(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] ["In the Hall of the Mountain King"] This last one may be a little bit special so sing it out and follow my lead! Long, wide of day Mk3 Plus demons sing at nature's light God I refuse to looky guys I hope you'll come back to me. Sing it out. I hope you'll come back to me. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. Amazing Thou, how bravely Thee. That through the years I've known Thee. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week, Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10.30 a.m. And of course, we are glad that you're with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for Church Sunday evening service. At 6 p.m. we do invite you to be with us on Sunday evening for the evening service tonight. And of course, Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. We'll be back in our regular schedule this week. We'll be back in the book of Amos for the Wednesday night Bible studies. If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m. And we'd love for you to join us for soul winning. Soul winning, of course, is when we go out in the community, we knock doors, we invite people to church, and we preach the gospel to anyone who is interested. If you're a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad you're with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you. As you walk out of the church building this morning, as you go through our foyer, you'll see a little table set up, and on that table you'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning. And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin. If you need a pen, just raise your hand, and one of our ushers can bring you a Verity Baptist Church pen. If you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service. We do not separate children from their parents for any reason. We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All of the rooms have comfortable seating. We have monitor setups so you can watch the service and listen to it. So if you have a child that's being distracted during the service, if you need some privacy, we'd encourage you to use that. If you look at the announcements there, of course, if you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you. The baptistry is filled, the water is warm, and we've got everything you need to be baptized. If you look at the announcements, of course this week we had our Next Generation Youth Rally, and I want to say a just thank you to the entire church family, everybody who participated and helped, and it was a great event. I kept telling people that the Youth Rally was going to be greater than the Red Hot Preaching Conference, and nobody believed me, but I think it was. I think it was amazing. And we had a good time with the Youth Rally, and I just want to of course say thank you. I can't take the time to thank everyone for everything they did. We had so many volunteers and help just know that. We appreciate you, especially the guys with the wrestling and the skits. You know, some of them really gave of their bodies for the cause of Christ, and we appreciate them for that. But everything went well, everything worked out great. Tonight, and I realize the timing was kind of difficult with the Youth Rally. Obviously those were busy days, and then of course losing an hour, that always affects church attendance and all that. I wish that they would change the hour on Monday, and that way people would skip work and be late to work, but they don't do that. So tonight I want to encourage you to be back. We're going to be showing a recap video of the Youth Rally, and I think that you'll enjoy it, especially if you weren't part of the Youth Rally. You'll get to see all the things that the kids, the young people did, and the fun they had. So we'll be showing a video tonight as a recap of the Next Generation Youth Rally. We'd love for you to be here tonight of course for that. If you look at the vision offering, of course the vision offering is coming up on Sunday, March 26th, and we want you to take a moment. You should have one of these cards in your bulletin. I'd like you to just look at it for a second. And of course, the vision offering, for those of you that don't know, is a special offering that our church takes every year. In the spring, it allows us to do special things like the Red Hot Preaching Conference, honestly special things like the Next Generation Youth Rally that we just had, and we're raising money again. We do it every year, but we're getting closer to our main goal, and then we've got other things that are going on. But I want you to notice that what we're raising money for, number one, we want to continue to save for a down payment for a future building. We're about 75% of the way there of what we need for a down payment for a building, the type of building we need and the area we need. And we are in the last year of this lease, and we have to be out of this building by February of next year. And this building is not a building we necessarily want to stay in. We've kind of outgrown it at this point. And so we need to move. Now, I'm not saying we're going to purchase a building in the next year. If the Lord opens up the right building, then we'll definitely push in that direction. We may have to find another building to lease for a little while longer while we continue to look for a building to purchase. But the goal is to purchase a building, and the goal is to have our own property and not be leasing or renting from someone. And that is the number one thing we're raising money for, for a down payment for a future building. Of course, we've got other things we're doing. Number two, continue to support the current church plants and satellites. We've got churches in Manila from Pong and Bicol that are Verity Baptist Church satellites. And of course, we've got our