← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
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If you got a Bible, go to Ephesians, chapter four.
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Whoo.
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We always get excited for the first scripture. It always scares people that are new to victory. They're like, why is everyone shouting? Our first. Like, the first scripture in the sermon is like our first touchdown in the game. It's, you know, something we just shout about. The word of God is alive. It's active, has the power to change your Life. Ephesians, chapter 4. Paul the Apostle was writing the book of Ephesians from a prison in Rome. We've been talking from this book for the last several weeks. And we've been going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, line by line, going through the book of Ephesians. Paul wrote this book to a church that needed to be reminded about their identity in Christ. That their salvation didn't come from their behavior or how good they were or how many scriptures they memorized or whether they were born into the right family, that their salvation came by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. So those first three chapters of Ephesians Paul is outlining, this is your identity. You are loved by God. No matter how bad you've been, no matter how many sins you've committed, he loves you. And when you put your faith in him, you are forgiven by Jesus. He purchased your forgiveness on the cross. He paid for your punishment. You are adopted into the family. Right. We've been brought as sons and daughters by our Father in heaven. Paul outlines this in Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. He says, you are his masterpiece. You were a mess in your past, but you're a masterpiece now. We've been talking about how God is changing us and he's transforming us. And his saving, loving, compassionate power at work in us. Paul's been outlining that. And that's important for us to remember because those first three chapters, preparation for the next three chapters. The next three chapters. Paul's about to take us on a walk, a journey of what it looks like to live this out. Everybody say, walk it out. Walk it out. This is what Paul's going to talk about. He's saying, you have this amazing salvation. You have this amazing love, this amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me and you And Paul says, with all of that grace, with all of that salvation, with all of that inheritance, all of that forgiveness, all of that mercy that you didn't pay for, you didn't earn, you didn't prove how worthy you were, he goes into chapter four. This is where it begins. The practical application of this book starts Right here in verse one, he says, as a prisoner for the Lord. Now Paul could have said, as a prisoner for Rome, he could have stated his current circumstances, but he flipped the script instead of seeing his current circumstances as if he was in chains and he wasn't allowed to do anything great or there was no purpose in the season and it was a waste of time. He saw his pain as a purpose. Note takers are history makers, world changers. I just encourage you to write this down. See your pain as a purpose. See every season as a season of purpose. And God will give you an assignment in that season if you will recognize I am not just here on accident for an accident. No, I'm here on purpose because I have a purpose. Even though even if I didn't choose these chains, go, God's going to use these chains. Even if I didn't choose this painful season in life, God's going to use this painful season. This has a purpose. Paul said, I'm not a prisoner for Rome. I'm a prisoner for the Lord. Wherever I am, I'm there for God. If I'm single, I'm there for God. If I'm married, I'm there for God. If I'm a parent, I'm there for God. If I'm not a parent, I'm there wherever I am. And whatever I'm doing, it is for the Lord. Paul says, I'm a prisoner for the Lord and I'm writing to the church. And he was no longer the pastor at the church. He started the church but passed it on. There was a young. There was a couple named Priscilla and Aquila that were carrying it on. And Timothy, Pastor Timothy was preaching, ministering in the church. And he says this to the church body. He says, I urge you, I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Now that verse right there is like a life verse for me. I have circled that verse since I was a teenager and I have prayed to God, God, help me to understand what this means. I'll never forget when I was 16 years old, I was on a mission strip. We were in Mexico and we were going down the streets of Mexico. We were sharing the gospel. We were passing out beans and rice and Jesus Christ. It was awesome. And we were doing dramas. I played the part of the greed guy. I was like, you know, Mr. Greedy Man. And Jesus comes and sets me free. And then in one drama, I played the part of Jesus. It was always weird. You got with. You'd have different characters in different Dramas. And so I was having a little bit of a personality disorder complex. I didn't know who I was. But I remember my youth pastor sat me down and he outlined that chapter for me. He said, paul, you've been pretty goofy lately. You've been saying some stupid stuff. You've been getting into some trouble. And he said, I want to remind you that you have a higher calling on your life. And I was like, I know. He's like, you. You are called to a higher standard. He's saying, I'm not saying you got to prove to God that you're worthy of salvation. I'm saying you are already worthy in the eyes of God because of what Jesus did for you. Now, walk in a way. Walk in a way of the worthiness that Jesus already purchased for you. Don't make yourself worthy by being good. You're worthy because he's good, because he paid the price for your value. My value doesn't come from how good I've been or what family I was born in. I mean, our world, we have a value system based on, you know, merits. And, like, this person was really good. They worked really hard. They earned their, you know, fame, or they earned their money, or they earned how we respect them. But in God's eyes, we're all sinners in need of a savior. And when Jesus died on that cross, he paid for your worth, your value, your righteousness, your salvation. So he doesn't look at you based on how good you've been, but how good he is. But my youth pastor was saying, don't waste that goodness and that mercy and that grace on just living an aimless life. Live a life. Walk. I want to title this message A Worthy Walk. A worthy walk. There was a song that came out when I was in high school by Stephen Curtis Chapman called the Walk Just Doing the Walk. And he was my man. Like, I loved listening to him. But