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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you, and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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Well, family, we're back. We are back in the building for Bible study. I have missed y'. All. I have missed this. I've missed this very comfortable chair. Hallelujah. I've missed knowing that each one of you fought through a ridiculous amount of traffic and distraction and obstacles. I can only imagine what you warred against to get here. And I don't take it for granted. So I just want to honor each and every one of you for making it, for taking your appointed space in the chair that you're in and saying, father, you called me and I came. All right, let's get into it. I don't know if I'm going to keep this title. Let me just put this out there. So if you're taking notes, this might be one where just be ready to erase it or if you hear it in the POD later. And it has a different title, I promise you it's the same message. We just. We're going to see how this title fits. But I couldn't get off of this title. Beware of arrogance. I said, lord, we ain't been together in a month. I want to give a nice warm hug of a word and struggle as I did. I really did, y'. All. I really wanted to give you this big. And he was. He said, have your people, have my people be wary of arrogance. I said, all right, Lord. Okay, well, this is what we're going to do. And he gave me a very interesting path to weaving around a lot of this stems from the series that we have begun. That PDA has masterfully been stewarding us through kings and priests. And one of the things that comes to mind as the people of God come to understand what it is to be kings and priests. On the one hand, it is extremely edifying to know that there is a greater knowledge and a greater understanding of who God has made each and every one of us to understand that we have what they had in the Old Testament through other people we have within ourselves to be kings and priests. It is an honoring thing and it is a humbling thing and should remain a humbling thing. The warning that God gave on the other end of that is that if we are not careful, we can become much like the Pharisees and the Sadducees who we just heard about earlier this week, if we are not mindful that the entire point of having our identity as kings and priests is to be in alignment with one who gave us the identity. If we lose sight of the fact that the whole point is for us to be all of who God has called for us to be, not to become something that is better than the person next to us. If we're not mindful of that, we can start to slowly drift to this place where we start off as the royal priesthood and and then we end up reading about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and being convicted more and more and more and more and more. And so I'm prayerful that with tonight we can put this on our tool belt to keep us moving forward. I want to start in this verse, actually. First I want to highlight the verse that has been covering our series Kings and priests, 1st Peter 2, 9, 10. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. See, once you hear that you special, it's hard not to start to think of yourself in a certain way. And it's a good thing that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I almost feel like I might have buried the lead because on the one hand I do want to warn us about the dangers of arrogance, but I can't warn you without then giving you what the answer to that is. The antidote to that is, and it's right there in verse 10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. It is remembering that second part of verse 10 of the fact that each one of us continues to walk in mercy that we did not earn, that we could not have created, that we may not deserve, but through Jesus. This mercy is dispensed upon us when we receive Jesus. Amen. Okay, so I wanted to run through. Not run, move through these two passes prayerfully. You take this and run with it in your own time. I was brought to this interesting exchange in Luke 18, verses 9 through 14. And this is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It says also he, Jesus, spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. See, right there. We know it's about to be a problem not even halfway through. And I think we should sense some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men. Yeah, I heard y' all too. Y' all felt that. Extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even this tax collector. Now why did the tax collector have to catch the stray? He's minding his own business. He's here to speak to the Lord. And got this man next to him just tosses one over. But I love this. It gets better. Not only does he list who he's better than, he lists why. These are very interesting indicators for all of us. In the event any sort of seeds of arrogance begin to be sown into us, we start to see the little bits of in here first. There is this judgment that has taken place of others. I am not like them. Extortioners, unjust adulterers. First of all. Wait a minute. He has called them by what they are, but in his tone is the judgment that he feels should come towards them. The only problem with that is he's not a judge. There is only one who judges, and that's Jesus on the day that he comes. But this man doesn't realize it as he's saying it, what he has done. I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even this tax collector. Here come the qualifications. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Much like verse 10 in First Peter 2, which I spoke of. God, be merciful to me a sinner. There is something about this word mercy that seems to be an effective antidote from not being arrogant. And it's the mindfulness that the mercy of God has been extended to us all of the time. The beautiful part about walking with God is once you have that understanding that God's mercy has been extended towards you and you begin to walk out of life from that place of receiving his mercy and God willing, you become, you start to sense the distance as you get further and further and further and further away from the version of you that did not know the mercy of God. As that distance starts to expand, the prayer is that we still are mindful that the mercy here is still here. At times we start to think, well I've gotten so much farther away from who I used to be, I can now do this on my own. And so that I no longer need that mercy, I'm past the point of needing his mercy. As I like to joke, we say this to God. I got it from here. I've put in the discipline, I've put in the time, I've put. I've cut my hair, I've changed my clothes, I've changed my music, I've changed my speech. I don't hang out in the same places. I go to church often. I quote way more scripture than I've ever quoted in my life. And now because I have done all of these things, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Before