missionaries, number three, Matthew Stuckey and then Dave Kabuntala in Cebu as well that we support. And of course, the eighth annual Red Hot Preaching Conference. And I would just pray that you would be thinking about what we can do and how you can help. You'll notice on the back of the card there, you'll see the giving opportunities. You of course, on the day of the vision offering, Sunday, March 26, you can bring a one time offering on the day of the vision offering. We'll be taking a special offering that morning and we will announce that evening what that offering was. Another option for you is to make a commitment to give towards the vision offering. And you can if you're not ready to give at the vision offering, then you can make a commitment to give in the months following. So either April, May or June, you can commit to give in April or you can commit to give in May or you can commit to give in June. Or you can commit to give in April, May and June. And then, of course, option number three is to bring a one time gift and make a commitment. And we'll talk more about this. I want to I need to start talking about it now that we're past the youth rally. But one note that I want you to notice there on the card on the bottom there of the back. If you remember last year, I challenged our church family to raise one hundred thousand dollars in one special offering. And again, some of you scoffed at that. And that's OK. Oh, ye of little faith. I tell I challenged our church and I didn't know that we could do it to raise one hundred thousand one special offering. And this this church blew that goal out of the water. And I'm thankful for that. I've never known of a more generous church and more generous people than the ones that call Verity Baptist Church their home. What I'm doing this year is I'm asking the Lord to help us do it again. And I'm asking that that God would do it again. I don't believe that God is the God of one time miracles. He loves to do it again over and over. So I'm asking that you would consider and pray about how you can participate if you participated in last year's vision offering. We're asking that you would at least do this year, which you did last year, if not asking the Lord to help you do more. If you did not participate in last year's vision offering, we're asking that you would pray and consider how you can be a part of this vision offering. But our goal is that God would use us again. God would do it again. So please be in mind for the vision offering. It's Sunday, March 26. And I believe it'll be a great day. And we appreciate your your prayer regarding that. If you look at the announcements there, of course, all the ladies are invited to a baby shower. This Saturday, March 18th at 3 p.m. for Miss Skylar Thompson. Miss Skylar is having a girl and is registered on Amazon. It is a potluck. So if you can please bring a dish to share. If you'd like to attend, you can sign up on your communication card. Usher Dinner and Training. This dinner and training is for all current ushers and anyone who is interested and would like more information about being an usher. If you'd like to attend, you can sign up on your communication card. It is on Friday, March 24th at 7 p.m. If you're an usher and you've not yet RSVP'd, please do that. And just do that right now. All right. And we would appreciate your help with that. And then, of course, we have Easter coming up. Easter is on Sunday, April 9th, and we want you to make plans to attend. Easter weekend is not the weekend to be out of town. All right. So look at your calendar and make sure that you're going to be here for Easter. And we encourage you to be here. And I don't know of a better time in the entire year to invite somebody to church than Easter. For that reason, we have these cards in your bulletin. And these are Easter invitations. We want you to use these as a tool. If the Lord has laid someone on your heart, a coworker, a neighbor, a family member, then now is the time to be thinking about who to invite to church for Easter. And sometimes people are worried when they want to invite somebody to church. They're worried, what are they going to think? Are they going to think, you know, out of me? No one's going to think anything out of you if you invite them to an Easter service. All right. Everybody goes to Easter services. Even people that are not Christian and don't go to church are looking for somewhere to go for Easter. So we encourage you to use this card. Be thinking and praying about someone you could invite and bring to Easter with you this year. Make sure you make good use of that card. Choir practice is today at 5 p.m. Of course, they're practicing for Easter. Homeschool group, they've got PE class this Thursday, March 16th. Upcoming cleaning crew, there's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March, today is my mother's birthday. Get NAC Menace, March 12th. And happy birthday to her. And then, of course, this week we have Montel Johnson Jr.'s birthday on March 15th and Ajana Goncharov's birthday on March 16th. Praise report, money matters. All those things are there for you to look at. I think that's it for all of the announcements. So let's go ahead and take the chorus of the week and we will sing, Be Thou My Vision. As we prepare to receive the offering this morning, be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Sing it out on the first. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that thou art, though my best art by day or night. Weeping or sleeping, thy presence thy light. Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word. High ever with me and thou with me, Lord, though my great Father and I thy true Son. Thou in me quelling and I with thy heart, rich as I eat, a torment and few praise. Thou and thou and thou and thou and thou and thou and thou and thou and thou and thou. My King of heaven, thy treasure thou art. My King of heaven, thy memory won. May I reach heaven's joy, O bright ebsom, Lord of my own heart forever. Please help me my vision, O Lord of my heart. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together. And this morning, Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver. We ask that you meet with us as we take time to look at another portion of scripture. Let us pray together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Do you not have a Bible? Raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. Luke chapter 22. We will read the entire chapter as our custom. Luke chapter 22. Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible. Luke 22, the Bible reads, Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill them, for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray unto them. And they were glad and covenanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the day of the unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth. And ye shall say unto the good men of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, And they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divided amongst yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goeth, as it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For weather is greater, he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth. Is not he that sitteth at me? But I am among you, as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table and my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and script, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script. And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. And he was reckoned among the transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough. And he came out and went, as he was wont, to the mount of olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at that place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while he had spake, behold a multitude. And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed them. Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come out to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Then took they them, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled the fire in the midst of the hall, and were sat down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know not him. And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of one hour, after another confidently affirmed, saying of a truth, This is a fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he had spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other blasphemies, many other things blasphemies spake they against him. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people, and the chief priests, and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe me. And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witnesses? For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, thank you for this day. Thank you for allowing us to gather together. Please bless, Pastor, bless the message. Let it bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. All right. Well, we're there in Luke chapter 22 this morning. And if you remember last week, if you're with us last week, we ended our study on the subject of judgment. We've been in a series on judgment since the beginning of this year. And last Sunday night was our last Sunday morning was our last sermon in that sermon on judgment. And today we are going to get back into our sermon series or Bible study called Journey with Jesus. If you remember last year, I began a series called Journey with Jesus. And it really was what it was was a verse by verse study through the Gospel of Luke. And if you remember, we left off, we finished Luke Chapter 21. And then I told you that we were going to because we were leading into Christmas at the time. And I told you that we were going to stop Luke and that we're going to pick it back up later on in the year. So that's where we are today. We're going to pick up Luke. Yeah. Chapter number 22. And we're going to pick up Luke now. And this is going to lead us in to Easter. And we'll be studying, of course, the death of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection of Christ through the Gospel of Luke into the Easter season. And just if you're taking notes or if you're if you're following along, we're going to jump in at Luke Chapter 22. We're going to begin at verse number 24 this morning. We did not cover verses one through 23. I want you to know that I am aware of that. All right. I am tired, but I'm not that tired. And we were going to cover verses one through 23 when we get to the time of the Lord's Supper. So we'll deal with that passage during our time getting ready for the Lord's Supper here in several weeks. And we're going to pick up Luke Chapter 22 in verse number 24. Now, in verse 24. And what we're going to look at this morning, if you're taking notes and I always encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to write down things. We're going to look at verses 24 through 30 this morning. Luke 22 verses 24 through 30. And what we see in this passage is a discussion and an argument between the disciples. The disciples are having a discussion and they are arguing and they are discussing this idea of greatness. Notice there in Luke 22 and verse 24, the Bible says, And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest? I want you to notice that word strife there. The word strife means conflict or disagreement. There was an argument among them. That's what the Bible says. There was also a strife among them. The them there is referring to the disciples. What were they arguing about? Which should be accounted the greatest? And I want you to notice, and if you're taking notes, like I said, I encourage you to take notes. I want you to notice, I'm going to give you four thoughts this morning, four