the song was all about walking the walk and not just talking the talk. There's a lot of people that talk the talk, but not everybody walks the walk. Paul said, I beseech you. I urge you. I'm appealing to you. Live a life. Walk in a way for the calling that you have on your life. And then we ask ourselves, what does this mean? What does it mean to walk the walk? And a lot of us in this room, we might think, well, it means, you know, don't do bad stuff, only do good stuff. And that that's true. But Paul's first explanation of a worthy walk might surprise you. His first Description of a worthy walk. And I want to read this to you from the new living translation version. We're gonna switch. He says this walk in humility, the first characteristic of a worthy walk. And I'm gonna give us six characteristics of a worthy walk. The first characteristic is humility. Everybody say humility. Walking worthy of our calling means walking in humility. That's the first characteristic. In other words, he's saying, I don't want you to think too high of yourselves. Romans chapter 12 talks about this. He says, Verse 3. Don't think higher about yourself than you should. Keep a balanced perspective of who you are in Christ. Some guy came up to me last night at the altar, and he goes, I love you, Pastor Paul. I love you so much. But don't get a big head. Don't you get a big head. He put his hands on my head. He was just trying to shrink my head. I was like, okay, I'm not. He goes, listen. He goes, sean Foyt, pretty good message. Darius Daniels, very intellectual, very good. Russell Johnson, kind of wild, Pretty good. Said some crazy stuff on stage. Goes, but you my man. Y' all are like, who are these names? These are the people that preach this week at revival nights. He was going through the list of preachers. He's telling me. He goes, but you my man. Oh, Pastor Paul, God speaks through you to me. And I said, dude, no, it's all. He goes, no, no, no. I'm saying this. I love listening to you preach. I said, man, thank you so much. He goes, but don't you get a big head, bro. Don't you? And he just puts his hands on my head. Keep your head small. I was like, yes, sir. Thank you so much. I will. But it is important. I was talking with Russell Johnson, one of the preachers at revival nights, and it was a phenomenal sermon. And he said this after he got done preaching. He's like, you know, my kids weren't here tonight. My wife wasn't here tonight. They don't really care how good of a sermon I preached. They care about how I treat them when I get home. The best sermon that we will ever preach is the sermon that we show every single day to the people around us. Are we walking in pride or are we walking in humility? Are we demanding our way? Are we trying to prove to everybody how awesome we are and how we know it all and they don't? Or are we practicing humility? Paul says, live a life worthy of the calling you have received and start with humility before you Start with self righteousness. Before you start with the memorization of all the scriptures and all the worship songs, start by living a worship song in the way that you treat people around you. Walk in humility. Don't see yourself higher than others. Carry yourself with a lowly spirit. In fact, the two words that Paul uses as the first characteristics of a worthy walk, I'm going to give you. The second point here is gentleness. Lowliness and gentleness. Humility and gentleness. The only place in Scripture we see these two words together is describing the heart of Jesus. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, Are you tired? Are you weary? Come to me, all who are burdened, and I will give you rest. And he says this. He says, for my. My ways are lowly gentle. In verse 29, he says, I have a gentle spirit. I have a humble heart. And I'll teach you how to live the unforced rhythms of grace. I'll teach you how to walk in gentleness and humility in a world that's constantly screaming my way. You know, get out of my way. I'm gonna do what I want to do, and I'm gonna get. Paul says, start with humility and start with gentleness. Humility is so refreshing when you're around people who haven't arrived. How many? All in the room have not arrived? Yeah. The rest of you, we want to be like you. You're perfect. But for those of us that haven't arrived, we're still under construction. Like the roads of Oklahoma. We are still a work in progress. The truth is, this is what Paul says keeps us attractive in God's eyes. God is actually drawn to humility. He likes people who carry a low spirit. I'm not saying you got to walk around just defeated like Eeyore, you know, I'm just saying, like, because you can walk with confidence, but still have humility, like, you can, Paul says, walk in a way that's worthy of the calling you have received. Imagine if, you know, there was a professional athlete and he was so good at his sport. Let's just say, you know, let's just say, like, one of the greatest football players. So good at football, right? And he chooses not to show up to practice. Cause he's so good. He's just so good, he doesn't even have to go to practice. The coach calls him. He's like, hey, I need you at practice. The whole team is here. Well, I'm just so good, I don't have to practice. That's pride, right? He's like, I'm trading you to another team. You need to show up to practice, wear the jersey for the team that you are a part of, and wear the jersey on practice days, not just game days. I need you here, whether it's rainy or sunshine. My dad was really big on. On, like, loyalty and allegiance and like, commitment. My dad was a big fan of Arkansas football. He loved the Razorbacks. Cause he was from Arkansas. He played for Southern Arkansas University. He was a football player. But I remember our family went to an Arkansas football game. We drove to Fayetteville and we watched lsu. That's Louisiana versus Arkansas. And y'. All, LSU won the game. And it was freezing rain. It was the week after Thanksgiving. It was so cold. I was ready to leave at halftime. I was like, can we go? He was like, no, we're staying here. We're going to support our team. I was like, but they're losing. He's like, we didn't show up. We're not fair weather fans. We didn't show up just to watch. When they win, we're going to be here. Even when they lose, we're. This is what it means to be all. My dad was like, very committed. I was like, okay, okay, all right, I repent. I'm sorry, you know, but my dad was committed. He was loyal. This is what Paul was talking about. He's like, hey, look, we're all in here. We're all in on this. One time, a person was wearing a T shirt from another church and they were on staff for us at Victory. And my dad was walking down the hall and they were working here, and they were wearing this other T shirt. And y'.