I knew the mercy of Lord, I didn't tithe at all. Now I'm tithing all the time. And lost in that distance from who we were before we were cognizant of the mercy of God to who we now living out the mercy of God. What gets lost in there is the fact that we need his mercy the whole time. The need for his mercy never goes. No matter how much we evolve and change and grow every. And when we get to that place where we have lost sight of the need of his mercy, here comes arrogance. And it slips its way in so slowly. You see this Pharisee and not only has he listed the comparison, the judgment of others, but then he qualifies himself based on his knowledge of the things that he he does. One of the things we have to be mindful of as we look out and I have to check myself as well before I judge somebody, before I prejudge somebody, before I open my mouth to form an observation of somebody I'd like, I want us to start from this place. Lord be merciful to me, a sinner. I know it's very easy to read that post and judge them and say they crazy, they lost their minds. How could they think that way? And Then the thing that follows right after. We don't even see it coming. I would never. I can't relate. I can't understand how you could possibly. And these sound like things, because these sound like things that indicate how far away we are in our understanding of someone else's plight or life or perspective. But if we're not careful, these are markers that little seeds of arrogance have begun to sprouts on the inside of us. And so I see this Pharisee and this tax collector. And let's be clear, tax collectors were very unlike people in this time and in this culture. These were somebody like. I don't like them right now because tax collectors were those who were believers but then worked for the government of the time and were taxing their own people. And they were taxing them in a way where it was almost impossible for them to be paid back. So they would tax, and then there would be interest, and there would be more tax and there would be interest. And so these were the most unlikable people other than the Pharisees and the Sadducees that you could know. And yet this one who is fully aware. That's the thing about, you know, being un. Quote, unquote unlikable. You're very aware how. Of how unliked you are. Nobody's walking around like everybody. No, no, no. You know, which for us now, when you hear this man say, God, be merciful, merciful to me, a sinner. He is self aware. This man who does not speak of others when he comes to pray, is aware enough of his own shortcomings. Meanwhile, the one who prayed before him lists none of his shortcomings. In fact, he lists all of what he believes are his great qualities, and believes those qualities are so great that they place him above not one or two, but several other unsavory characters. When we are engaging others, we have to be mindful of the type of speech where we speak more of our great qualities and how our great qualities qualify us to judge someone than we do of the mercy that God has given us to get to where we are in the first place. It's subtle. It's so subtle. That's why, as I was reading this passage, it was one thing for him to give the list of unsavories, because when you give the list of unsavories, it's almost as if it's. That's the opposite of me. But then it was the next thing when he started to talk about the things that. That he does, which qualifies him to Think about himself the way that he does, instead of taking the moment to say, lord, these are the things that I do, and I still need your mercy. I almost wonder why it is he showed up to begin with. Because by the way he speaks of others and speaks of himself, it does not sound like he needs the mercy that you would think he would need from where he is. But you also see when you start to understand the nature of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were very outward with their piety, so they would just be in places just to be in places. They loved to be seen. And not just seen, they loved to be seen as holy. And so when you see this man as he's speaking of himself, and you're like, well, if you're all that, why do you need to be here? He is there for show. And one of the little seedlings of arrogance is this need to show up in places or to be in spaces. And God did not give you a word to be there. But based on what we feel are our qualifications to be there. We show up with the intent to be seen and not to be seen as who God says we are. Thank you, Holy Spirit. But to be seen for the qualities that we feel should be shown that extol our best and what we feel is our best of who we are. It's getting real quiet because I'm in Los Angeles. That's why I'm being very careful. Podcast family. I'm starting to call the podcast family the Pod Squad. Cause the Pod Squad is deep. Pod Squad. We are in Los Angeles. And one of the things you know about Los Angeles is it is a place to be seen. We show up places just to be seen there. I hope someone takes a photograph of me in this place. Look how old I am. I said photograph. We ain't printing out nothing no more. I hope someone tags me in this thing, because I was in this place at that time, and I have no intent to do anything at all. I just want the picture. I want to make sure I'm tagged and then I'm going home. If we're not careful of remembering God, be merciful to me as a sinner. We will find ourselves engaging in encounters and behavior, much like the Pharisee. And I love to say this, it is the tax collector that teaches us the most. The most scorned person here is who teaches us the most. Verse 14. I tell you, this man went down to his house, and now Jesus is speaking of. Of the tax collector. I tell you this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. There's a huge nugget in here. This word justified, when you break it down, means to render just or innocent free and to be righteous. So this tax collector who is, and I'm using this word because it fits the scourge of his society, comes beseeching God to be mercy, merciful and with full knowledge of who he was. I love that he shows up and doesn't make excuses for who he is. He knows exactly what he does. He knows exactly how he's viewed. He knows precisely how wrong it is to do what he does. And he still, in all of who he was, does not pretend, doesn't dress it up. He shows up and says, lord, in all of my lack of better words, in all of my filth, be merciful to me. He makes zero excuses for being a tax collector. And it is this man who, according to this word, he leaves just and watch this innocent and free and righteous. Not because he decided he wanted to tell God about how great he was. He did the opposite. He said, lord, I can't even fix my mouth to talk about who I am and what I've done. All I can do is receive your mercy. That posture of being able to say, lord, I am self aware enough of where I have my flaws that all I can do is ask for your mercy. When you take that posture and you take about 10 or 15 seconds, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, maybe 10 or 15 days, that might be a challenge. I feel a challenge brewing before. And sometimes we have to catch ourselves because sometimes we'll see somebody and read something about somebody and we've instantly judged them before we even knew it. I want you to take this God, be merciful to me, a sinner, before you fix your mouth or your mind or your heart to share the opinion or whatever judgment you may have. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I may not agree with how it is they are living. And God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Because it is knowing that you need the mercy of God, thought by thought helps to regulate your thinking. And when you can regulate your thinking from a merciful condition, we will be shocked how merciful our speech becomes. Don't be surprised where the same type of person or the same situation where you would have gone hard in the paint two paragraphs in the comment section about how this person needs to change their lives, they need to get with Jesus. They need to get their life right. I can't believe they said that. They're supposed to be this. Da, da, da, da, da. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Those two paragraphs might become one sentence. I'm praying for you and mean it. Yeah, yeah. Okay, let me clarify. I'm not talking about that thing where you say, I'm praying for you, but what that really means is you need prayer, who you need. So I'm going to give you what I think you need. No, from a merciful place. Thinking from the place of. And maybe this will help. Somebody prayed for me. The only reason I'm any distance from where I used to be or who I used to be before I began my earnest walk with Christ is not just because of me. Somebody, whether it was a stranger, a family member, it might have been a whole church I walked into once and never went back to. Somebody prayed for me just to be able to be where I am now. And now, because I have that in my heart and my mind. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Ooh, your speech changes. Let's try that. Hmm? Y' all got two weeks. Two weeks. I put up two twos. Two weeks before you have that encounter, think and oh, thank you, Holy Spirit. Think back on previous encounters where you know, come on now, you know you've judged harshly. Let me help you all out. Every one of us, including me, has had a moment where you judged someone harshly. Even if you caught it and was like, oh, I need to repent, I'm wilding. Think back on that moment. What were the things that caused you to just all over somebody and say, God, be merciful to be a sinner? How can I, if I have that encounter, or when I have that encounter again, how can my speech match the heart of someone who understands the mercy of God? This is what keeps us from ever. Even as we continue to develop and grow and mature into the royal priesthood that we're called to be, this is what keeps us from making our way and remaining low. I cannot get that picture out of my mind. That PDA showed us of Mary as she was anointing Jesus. And her priestly posture of anointing him was one where she was at his feet. It's hard to be arrogant when you're at someone's feet. And so Luke 18 gives us this very overt understanding of what it is to be arrogant. And my prayer is that it is a tool and a warning for all of us. I'm reading it right now, as I'm teaching it, I'm in my mind, like, all right, Lord, when I get home, if I need to make some phone calls, send some text messages, Amen. I came at you crazy. My bad. That's on me. Then I need to be ready to do that with the understanding of the same mercy that has been extended to me can be extended to that person too. So this is the overt arrogance is Luke 18, 9, 14. Then I read this verse, and I was very shocked to see how you can have. And for lack of better notes, I call this sneaky arrogance. This is the arrogance you don't quite see. It's not as vocally put forward as the Pharisee did, where I'm great. Why am I great? Because I'm not like them. And I do all of these things that you can see coming. And hopefully if it comes out of our mouths, we can hear it and catch it before it gets too far. But then I saw this passage, and it cracked me up. But I said, oh, this is the sneakiest example of arrogance I think I've ever seen. And most of us may be more guilty of it than we realize. It's John 12, verses 9 through 11 says now a great many of the Jews knew that he, this is Jesus was there. And they came, not for Jesus sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Some of us. I could see the faces right now. I don't understand how this is arrogant. Let's slow it down and take this piece by piece. So it says, these Jews came that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. The chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him, many Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Pause one second. Okay. Lazarus died, for lack of better words, from natural causes. He was sick and he died. This is the description that is given in the word. Lazarus got sick and then he died. Natural causes. Nature decided it was Lazarus time to be sick and to pass away. And then Jesus took his time. I love that so much about Jesus got to Lazarus. When he got to Lazarus and brought him back from the dead. So nature took Lazarus to death. Jesus. It took Jesus to reach in and say, lazarus, come out from your tomb. So these chief priests are plotting to kill Lazarus again. As if they could do a better job of killing Lazarus than nature. Nature couldn't kill Lazarus, but These chief priests figured they could get the job done and they could do it better than nature. And not only did they figure that they could kill him, they thought that they could do it as if Jesus couldn't just bring him back again. They're so fixated on what they believe and what they want and what they desire, without realizing it, they have decided they are going to subvert nature and defeat Jesus. This is when the arrogance has gotten to the point where you're not even thinking, you're just acting out of arrogance. They didn't say a word, they did not puff their chests up, they did not go banging their fists saying, you know, this is how bad we think we are. They said we've got to kill Lazarus because we think if we do it he's going to stay dead. Clearly we know better than Jesus does and we don't believe that Jesus can bring him back. This is sneaky arrogance because it's the type of arrogance that has you believe, one, you have way more power than you do, and two, it's the type of arrogance that actually thinks you can go head up against God and win. There are parts of our lives, if we're being honest, where we honestly believe or have believed, that we have a better understanding of how it should go and what should happen and how it should be than God does. And so what we will do is rather than say it aloud because we ain't that crazy, we'll just act it out just