new and living way.

If we get our eyes on each other, you know what? It's going to be a pretty pitiful bunch. But if we get our eyes on Jesus, you know what? We're going to find ourselves growing together. And the more we grow together as brothers shared in unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

We're going to start to come to unity of the faith. I'm not saying the skeleton and the structure and the doctrines and the bones are not important. They're very important.

But you know what? If we get them all right. We put them all together. My son's doing the kinesiology and he's got all his bones and everything.

His muscles and everything. He's got them all figured out. But you know what? He himself has a bad back.

Just having it all figured out isn't going to bring life. There could be just pain and kind of stretching and pulling and trying to get it all together. He told Ezekiel, can these bones live? Oh Lord, you know.

You see, you've got to get your eyes on the Lord. Because if you start looking at what all the people have said and what everybody says. And you get a text and they're trying to drag you down.

The devil's using them. And everybody's trying to discourage you. And like Brother shared about wars and rumors of wars.

And when I get there, is this going to be fighting? You just quit. But that's not where it ends. We need to look unto Him.

The Prince of Peace. The author and perfecter of our faith. And we need to follow Him.

And He's going to give us the grace to do it. You know, there's this verse. And I'm fixing to quit here.

Come unto me all you weary, heavy laden. And I'll give you rest. You know, I was talking to Abram there last day.

And I was sharing about the journey of how we had to sell our other place. Because we had water lines bust. And I had to call Teagan and see if I could get a backup loan in place.

Just in case I didn't have enough to finish. And it didn't work out that I needed the money. But he offered generously to help me.

To like arrange some financing and everything. We sold that place. And we moved across from Dan there into a moldy house there.

We went from there into this mobile home. And I said, you know Abram. I said, we were the happiest people on earth in that mobile home.

Had three girls living in the RV. But that, there was so much peace there. We needed the Lord.

We didn't focus on what we didn't have or what we couldn't do. We just took it one day at a time with sweet Jesus. And I like what Paul says.

Whether we have or we lack. Whether we're abounding or whether we're abased. Whether we're in a time of peace or we're in a time of war.

He's able to keep us in perfect peace. If our minds are stayed on him and we trust in him. If we get out of that.

It's fair game for the devil. But if we're found in him. Not having our own righteousness or what we can do.

Or how we're going to fix the problem. But a righteousness which comes by faith. Now some people put their faith in a dollar.

Some people put their faith in their back. Some people put faith in their ability to earn. Some people put their faith in their wisdom.

Or in their education. Or in the fact that they can talk circles around people. Because they went to seminary for 40 years.

But it takes simple childlike faith. Why are you downcast oh my soul? Why are you disheartened? It happens to us all at times. Put your hope in God.

Look unto him. And find salvation. You say oh what are you talking about salvation? Well you know what? If unbelief is creeping in you need saving from it.

Look unto him and be saved. That's where help comes from. We need him every hour.

Every hour. Whether it be to put your socks on in the morning. I'm sure Derek is needing some help putting his socks on in the morning.

As I do. It's a good time to humble yourself. And say Jesus I need your help.

You see more than a prayer of healing. Is coming to the end of self. So that one will look up.

That's where true help starts to come. He does miracles to show us who he is and his greatness. Ultimately it's him we need.