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My dad was intense. He walks up to that person, he goes, where do you work? And I go, victory. He said, why are you wearing this other church shirt? And they were like, pastor, we're all on the same team. He goes, yeah, but when you're here, I need you to wear my jersey. And they were like, okay. And he goes, let me show you where the bookstore is. Walks him to the bookstore and he goes, get my friend a shirt. I gave him a shirt. And he goes, okay, I'll wear it later. And he goes, My dad goes, no, you'll wear it right now. And my dad goes, give me the other shirt. And the guy was like, but. And my dad said, listen, if you're on my team, you got to wear my. My dad was intense. Y' all are like, that's blowing my mind. That's way too crazy. But my dad was like, hey, Listen, I want you to be all in here, and I want you to carry the culture of what we're trying to build here. And I don't want you to ride the fence here. I want you to be fully committed. He was very loyal, and he said, listen, here's who we are, and here's how we do it. We walk like this. Paul said, here's what it looks like to be a follower of Christ. You don't just show up when there's free fish and bread. Like, there were some people that followed Jesus when it was convenient. They were like, I'll be there when he's multiplying the loaves and fishes. I'll be there when he's paying for my meal. But if he asks me to sacrifice, if. If he asks me to wash somebody's feet, I'm not touching somebody's toes. If he wants me to turn the cheek when somebody slaps, I'm not turning the cheek. I'm not forgiving people. I'm gonna fight back. And Jesus looks at Peter and he says, put down your sword. I didn't come to kill people that I'm mad at. Jesus said, I came with lowliness. Humility. I need you to carry the culture that I'm carrying. I need you to wear the jersey that I'm wearing. I need you to walk in humility. I need you to walk in gentleness. This is a worthy walk. And this is what Jesus is saying. He's saying. And this is what Paul is saying. He's saying, this is what the kingdom looks like. It's humility. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Those who humble themselves will be exalted. Walk in humility. Verse 2 says, Be humble and be gentle. And then he says this. Be patient, long suffering, bearing with one another in love. I'm going to give you my third and my fourth point here, and that is that we would. Number three, be patient. A worthy walk is a walk of patience. If you want to go fast, you're going to go alone. But if you want to go together with people, you're going to have to be patient. Our family is constantly having to walk in patience with each other. In fact, even this week, when I was trying to work on my sermon, at times my kids would come in the room and they start asking me all these questions or shouting, talking to each other. I. And I was like, stop. I'm trying to work on my sermon about patience. And they were like, okay, Daddy's practicing patience. He's preaching on patience. Be patient, you know, and then I got convicted. I was like, I'm sorry. I was like, come back in here. I need to practice what I'm preaching. You can ask me any question. You can goof off. It's fine. You know, But Paul is saying this. He's like, we gotta be patient with each other. How many? All need work on your patience in your life. Yeah, I do too. We all. I mean, I'm a work in progress. I need patience every single day. Not just patience with my kids, but I need patience with people I don't know. I mean, loving God is easy, but loving people. Y' all know what I'm talking about. Just like, lord, help me be patient. And I hear God saying, yeah, they're praying for patience with you, Paul. Like, you think you're the only one practicing patience? We gotta be patient with each other's maturity levels because we're not all on the same level of growing and being self aware and being understanding. And there's areas where we're still a little immature and areas where I miss it. We all miss it. And Paul says, here's what a worthy walk looks like. It doesn't look like I don't need you. I'm out. I'm done with you. You let me down. I'm disappointing you. We're done. Paul says, a worthy walk looks like patience with each other. Forbearance with each other. Walking with each other. The fourth point is this, that we would bear with each other. Now, I don't mean like, bear like rawr. I mean like bearing with each other in love. Like giving making room for people's mistakes and immaturity. So it's humility, it's gentleness, it's patience, it's bearing with each other in love. I'll never forget when I was younger, my brother and I, we would get into fights and we would hit each other. And my dad would be like, that's it. You're getting spankings. And we were like, no, dad. And then we would put, like, socks and books in our underwear to try to block the spankings. And then afterwards, you know, he would say, all right, I want you guys to kiss each other on the nose. We're like, dad, no. That's so embarrassing. He'd be like, no, you're gonna make things right with each other. And I was like, how is this making things right with each other? And so one day, my dad got upset. And this rarely happened. I mean, like, my dad was not a perfect person. But the story I'm about to tell you, it wasn't like this happened all the time. You don't have to call animal protective Services. But my dad kicked our dog, okay? And it wasn't like it was. It didn't leave, like a bruise, but it was like he was like, you know, and we were like, oh, my goodness, we're calling the cops. You know, because we were like, we've been spanked too many times. We're going to get on to my dad about this. You need to get spanked for this. He was like, no. And then he said, I'm sorry. And he humbled himself. He said, that was really wrong. He said, I shouldn't have kicked Freckles. And we were like, yeah, you need to kiss him on the nose. You need to make things right with the dog. And