as these chief priests acted it out. I looked at the account and I said they really thought this was going to work. And it spoke volumes to me. One, their inflated sense of their power. But two, and this is where arrogance is the most destructive, it is their diminished understanding of Jesus power. See, when we're not careful and arrogance has become a full blown thing and it has taken over our heart and it has taken over our mind and it's gotten to the place where we're just acting out of it. We have an inflated sense of what we can do and a diminished sense of what God can do. It's the most dangerous part of arrogance is to be able to say, you know what? I know Jesus can raise the dead, but. But if I kill it, it'll work. Sneaky arrogance. And there are, and if we're not careful, going back to that previous verse says, wait a minute, I have to. First and foremost, am I operating out of an understanding of the nature of God? Am I? Because if the chief priests were operating from a full understanding and an acknowledgement, they knew that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, knew it, and still decided that if they did it, they could get the job done. That means I have evidence from God that I choose not to see because I believe that the way things, because I believe the way I think things should go supersedes what I have seen God can do. That's that next level. That's that scary level because it's the level we don't even say. Nothing, won't even, we would never say it to God's face. We won't say it in our prayer closet. We'll just act it out. And if you follow the actions, that's the only time where you can see it and be like, oh, I was really, I really thought I ran that. I really thought I was in charge. I really thought that I could supersede nature and do something that exceeded the power of Jesus. That is an inflated version of self, and it's one of those sneaky inflations of your view of yourself. You don't even realize it has happened. And so for us as royal priests, as priests and kings, it is imperative, it is critical, it is essential that we are always keeping the power of God that has been shown to us in our lives. We have to continue to acknowledge it so that we never get such an inflated version of what we can do that we start to think that what we can do is bigger than what he can do in all of the areas, because this looks very minor until you start to see the sequence of events and then you start to break down the type of thinking that you need to go forward with the sequence of events. And you say, oh, they're not just stubborn. They legitimately think the plan that they have to kill this man that Jesus has the power to bring back. They thought this was going to work. And so now for us it's, oof. What plan do I have that is in motion where I am not properly viewing the power of God that is available? What plan do I have in motion by. By my own qualifications, by my own sense of, inflated sense of myself? What is this thing that I think I can do in spite of the power of God in front of me? It's a hard question. That's why it is so quiet. But it's critical for some of you. You're like, eh, I think I'm good. That's fine. Keep this on the tool belt. Because as you begin to walk more and more in your royal priesthood, this is a healthy, healthy reminder to keep because you may find yourself in a Point where someone wants you to have an inflated version of you to separate you from the God that empowers you. That is a weapon and a tactic of the enemy. It is a strategy that woman is moving in the power of God. I know that I can't stop God, but if I can get her to think more of herself and of her plans and of her qualifications, if I can distract her with how much she has done and how her mind works, if I can distract her from God who's doing the work through her and have her think that she's doing the work herself, that is the way I can defeat her or him. Ladies, calm down. We have to be very mindful of the tactics of the enemy because they're not always going to be very overt and in front of you. Sometimes they are very, very covert and sneaky. And this is one of them. Because the enemy loves to allow arrogance and pride to brew and swell. When you look up the word arrogance, it speaks to a swelling. It's something that becomes larger when you get down to the root of it. It's a swelling. So there's a space that God calls for us to occupy, but then we believe we should occupy a bigger space. So that's when we allow for a swelling to take place place. And then we find ourselves being squeezed out of where God told us to be because we believe we should be somewhere else or we believe we should be someone else. Meanwhile, when I keep in mind God be merciful to a sinner as me, I keep God so far above that I don't allow myself to become so inflated that I squeeze God out of my space, that I squeeze God out of my heart posture, that I squeeze God out of my thinking, I squeeze God out of my actions. I continue to keep myself at the feet of Jesus, mindful that it is by his mercy that I can even approach his feet. When I keep that heart posture and that mindset, not only does it keep me from worrying about becoming arrogant, it also keeps me from lording my royal priesthood over others as well. So we got the overt arrogance and then we got the sneaky arrogance that kind of worms its way into our day to day activity. This last verse. And then I promise we're done. So I started to look and I said, well, Lord, what are the ways? Because we have one specific antidote which is remembering the mercy that we have received. And that word mercy shows up repeatedly as a theme in the two passages we looked over. And then I find this passage in Romans chapter 3, which for me is it's verses 21 through 24 it says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. Again we're back to that understanding of righteousness that we are to attain. It is by this righteousness that we are able to call ourselves the royal priesthood that we're called to be. This righteousness is given. Aha. Is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. I'll repeat this again. This righteousness, same righteousness that this tax collector received, this justness, this freedom, this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile believer and non believer. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. I keep reading this word all because this is what allows us to really walk in that understanding and that mindset and that heart posture of mercy. All wipes the slate. By clean I mean everybody is right here. Once I accept Jesus, once someone else accepts Jesus, this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. So this righteousness does not aim for some people and dodge others. Once someone says Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, this righteousness is given through faith. It is given to them. For all, all, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Before I open my mouth to judge somebody, me and that person are in all. Yes, we are a royal priesthood. Yes, we are priests and kings. But let's understand something that does not exclude us from this and that does not exclude someone else from this. All, all this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. And unless the thank you Holy Spirit, I cannot afford to miss not knowing if someone has faith in Jesus before I open my mouth. Hope I said that clear. Before I judge somebody, I have to be very careful. Because if they have this faith and righteousness has been given to them, I don't have the authority to judge. This is what keeps us from being arrogant. Because if we forget this part, we start to think that this righteousness was given to us and us only. And based on our behavior and based on how well we have behaved according to certain standards, this is how we have gained and attained this righteousness. And because my behavior Because I fast twice a week, because I tithe, because I do all of these things. This is what allows me to have this righteousness. And because I feel that I've earned this righteousness, I can now judge someone who's not doing the things that I am doing, who's not living life the way I'm living it. And so I read this and I say, wait a minute. First off, everybody has access to this righteousness because I don't know. This has always been one of my. The things that God has shown me, that I've kept. Before I put my lips or my account towards someone, I have to remember this is somebody who can accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The day they die, they could be buck wild and foul all they want. They can. Then right before the last, they can accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. And then Jesus shows up to judge and he's going to look at the one who accepted him and then he's going to look at me who put my mouth on him and judged him. And now I'm losing my spot. I lived right. I went to church. I did all the things I said, all the right things. I lived the right way. The way the church told me to live, I did that. I listened to nothing but gospel music forever. But in a moment where I forgot who my God was, in a moment where I forgot how much mercy he showed to me, I now judge somebody. And out of a moment of being arrogant, because I don't know, none of us knows when Jesus is coming. Jesus shows up. He's going to see the one who gave his life and then he's going to look at me and remember what I said about him or her. And all of my good deeds don't really matter at that point. This is what truly walking in being a royal priesthood is. It is that understanding at any given point in time. Part of being royal is walking with the understanding of the mercy that we have, is understanding that the righteousness that we walk with is not righteousness that we have earned through deeds. It is righteousness that that has been given through faith in Jesus Christ. It is my faith in the power of Jesus that allows me to claim that I am of a royal priesthood. It's not the cool stuff that I did. And I'm not saying don't do good things, but the good things we do should be an extension of the mercy that we are aware of, an extension of the righteousness that has been given to us through our faith in Christ Jesus. When you do your good works make sure they're coming from that place and they're not coming from a place of, if I do this, I will be a better person then. Because that is where arrogance brews. And for the people of God, in this season and in coming seasons, we can't afford to lose. I want to cast my crown down. I don't want to lose it. I don't want my crown knocked off because arrogance swole up and knocked it off for me. And so this is where my heart was, this is where my burn and my charge was, is just having this understanding that we are called to walk, to live, to think with that constant cover of, lord, have your mercy on me, always remembering that there was a time before we were acting right where he still extended his mercy to us regardless. And the opportunity that was extended to us is one that should be extended to others as well. That will be. Is extended to others as well. But we don't necessarily know when they will accept it and walk in the fullness of it. So I will not prematurely speak to any portion of someone's journey. I don't want to put a period in my journey. I know I'm not trying to put one in somebody else's. And so it is this that allows us to say, okay,
- [48:46]
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all right.
- [48:46]
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I may have had a moment, I may have had an encounter where I didn't realize it, but I was not acting out of a place of that understanding of the righteousness that has been afforded to me, not the righteousness that I earned, but that was afforded to me and that there is someone, and I may not agree with how they live or how they are living right now, but whatever comes out of my mouth, if anything comes out of my mouth at all, which is another thing, be very prepared. Some of us love to have a comment. Some of us cannot wait to weigh in. We're great at it. Be very. Don't be surprised if this is that season where you go and God is like, shh. Might be uncomfortable the first two times, but I promise you'll get used to it. This might be that season where you don't comment as much, where you don't go as hard in the pain. You don't say as many things. It used to be four paragraphs, a whole team of emojis, all kind of stuff and research. And God is like, I'm working on them. And he may also remind you that he's working on you too. That's why I love Romans 3, because once I hear all, once I continue to read all Once I'm reminded of all this, righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. And I remember, and I think on the fact that there are so many people who have chosen to believe in Jesus in different phases and stages of their lives, I cannot imagine what somebody would have said to me had they met me. Had y' all met me when I was 16 or 26, that would have been a problem. And so I always keep that in mind. And it just from what I've seen, because there are people who have come into. I have seen. Thank you, Holy Spirit. What allows me also to speak this is because I personally have seen people who have come here into this building one way. And I mean, when I say one way, I mean like, oh, you got this, Jesus. Because they don't even know whether they know you or not. And they're here and within six months walk in here with a Bible that they're using. Within 12 months, it's a Bible that they're reading and using and living. I've been around long enough, watch this. To see someone's IG profile change. It is the most. Because you just sit there and watch and you're like, oh, that's a huge shift, you see, and it is such a beautiful thing to see when it is genuine. Because suddenly, oh, wow, Holy Spirit, we're here. I promise I'm wrapping this up. But there comes to the point where you