I'll never forget my dad got on his knees and he was looking back at us, and we were like, we're watching. And he kissed Freckles on the nose, and we were like, that's the best sermon you ever preached right there. You know, as the kids of Billy Joe, a lot of people thought my dad was Jesus. He was not Jesus. He was a dad. He was a good dad, a great man. But, you know, he had his moments. What made my dad an honorable man, in my eyes was not how flawless he was in his behavior. It was not how perfect he was as a pastor. What made him an honorable man was his humility to admit when he was wrong. Kiss the dog's nose. Can I tell you, humility is attractive to God. Like, God already knows we're all not that great. The question is, do you know you're not that great? Because people try to puff us up, you know, and it's like, nah, I still gotta kiss my dog's nose. Like, I still. I still gotta admit that I'm wrong sometimes and apologize to my kids and say, man, I'm sorry. I got impatient. And God goes, yes, that's a worthy walk. A worthy walk is not never missing it. A worthy walk is owning it when we miss it to the people that we need to own it to. You don't have to go own it to everybody, but own it to the person you need to and to God and to God. Work in me. Jesus told a parable about two people that were walking into church Walk. One was like, this broken, repentant, just man crying out for mercy. The other one was a priest, like a religious leader that worked in the temple. And the religious leader that worked in the temple was walking towards the temple. And he was like, God, I thank you that I'm better than all of these sinners. I tithe weekly, I memorize scripture. I'm more holier than these people. I have more knowledge of the Torah. I have more understanding. I can teach and preach, and I minister well. And I thank you, God, that you hear my prayers. The other guy walks into the temple and, man, he's broken. He's like, God, I'm so sorry. I've had a really hard week. I'm sorry I missed it. I missed it. And I need your mercy. I need your grace. I'm not as good as these other people. I don't know all the scriptures I need to know, and I'm still a work in progress. But God, please have mercy on me. And Jesus says, which one of these men do you think God's going to listen to? And everybody in the crowd was aware of what he was trying to say. And the Pharisees were the most upset at this parable because they knew he was talking straight to them. Jesus says, listen, it's not the healthy that need a doctor. It's the sick. And the truth is none of us are fully healthy without the great physician. We all need his medicine. We all need his kindness. We all need his salvation. We all need his grace. So Jesus says, walk in a humble path. Walk in a gentle path. Be gentle with people. Be gentle with you. If anyone needed to hear this, it was Peter. Because Peter cut a dude's ear off. People. Peter got in fights with people. Peter would just fight with people just to prove that he was better. He was going to prove them wrong. You know, and sometimes we hear this like, walk in a worthy calling. It's like, oh, yeah, I'm going to prove how much I know about the Bible, and I'm going to tell off those atheists. And. And Jesus is like, I need you to be gentle with people. Put your sword down. Just say that with me. Put your sword down. Now. We're gonna later Talk in Ephesians 6 about picking up your sword, but a different kind of sword. We're gonna talk about this sword. But what happens is in our world, we're constantly sword. Like, it was constantly just fighting with each other, whether it's on X, whether it's on social media, TikTok, Facebook, whatever. This just constant back and forth. And Paul says, this is not a worthy walk. A worthy walk is gentleness. Proverbs 15 says, A gentle answer turns away wrath. A gentle answer, a gentle tone. Gentleness is not just an action. It's a tone in our words. It's how we come across. A gentle answer turns away anger. It calms a heated conversation between a wife and a husband. It calms a heated conversation between a mother and a son, a father and a daughter. We should not be in strife with each other. We should not be known for fighting with each other. Paul says we've got to get along. We've got to walk in gentleness with each other. We've got to walk in patience with each other. Be patient with people. Who tests your patience the most. Don't look at them right now. Don't look at them, but just think about it. Who tests your patients the most? And I would even ask this because some of us in this room, we're patient with others, but we're not patient with ourselves. So we just beat ourselves up, like, ah, I just messed up again. I'm just so stupid. And we just put ourselves down. I'm just such a failure. And I just. And I just don't get it right. I'm not good. And I'm just so mad at myself. And I wish I was better, and I did. It's like we're having internal craziness, you know? And people are like, what's going on? You're like, I just. I'm still mad at myself. And people will use phrases like, I hate myself for this. Don't do that. Be patient with yourself. You're in a process. God's working in you. He's sanctifying you like a surgeon. He's going in there and he's pulling out stuff, and it takes work. Surgery takes work and it takes careful attention. We gotta give God time that he's working on me and he's working on Ashley and he's working on Liam. He's working on you and he's working on your friends and he's working on the people that you are tested by. And Paul says, be patient with them. This is a worthy walk here. And then he says, bear with one another in love. Make allowances for each other. Don't divide what Jesus came to unite. Don't get in easily like, I'm done with you. I don't want to talk. I don't need you anymore. Paul says, no. Work together. This is the fifth point here. The fifth point is making effort to be united in peace. This is what Paul says. He says in verse two, be completely humble. Be gentle. Be patient.