meet the person who is one way in real life and then they're another way in their social media profile. And then all of a sudden, the person that they are in real life shifts to like, not like, shifts to the version God created them to be, which is wild enough. But then you see the social media profile shift too, and then you see the two of them become the same person. What it is the glory of the Lord to see it. But I've also. And I've also seen this take place. Not over months, years. And all you can do is remember God, you were so merciful over me in however long it took me. I'm so grateful that your mercy extends to this person too. So that's my sober warning. I got y' all out on a Wednesday night. I did not excite you. I didn't get you all as hyped as perhaps you may plan to be. But I'm prayerful that you're equipped. I'm prayerful that you're ready. Because when the. When the. Oh, that's an interesting way to see it. When the attack to your pride comes to try to make you swell. You'll catch it and apply that antidote, which reduces the swelling. It's like the swelling's an inflammation. Before you become inflamed with arrogance and pride, you know what to apply beforehand. So that just as it comes right back down and you start to remember who God has created you to be, and you remember that it is not you that does the swelling. It is God that exalts. Because later on in that passage, it says, God exalts those who are humble, and he humbles those who exalt themselves. So my prayer is that I want us to continue to humble ourselves and to keep arrogance at bay so that others who see how we walk will say, wow, those are the most non judgmental, Jesus loving, effective purveyors of the word I've ever seen. Who is this Jesus that you know? Cause you seem to be around many different types of people, and you just love Jesus. You love Jesus more than you love your opinions. Y' all love Jesus more than you love your judgment. I want to hang out with this Jesus that y' all be talking about, and that's how the good news is spread. Amen. Okay, I really am done for real, because I'm thirsty. I think this is the time where we start to. We'll get into the questions that were sent in. Yes, yes. Okay, I'm gonna. Whoo. Here they come. Y' all are so quick with questions. I love this. Ah. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Is there a space where we can still correct our brethren in love in a time where any opposition seems like judgment slash arrogance? Yes, there is a way to correct our brethren in love. I have come to realize because I get this question a lot. What I'm starting to sense and understand about correction is, unfortunately, correction has become a weapon when it was meant to be a tool. And so, unfortunately, and this specifically happens because we hear us in the church, we love to correct, but when we do, unfortunately, we will weaponize correction to try to turn someone into a version of them that we feel they should be. Instead of using correction as a tool that leads them to Jesus and exposes them to Jesus and gives them the understanding of how the Holy Spirit works. And so that it's not me speaking change into you. My words aren't going into your heart. And no, that's not what I'm doing. What I am going to do is allow the Holy Spirit to guide my speech, to guide my manner, to guide my tone. And I am not arrogant enough to believe that the Holy Spirit is Only going to be work on me. I believe that the Holy Spirit, as he's working on me to say whatever I need to say to lovingly correct the Holy Spirit, is also at work in the person who's receiving it, conditioning their heart to receive it. And so when I see this question, more often than not, what allows us to correct our brethren in love is patience. I can say what God told me to say and not expect it to work immediately. I can watch this. Sow a seed. This is the loving, effective way to correct, involves sowing a seed. I cannot control the soil, but I can control the seed that God has given me and how I plant it. And I also cannot control when it is going to grow, how it's going to grow. I don't know how that soil. I don't know if the condition of the soil is going to change. That's not up to me. My job is to sow the seed. This is how we know that there's love available. Love is patient. Yeah, I'm gonna leave that there. Okay. How can I refrain, Reframe? Excuse me. My tendency to bond through gossip and critique into conversations rooted in mindfulness and love. Okay, number one, I'm here for the willingness. Number two, I'm here for the self awareness. I'm loving this. Here's what. Here's what I would say that you do. And I'm actually going to use my wife, Pastor Tina. She is my favorite example of this. And y' all may encounter this if you have a conversation with her. Without fail, anytime the conversation goes anywhere near gossip or critique, backbiting, any of that, she goes dead silent, doesn't say a word. And what I noticed, because she trusts the power in her presence, there are times when your silence will shift the mood and the tone more than anything you could say. And she's done this for years. It has always cracked me up. I try not to laugh and give it away because the very first time she did it, I was like, I know what you're doing, completely silent. Because here's the thing, when you speak into it, you fuel it. And so if there are five people, and at some point, all five people are going back and forth, and then all of a sudden, there's only four people going back and forth. Somebody's going to notice, like, something's different, something not right. There's always that shift that happens in the conversation, even if it's just two people. Now, if it's just two people, you really got to be brave, because it's super Uncomfortable. To watch someone talk to you, wait for a response and. And not get one. You got to rest in it and just let them be uncomfortable. They'll figure it out. Oh, I probably said something I shouldn't have said, or this person does not speak about things in this manner. I need to make a shift. So the best way I would say tool number one, don't fuel it. Say nothing. And then two, the next stage is to remove yourself from said circles and conversations that tend to only be around gossip and critique. Because what will then happen is if you say, hey, you know, I notice you guys gossip and critique all the time. You know what they're gonna do? Gossip and critique you. You just gave them some fodder. Nope, I'm not giving you any ammunition. I'm just gonna remove myself first. I'm gonna remove my voice from it. Then I'm going to remove my presence from it. One of two things happens. Either that circle changes, or what I've seen is God will then place you in a different circle where that does not take place because you're now showing the discernment to know how to handle conversations that don't revolve around that thing. But you got to make room for that. That's a phenomenal question. And whoever sent this, shout out to you for being aware enough to catch this and your place in it. That's big. That's huge. I love that. Next question. What does it mean to judge someone? And is there ever a biblically appropriate time to judge someone? We're going to take this second part first. No, Very simple. No. There is one judge, and his name is Jesus, and there is one time, and that's when he comes back. That is Judgment Day. That's why it's called that. It's the Day of Judgment. It is not for us. So now I'm gonna go back to the first part. What? Oh, these questions are moving. Wait a minute. Okay, this is here. Yeah. What does it mean to judge someone? When you judge someone, think about a court. And when you're in a court of law, a judgment is where you pronounce a sentence based on your behavior. This is what you receive based on who you are. This is your punishment. The problem is we don't know who you are. We know who you are in this moment. We know what you've shown us in this moment. But I do not have the wisdom to speak to what punishment or circumstances or repercussions should take place in your life based on the snapshot that I've been given. So at no point in time. Now, I am all for observing. Let me be very clear. I'm not saying you see foul people in front of you or people say foul things to you and you say, I'm not going to judge you and I'm just going to let you continue to abuse me. That's not at all what I said. Don't pronounce a judgment over someone. But you can be observant. Hey, you know, I've noticed that. That's a great one. I noticed that you have a tendency to or you have done these things. What does that mean? There's a difference between having an observation which involves not only curiosity, but it also involves an understanding that you don't have the complete picture. More often than not, that exchange is what brings forth any sort of correction that is needed will be received from that kind of exchange. Hey, I've noticed that not this is the kind of person you are because of what you did. Just speak to. I noticed that you've done this or I noticed you've said this. Can you tell me what you meant by There's a very big difference between that and saying you sinner. Because you've labeled this person and now this person is defensive and it's very hard to sow seed into rocky soil. Defensive people are the rockiest soil you're gonna meet. Cause eventually they get tired of being rocky soil and they start throwing rocks at you. So the best way to number one, no, we are not judges in that form. Number two, what does it mean to judge someone? That's when you have labeled, not only have you labeled someone, but you have decided that this is the circumstance, that this is the repercussion that this is necessary based on your assertion that this is who this person is and inherent in that, this is who they're always going to be. That's the harshest part of judgment. It's one thing to say, ah, you know, I kind of noticed you're this right now. Usually when harsh judgment comes into play, it is, this is who you are and you're not going to change. So based on my understanding of you not changing, I'm going to judge you. I'm going to say that you are this and this is how I'm going to deal from you moving forward. So hopefully that made sense. Okay. Okay. How do we encourage someone out of sin without condemning them? Or is our only job to love them and pray for them? Love them, pray for them. Here's my personal favorite. Be the example of how Jesus works. In my years, I have seen. For those who are, for the record, how do we encourage someone out of sin? We'll deal with that part second. So interesting. A lot of these questions I'm going backwards through. Our only job is not just to love them and to pray for them, but to make sure that we are the example as well. Are we living out the very principles that we're trying to get someone else to. Because if we're not, then we're not the person for this encounter. And it's okay to not be the person for this encounter. It's okay to say, or not even to say, to allow the Holy Spirit to say, ooh, I love your heart. You are not prepared for this encounter or you are not the one for this encounter. We always assume, because someone comes to us with who they are and what they have done, we assume that we are the end all, be all of every encounter that we have. If there's a question that comes towards us, we are the answer. We have the answer. And we're the only person in that moment who could possibly give you an answer. This is not the case. There are times where it is okay to say that. This is one of my favorite words. I don't know. But I do know someone who does know. And you can also take the time to be mindful enough before you open your mouth. This advice that I'm about to give this person or this revelation that I'm about to give this person, have I fully received this revelation myself? Because if you say it and you haven't fully received it, the thing that we miss is the other person knows it. They can sense it, like, mmm, that sounds good. It does. I'm not getting it. Since you're living what you're saying, and once that moment hits rocky soil. So we have to be very mindful in that given moment. Okay. Love them. Yes. Pray for them. Yes. Examine yourself to make sure that you are operating in the Spirit in that moment and that you are living the principles of Jesus in that moment. So that whatever comes out of your mouth, you have a life, an experience to back that thing up. Because the next question is going to be, how do you apply this? And at that point, that's not the time to say, I don't know. I don't know should have came before then. So it's very important. But how do we encourage someone out of sin? I am a staunch advocate, and it is tough for me to lean otherwise. Number one, I'm always gonna point you to the word Number two, I'm always gonna point you to the Word. Number three, I'm always gonna point you to the Word. I think we're getting the theme that is here because the Word is not going to lie to you. I believe, fundamentally believe that the Word unveils itself in its own time to everybody. There is a passage in Scripture that makes zero sense to you right now. You have read it 25 times. No sense to you whatsoever. It just, no matter what you do, you've gone through commentaries, you have gone on YouTube, you, 10 of your favorite pastors have broken that thing down, and it's still. You have it here, but it is not here. And then there comes a time when you are sitting by yourself, minding your business with a little pack of crackers and some juice, and you read that Word and the Holy Spirit says, now, now, receive this revelation of that Word. I have too much faith in the living Word and how it works. I have too much faith in the alignment of the Holy Spirit and the living Word to believe that at any given point in time, that exchange doesn't work. So when it says so, when the question is, how do I encourage someone out of their sin? Move them to that word and. And encourage. I love