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Bear with one another in love. Make every effort. And verse three, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. In other words, don't get divided. I love walking through the church and just like, loving on people, just hugging people. I just. I mean, we are a hugging church. You're like, don't hug me right now. Do you need a hug? I love just walking up to Roger Bruhn, hey, brother. And just saying, man, I love you. You're such a solid man of God. Our church is better because of you. I love walking over to Jared, just saying, come on, Jared, I needed this, bro. My friend Mason, who just got baptized back there, went back there. I was like, mason, so proud of you, man. Gave him a hug. He said, I'm proud of you, bro. I love that. Making the effort to stay united, loving each other, working together, generation, generation. And we're not all the same, different. And Paul says, that's good. Don't try to make someone just like you. Celebrate the differences. Don't be divided over the differences. Unite together that you're this age. They're that. This week I turned 40, y'. All. I'm a man. 40 years old. Let's go. I'm ready for Jericho. All right? But my son Mack, he goes, dad, he's like, you're turning 40. I go, yeah. And he goes, you're gonna be a grandpa soon. I was like, I hope not. None of you guys are supposed to be having kids yet. You're all like, under the age 11. He's like, yeah, but you're a grandpa now. I was like, no, I'm not just getting started, okay? I'm a young adult, all right? I got another 80 years in front of me, but we work together. And by the way, making every effort to stay united, it takes work. There's times where I have some conflict with someone or they have conflict with me. And I'm not saying you bring up every petty little conflict, but I'm saying when there's false unity, and false unity is like, I'm not going to talk to them about what I have conflict with. And I'm just going to let the conflict keep building up and I'm going to sweep it under the rug. And we're just not going to talk to each other. We'll just mute each other and block each other. We'll just see each other in heaven and we're going to tolerate each other until we one day see each other in heaven. And if we're next door neighbors, I guess we'll finally reconcile in heaven. And God's like, no, I Need you to reconcile here on Earth. I don't want false unity. I don't want ingenuine unity. I need you guys to talk this out. And you go, well, Paul, I've tried to talk to some of my family members, and they won't talk to me. They've basically given me the middle finger. They told me to, like, leave them alone. So what do I do if I'm trying to reconcile with people that don't want to be reconciled? Paul says, as much as it's up to you, I can't control what someone else does, but I can control my spirit. And if I'm holding on to bitterness towards somebody, if I'm in a divided state against somebody that God's called me to be united with, and even in marriage, husbands and wives and family, mothers, sons, fathers, daughters, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, all of us brothers and sisters. Paul says, as much as you can in your own ability, you can't force someone else. Make every effort to stay united and to keep the peace with each other. This takes work. And I'll never forget when this was in 2018. One of my good friends, who I would consider like a brother in Christ, and him and I grew up together, he helped me make my first CD when I was making music at a band, and he helped produce my first album. And he was a good friend of mine, and we both became pastors at the same time. His name was Michael Todd, and he had me come preach at his church, and I had him come preach at our church. And he was like, preaching, pray for me, man. He's like, like, very few people are coming to our church right now. And I was like, okay, man. And so we're praying for him. And literally overnight, he went viral. Church just went, like, wild, just blew up. And I remember on social media, it was like, this dude was, like, famous overnight. And the Enemy started to creep in with a little bit of comparison and petty envy, which is not of God. And I remember walking by him because our kids go to school together and they're in classes together. And he'd be like, bro, you see I'm preaching at Elevation this week. I was like, very cool. Very cool. See you later, bro. And he was like, dude, you see my post just blew up, like, 2 million views. I was like, very nice, Very nice. I'll see you later, bro. And he was like, why are you salty? Why are you acting like, dude, we're friends. Why aren't you celebrating me? And I was like, I'll see you later, Mike. Very Cool, man. You know, I was just like. I didn't even want to talk to him about it. False unity. Just going to keep my distance, let this dude blow up. Happy for you. No, I wasn't happy. I was petty. I was selfish. I was, you know, I was not celebrating my brother in my heart. I was divided, and I was convicted. Because here I was preaching, and God was like, you need to practice what you're preaching, Paul. You need a worthy walk. Don't just say a good message. Live a good message. And I called my pastor, who's an overseer for me. I have a couple overseers, and one of them is Larry Stockstill. And I said, hey, I need to repent. He said, for what? I said, I've been jealous, I've been envious, and I've been comparison. And he said, well, who. Who are you in a comparison trap with? I said, I don't want to say his name. I just. Let's just move on. Let's just pray. He was like, no. Say, who is it? I go, it's Michael Todd. He goes, oh, he's amazing. Michael Todd's, like, the best pastor out there. Dudes on fire sermons. I go, stop. Stop it, dude. You're like. You're, like, killing me right now. And he was like, you need to hear. This guy's awesome. I was like, I know. I've been hearing it from everybody, man. I was like, I just feel like. And he goes, why? Does it bother you? I go, I guess I just feel like I'm less of a person in the kingdom of God. I feel like my part is not that valuable compared to his. He's got, like, such a great impact. And he goes, stop it, Paul. Every part in the body of Christ is needed, whether it's the pinky or the thumb. Don't let any part make another part feel less valuable. He said, also, the enemy is messing with you. The enemy is stealing your joy. The enemy is stealing your friendship, and you are handing it over to the enemy through jealousy and selfishness. And you need to repent. I said, yes, sir, I do. So I repented. I'm crying. It's 2018. He said, now you need to go and repent to Mike Todd. I said, for real? He was like, yes. I said, well, can't we just, like. Can't the Holy Spirit just tell him that everything's fine, it's all good? And I repented. And, like, let's just see each other and we'll hug each other, and I'll celebrate his Next post. I'll like his posts. I'll go back and, like, the last thousand posts, you know? And he's like, no, you need to go physically in person and apologize for the spirit that you've carried. Make every effort. Make every effort to keep the spirit of unity through the bond of peace. Peacemakers, strife stoppers, bridge builders, we're gonna do whatever we can to keep the peace across the city, as much as it depends on me. And so I called Mike up. I said, can we go get breakfast? He said, yeah, man. So we go to Metro Diner. We're eating chicken and waffles. He's next to me. Everyone in Metro Diner recognized him, and they all wanted me to take pictures of them with Mike Todd. They were like, I don't know who you are, but can you take a picture of me and Pastor Mike? And they were like, you know, transformation Nation. And I was like, all right. Okay. I was. Y'. All. I was. It was. It was my own anyways. It was my. My stuff. I got tears in my eyes. I said, mike, I'm so sorry. And he goes, for what? I said. I have been petty, I've been selfish, I've been jealous. And I haven't celebrated you the way I should. I haven't been a good friend. I haven't been living this life worthy of the calling you have received. I'm sorry, man. He said, bro, he's like, I forgive you. He said, I could tell some things were off. He's like, I could, you know. He said, but I knew God was working in you. And he said, just know God's been working in me, too. He said, I need your prayers, man. Like, there's like this. This. This actually has not been easy for our family. The viralness of it has created the less privacy for our family. It's like we. Wherever we go, I have no. You know, it's. I need your prayers. I need your friendship. And I repented. I said, man, I want to be a better friend. I want to be a better man of God. And I asked him to pray for me. It was like we were washing each other's feet without washing each other's feet. It was just a picture of grace and humility and patience. This is what Paul's talking about. He said, I need the church to get along with each other. I don't need you guys starting team this and team that. It's one team. We're all in this together. Make everybody effort to be united in peace. In peace. Walk in humility, walk in Gentleness, walk in patience, bear with each other in love, get along with each other. And then this is the last point right here. Before I give it to you, let me read the verse. In verse four, Paul says, there is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. And one Lord, one faith, one. One baptism, one God and Father who is over all of all and through all and in all. What does Paul mean? He was saying, we're all part of the same family. That's my Last point. Verse 6. We're all. Point 6. We're all part of the same family. We need to treat each other like we're all part of the same family. We all need mercy and grace. We all need forgiveness. We all need to work together, working things out. And we need to put others above ourselves. We need to practice humility. We need to practice patience with each other. You know, even just. I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time this summer. And I was at a camp. I was preaching at a camp, and he was there. And I was like, brad. He was like, hey, bro. I was like, I haven't seen you in years. It's been like 10 years. He was like, you remember the story? I was like, I remember the story. And him and I were both at Oral Roberts University at the same time, and they were doing an album with Carrie Jobe. This was right when Kari Jobe was, like, blowing up as, like, the best worship leader in our time. And they were doing a live recording. And so it was Carrie Jobe and ORU worship team and Darrell Evans who had written the song I'm Trading My Sorrows and all these other songs, and Jared Anderson. It was all these worship leaders. And I had written a song while I was at oru, and I had been working as a janitor in the baseball stadium. I was cleaning up after baseball games. I was picking up nachos. I was setting up tables. It was the only job I could get at oru, and it paid the bills. I worked there in that job for two and a half years. But while I was working there, I would write songs and I would get these melodies. And I was like, I must decrease. Because I had been reading John chapter three, where John the Baptist says, I must decrease, he must increase. And so I was singing this song, I must decrease. You must increase. Lord, I want more of you. I must decrease. And I'm picking up people's nachos. I was thinking about other people that were in a better season. Than me. People that were getting married, people having kids, people prospering, people getting a brand new car, people getting scholarships for college. And I was mad. And God was like, no, Paul. No, Paul. Celebrate your friends. Celebrate those that are getting blessed. And remember, if you'll live this life, I'll take care of your needs. If you'll walk in humility, walk in gentleness, walk in compassion, be patient. And I was writing this song. Well, I submitted this song to the worship team, and I said, if you guys want to use this song for your new album, you can. They loved it. They were like, we're going to use it? I was like, yes. And I had submitted it with my voice singing it. So I was thinking, they're going to invite me to sing it. They go, we don't want you to sing it. I was like, why? And they're like, we got a great vocalist named Brad. And this was the Brad I ran into this summer. They're like, brad. I go, I know Brad. Brad and I are friends. They're like, yeah, Brad's gonna sing the song next to Carrie Jo, and it's gonna be awesome. But we got a spot for you. You're gonna sing in the choir. I was like, where in the choir? In the front row. They go, no, we got one spot on the back row for you. Back right corner. In the dark, in the shadows. I was like, what, y'?
- [36:22]
B
All.
- [36:23]
A
I was so mad. Brad was singing my song. And I was like, he must decrease, I must increase, Lord, I want more of me. And God was like, shut your mouth. Listen to the irony of the song. Your song is about humbling yourself. And here you are trying to exalt yourself. You're in a comparison trap because you think it's about you, and it's not.
- [36:49]
B
Not.