this encourage, whether it is you, and be very mindful if you have the capacity to do this. I encourage them to find a sense of accountability somewhere. If it's not me, if it's not your best friend or their best friend or somebody, is there someone who has experienced what you've experienced, who's going through what you're going through, who has come out on the other side of it, who you can speak to, who can be your accountability? Because without accountability, it is extremely hard. I'm not saying it's impossible because God is capable of delivering anyone from anything at any given point in time. Period. The end. I will also say it is extremely difficult to come out of sin. I'm not even sure how that works, but to overcome this thing that has gripped you that you've gone through by yourself with no sense of accountability. So, number one, I'm always going to point you to the Word. Number two, I'm always going to point you to the Holy Spirit. And number three, let's find where we can add some accountability in this situation. Ooh, I better be careful as I say that. Okay. All right, Holy Spirit, we'll do that. Also, when it comes to this idea of I'm trying to use these words as I see it in the question, encouraging someone out of their sin, More likely than not, someone has a lens or view of this sin that is not the full picture. So wherever you are able to, and you have to be very sensitive about this, there is a reframing that often needs to take place. And so when that needs to happen, if the Holy Spirit has given you the way to speak to it so that you can frame this thing so someone can see it clearly and in its fullness. And I said if the Holy Spirit has given to you because there's a very, you have to be very, very careful when you're talking about someone in the midst of their sin. Because more often than not, for someone who is trying to overcome this thing, this thing has become a part of their life, it is a part of their identity, this is part of how they live. So you're not just knocking something out. That is something that they have built a life on, that's they've built patterns on, they've built thinking on, they've built a lot. And it's not something that you're going to easily dislodge unless you are able to have this person. And sometimes that person might be us, see this thing for what it really is. So if the Holy Spirit gives you a word of knowledge that allows it to be reframed so that it can be seen for what that thing is in this person's life, then that is an excellent, excellent tool. Otherwise, the other things I mentioned are the ways that I would try to handle that more often than not. I felt like I spent a lot of time on that question. But it was really important that I unpack that. I think I'm going to rest on this one because it's 8:38. What's the difference between arrogance and healthy self esteem? This is good. Healthy self esteem is when you have an understanding of who you are. When you have a full understanding of who you are in a given moment. Here's what I mean by full. Full means I know what I do well. I also know what I don't do well. I am equally mindful of both. Arrogance is where all you see is what you do well. And not only is it all you see, no matter what people tell you, you believe you do it better than you really do. No one can tell you about this area because you have said I do this at point, this, this level. And no one can tell me different. Even though the evidence tells you different, your friends tell you different, your output tells you different. We not even get to what the Holy Spirit has been telling you the whole time. Arrogance is when we have assumed a mindset about a portion or a section of our lives and no one can tell us anything different. And it is so inflated that it is not reflective of the reality of where it really is. Healthy self esteem is where. This is my view, but I have a balanced view. I understand what I do well. I also understand how I could do it better. I have a healthy understanding of what I don't do well. I have an understanding of what I need to be doing versus what I want to be doing. And I'm working on the things I need to do better while also continuing in the things that I do well and to take it to the next level. I am led by the Holy Spirit as I do it. Healthiest self esteem is when you know, I am being led by the Spirit of God in what I do. Because even if I do it and it doesn't turn out the way I want it to turn out, I know that I was obedient and I can rest in that alone. That is going to keep your esteem extremely healthy. The outcome wasn't what I expected. Cool. But me and the Holy Spirit are tight. I did exactly what he told me to do. I went exactly where he told me to go. I said exactly what he told me to say, and I said it exactly the way he wanted me to say it. Your esteem will be very healthy when you know that the Holy Spirit is what is governing not only who you are, but the output of who you are. Your perspective of who you are and how you are navigating life. Healthy. Okay. Okay. I think I'm gonna rest there. I keep looking over there. I'm like, we'll leave those questions there. We'll be here till midnight. I ain't trying to do y' all like that. Hmm. Here's what I would love to do. Do we have any announcements? None. Okay, just double checking. Gotta have the housekeeping taken care of. I want to pray. It's not a surprising thing. Yeah. I just feel that in the Spirit, Holy Spirit, you did some heart work on us. And I'm grateful, Father, that right now many of us are having the awareness of your mercy towards us reawakened again. I thank you, Lord, that right now, any roots of arrogance that were beginning to take root on the inside of us, that they have been plucked and removed and cast into the fire. In the name of Jesus. I'm thankful for every one of these, your sons and daughters, under the sound of my voice, who are so aligned with you, who are finding a resting place at your feet right now. And that, Father, as we rest at your feet and as we continue on in the mindset of mercy, knowing that the faith that we have received is only through your son, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, may our countenance change, may our conversations change, may our thoughts shift and change. May. And Father, as you continue to tenderize our hearts, Lord, we eagerly await how your glory can be revealed in new ways through the new things you've called for us to become, to say and to do. From this posture of saying arrogance, you have no place in here. Lord, have your way with these newly tenderized hearts. And Father, as you have brought us here safely, may we each return home safely. In Jesus matchless name we pray. Amen.
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Hey family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast. You can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Terry Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.
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Don't.