- [36:50]
A
It's not about you. And the sooner we figure this out and the more that we can. Walk in humility, walk in gentleness, celebrate others, work in unity to keep the bond. We're all part of the same family. We all need each other. And it was like I needed to be preached at through the song that I wrote. I needed God to re preach that song back to me. And when I was laughing with Brad about it this summer, he was like, dude, I just want you to know I didn't try to take your song. I was like, dude, I'm so glad you sang that song. I said, it was the best gift God gave me. He was like, I thought you were still salty about it all these years later. I was like, well, I Still preach about it. So there is a little bit of salt. But I was like, it's still in my sermons every now and then. But I said, the truth is, it was the best gift God gave to show me to just surrender, just humble yourself. And I've been thinking about people in this room. You know, even as I was working on this message, I was thinking about families that have had burned bridges. I was preaching a message on Joseph and forgiveness three years ago when someone who I hadn't talked to in a while came down to the altar. I didn't even know they were in the room. They came down to the altar, they were close to me, and they said, I need to repent. I have held hurts against you, and I have labeled you in ways that I shouldn't, and it's not right. And I want to reconcile. I want to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And, man, I just weeping. They're weeping, hugged each other, and it was like God was healing that relationship. And that's my prayer. My prayer is that wherever you've had strains in your family and friendships and people and y', all, like, life is short. I did a funeral for one of our church members just on Friday. And he was a mighty man of God. His kids got up on stage and they said, dad finished his last years on life with purpose. When he found out he had cancer, it was like, it's not that he wasn't living for God, but it's that it was like he turned on the heat. If you found out you only had one year left, if you found out you only had one month left, what would you do with your time? For him, he spent his time walking in humility, reconciling bridges, making every effort he could in his own ability to make things right, walking in gentleness, investing time in his family. And it was like God was healing relationships. I believe God wants to do that today. Would you stand your feet all over this place? I want to pray for you, Holy Spirit. I pray right now, God, that you would minister to all of us here in this room. God, if there's any pride, if there's any bitterness, if there's any resentment, if there's any false unity, if there's any insincerity in us, I pray God that we would be delivered, God, from a walk that is not worthy. Help us to walk a worthy walk. Help us to walk in humility. God. Help us to have the firm identity of who we are in Christ so it would produce the right lifestyle out of us, God. If there's areas in our life where there's pride, if there's areas in our life where there's division or strife, if there's areas, God, where we've been let down or hurt by someone and we've been holding on to the pain of what they did, I pray, God, that even right now you would just speak to us with our heads bowed, our eyes closed, God, that you would show us areas that we need to surrender, areas that we need to let go, forgive. Areas where we need to put down the sword, where we've been wanting to fight back. I pray, God, that you would help us to practice gentleness this week in our conversations, God, where we're tempted to be harsh, cynical. Help us, God, to be gentle. One time I was in the hallway with my dad. He was with another pastor. This other pastor started talking bad about another pastor and how this pastor was saying negative things about Billy Joe. My dad. My dad said, stop right there. I don't want you to say anymore. He said, why? He said he was mean to you. He said, I'm not going to sit here and talk bad about him. I'm not going to repay evil for evil. He said, this conversation ends now. I'm praying for him. I love him. I bless him. He's a brother in Christ. I'll never forget that. It was the gentleness of my dad, but it was also the commitment. I'm going to live on life. I'm going to walk a walk that's contrary. The world constantly is saying, pay evil back for evil. Evil. You know, get others back. Be rude to people, cut people off, be impatient with people. You know, if people. And Paul says, no, no, no, we gotta. We gotta watch our words. We gotta watch our tone. We gotta watch our actions, we gotta watch our reactions. We gotta walk in humility. We gotta walk in forbearance with each other, making room for people's mistakes, giving grace, being patient. And I'm not saying that just let people do whatever they want to do, but just that we would walk in such a way where there's a lot of grace and a lot of love and a lot of truth in our lives and a lot of surrender to the Holy Spirit. And I know I need that. I believe there's many in this room, you need that, too. Some of you in this room are believing for God to heal some relationships that the enemy has tried to divide and steal. Some of you are believing for God to mend a bridge that's been burned, something that's been broken down, and some of you aren't sure you're ready to give that to God yet. But I just. I pray that today the Holy Spirit would bring you to a place of conviction to say, God, I surrender my need to be right, my need to get back, my need to prove how wrong someone, God, I pray, Lord, that you would show me how to live with humility, with gentleness, with patience, with forbearance, making every effort to keep. Keep the bond of unity in the spirit of peace and God to remember that we're part of the same family. With heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're here today and there's an area in your life that you just need to surrender, that God was speaking to today in this message, I want you to raise your hand. Maybe you just need to surrender pride. Maybe you need to surrender jealousy. Maybe you need to surrender even just that need to get back at someone that's hurt you, that's hurt your family. Secondly, you're here today and you say, paul, I need prayer for God to bring reconciliation in a relationship, a friendship, even a family relationship, where there has been a painful disconnection, a dividing season that you've walked through in this relationship. If that's you, you're just praying for healing in a relationship. I want you to just raise your hand. I want to pray for families, especially between children and parents, parents and children, children, spouses, even just brothers and sisters. You just say, man, I just. I'm trying to bring peace, but I need the Holy Spirit to work in ways that I can't work. I'm believing for a miracle. If you raised your hand for either of those, or you just say, I'm not right with God. I need to give my heart to Jesus. Today's your day to do that. Lift your hand up if you're ready to get saved and get right with God. Today's your day for salvation. If you raised your hand for any of that, I want you to come and join me at this altar. And we're going to cheer on brave men and women, boys and girls, moms and dads, grandparents, husbands and wives, college students. If you're here today and you just say, man, I just want to be. I want to walk a worthy walk. I want to be who God's called me to be. I'm tired of playing games. I'm tired of riding the fence. I want to go all in. I want to do what God's called me to do. I hear Paul the apostle just saying from heaven, I Urge you, I beseech you, to live a life, one worthy of the calling you have received. Maybe that means giving up some old ways. Maybe that means giving up lifestyles that you've been comfortable with. Maybe that means laying down addictions and giving up things that have been stealing your focus and your time. Paul says, I beseech you, I urge you to live a life worthy of the call. It's time to go all in for Jesus. It's time to walk the walk that he's calling you to walk. It's time to lay down the pride. It's time to lay down the sword. It's time to lay down the stuff that's been holding you back. And it's time to lift up the right stuff. The armor of God, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of peace. Paul says it's time to embrace the life that God's called you to live. It's time to exchange the life that you've been trapped in for the life that God wants you to walk in. Freedom and salvation and mercy and humility and grace and patience and kindness and reconciliation and working together in peace with people, forgiving people that have hurt you and receiving God's forgiveness for yourself. Being patient not just with others, but being patient with yourself in the process of what God's doing in your life. Let's just worship right now. Let's just give it to God. Whatever it is you need to surrender right now, just give it to him right now in this place, in his presence. God, have your way. I lay down, I give it to you. To you, God, I. I give this family to you. I give this relationship to you. I surrender this friendship to you. God, do what only you can do.
- [46:07]
B
Lord.
- [46:09]
A
Do what only you can do, God Work in their hearts God, work in their lives.
- [46:24]
B
With your heart and lead me in your love to those around me and holy There is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love say holy Holy day and holy There is no one like you There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder show me who you are and fill me.
- [47:20]
A
With your heart God, I thank me for your grace you love to those.
- [47:26]
B
Around me and I will build my.
- [47:32]
A
Life.
- [47:52]
B
Say I will, I will, I will and I will build my life and I will put my trust I will put my trust in you alone In. In life Come on, say I will build my life and I will build my life upon your and I will put my trust and I will put my trust in you I know it's and I will not be holy There is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and feel me with your heart and mind Leave me say holy and holy There is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder show me who you are and feel me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me Lead us, Jesus Lead us in your love Lead us, Jesus, Lead us. We build our lives on you no, we build our lives on you and your love and I will heal my love on your love it is a I will put my trust in you alone and I will not say and I will build my life.
- [50:57]
A
I will.
- [50:59]
B
Put my trust in you.
- [51:14]
A
This past week, we were having a meeting during our revival nights with pastors and leaders, and I was telling them a season that was. Was very hard that I walked through in 2013 when we had to do some layoffs in our church and we had to let some people go from staff. And it was very painful sitting across the table with people and saying, we can't afford to keep you on staff. And as I was telling this story, one of the pastors looks at me. He said, I was one of those staff members. I look at him, I said, rick. He said, paul, he said, you laid me off in 2013. I said, Rick, I'm so sorry. It was a hard season. He said, no big smile on his face. He goes, God did his best work in my heart when I was so mad at you. He tells me this this past week. He said, I was so upset because he said, I was working at the church in the missions department. That's what I wanted to do, and you guys couldn't afford to keep me on staff. And, you know, he said, the enemy tries to mess with you and make you think all these angry, hateful thoughts at people when you get unemployed. And he said it was hard. It was painful because he was thinking, you know, I helped raise Paul. I helped, you know, get Paul going when he was a kid. I said, I'm so sorry. We just. We didn't have the funds to keep people on staff in that moment. And he said, paul, I went down a journey of surrender where God did such a deep work in my heart and in my wife's heart and our family's heart. He said, now it is our honor to come every year to your conference, revival nights and to support what God's doing through you and God's blessing our church in Hawaii. I was like, that's a great place to have a church. Hawaii. He said, God's blessing us. But he said, I would have missed out on the blessing if I held on to the bitterness. He said, when I chose to forgive and when I chose to just surrender, he said, that's when God started showing me purpose in my pain. Purpose in my pain. He said, my wife and I, we started just doing outreaches for different people that we recognized around us that were unemployed. And he said, we kept coming to your church. He said, I don't know if you knew this, but we kept coming for over a year and a half after we. That's. That's pretty amazing. That kept coming out, not being on staff. And then he said, God led us to start a church in Hawaii. He said, it's. God's blessed it. God's. God's moving. He's reaching people. But he said, I would have missed out on it if I would have held on to bitterness. And I just started thinking, you know, we got to do our part, but God's going to do his part. And we can pray for people that are maybe how many y' all have some people that have cut you off, people in your life that you need God to do a work in their heart, in their life. And maybe it's because of things that went south in your life, maybe things that happened. How many on your own life? God's doing a work in your heart towards some people that hurt you. Yeah. The truth is, we've all been on one side of the coin, but it was this moment where we hugged and embraced, and he said, paul, he said, I don't fault you. I know that happens in seasons. But he said, what I needed to know is that God had me, God was working in me, and God was teaching me the. To trust him to forgive, to make room, to be patient with people. I just hear God saying right now that he's going to write some stories of reconciliation that are going to surprise you, where people in your life that you thought you would never hear the words I'm sorry or I forgive you, God's going to do it. If we will keep our hearts in a posture of humility, in a place of surrender, if we'll do what Paul says in Ephesians 4, verse 3, that we would make every effort to keep the bond of the Spirit. The unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. That means that we're just saying, God, wherever I need to apologize, I want to apologize. Wherever I need to surrender, I surrender God, in whatever way that you want me to do a work in my heart in this situation, this friendship, this relationship, show me God. And I pray, Lord, that you would do the work that only you can do. I surrender them to you. I give it to you, God. I lay it at your feet. Have your way. And God, I pray right now that all of us in this room would take Ephesians 4, even this month, God, this next month, Lord, that we would just practice it, that we would read it and allow it to change areas in our hearts and our lives. Just say this with me, Jesus. I surrender to you. I repent of my sins. I receive your forgiveness. I confess you as my Lord, my Savior. You died on the cross. You rose from the grave. Help me, Jesus, to live the life that you've called me to live. Holy Spirit, help me to walk in humility, in patience, in gentleness, bearing with others, in love, walking in peace. Thank you, Lord, that you're working on on my behalf. So I surrender it to you. Have your way. In Jesus name, amen. And amen. I love you. God loves you. Be blessed. Thank you for being here today.