points. And they're going to follow these four verses, verses 24, 25, 26, 27. And then we'll conclude with verses 28, 29, and 30. And in Luke 22 and verse 24, you can maybe write down this little phrase. I want you to notice the strife of vainglory. In Luke 22, 24, we see the strife of vainglory. And what we see is these disciples arguing amongst themselves, striving or striving, they're fighting over which of them will be the greatest. And here's where I want to begin this morning, and I want to just express this, that everyone to an extent wants to be great. Everyone to an extent does not, the word great means to be above average, above normal, not just normal. And all of us to some extent want to be great. And let me just kind of define this for you, because sometimes when you speak on this subject, people get different ideas. But when we're talking about greatness, or what they're talking about, which of them should be accounted the greatest, which one's going to be the greatest, when we talk about greatness, because all of us to some extent want to be great. And when I say that, there might be some men in the room who think to themselves, yes, because this is something that often drives men, this desire for greatness, which is why they work hard at their careers, which is why they hunt and they go to war, which is why they play sports, which is why they wrestle, right, because the desire of greatness. But there might be some of you who think, well, I don't have a desire for greatness, or maybe ladies might think, well, I don't have that desire for greatness. But when you realize that greatness is defined as being acknowledged, being appreciated, and being admired, when you realize that when the Bible talks about something being great or the greatness, what we're talking about is acknowledgement. You realize that everyone to an extent wants to be great, because everyone to an extent wants to be acknowledged. Isn't that true? Everyone wants to be acknowledged and wants to be seen in the sense of notice what I'm doing, especially if you're working, if you're helping, if you're a mother, you want your children to appreciate you, to acknowledge you. So everyone wants to be acknowledged. Everyone wants to be appreciated. To some extent, everyone wants to be appreciated for what they do. And to some extent, everyone wants to be admired. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a company. It doesn't matter where, whatever you're doing, you want to do it to an extent that people would say, wow, look at that individual. Look at what they're accomplishing. They want to be acknowledged, want to be appreciated, want to be admired. So I'm not faulting the disciples here for having the desire of greatness. And of course, this can be taken too far. Anything can be taken too far. We must live our lives within a balance. But to an extent, everyone wants to be great, and to an extent, everyone should want to be great. I don't want to be an average pastor. And if you're a mother, and you're a stay-at-home wife, and you're a homeschooler, you should want to be an above-average educator. And all of us, to some extent, should want to be acknowledged and appreciated and admired. And we see that here because these disciples are having this conversation. There was also strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? But I also want you to notice this, that when we promote our own greatness, it always causes problems. The issue is not having a desire to be great. You should want to be great. Hey, you should want to be the greatest husband ever. You should want to try to be the greatest wife ever, the greatest father ever, the greatest mother ever, the greatest employee or employer, pastor or church member. It doesn't matter what position you have. You should have a desire to be the best at it, to be the greatest at it. The Bible says that whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy might. And when we do things with all our might, then obviously we want to be acknowledged and appreciated, and to some extent, admired. So there's nothing wrong with wanting to be great. There is something wrong with promoting your own greatness. And whenever we promote our own greatness, it always causes problems. Look at the verse again, Luke 22, 24. And there was also a strife. There was an argument. There was a disagreement among them. Why? Because they were arguing which of them should be accounted the greatest. They weren't arguing because Peter was saying to John, no, I think you're the greatest. And John was saying to James, no, I think you're the best. They were arguing because Peter was saying, no, I'm the greatest. And John was saying, no, I think I'm the best. And the disciples were arguing among themselves, promoting their own greatness. Keep your place there in Luke 22. That's our text for this morning. But go maybe to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 25. If you open up your Bible just right in the center of the Bible, you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms. Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 25. And look at verse number 27. Proverbs 25, 27. Everyone to an extent wants to be great. We should understand that and we should check that. We should not let that get out of control. You say, when does it get out of control? It gets out of control when you begin to promote your own greatness. And by the way, this is one of the problems, and I'm not saying everybody on social media does this, but one of the major problems that I see, and I say I see, I don't have social media so I don't see it, but one of the major problems that I see with social media is that it tends to have this effect where everyone is this self-promotion, promoting of self. Look how great I am. Look how wonderful my life is. And it becomes this competition, this competing, and either it's feeding your pride, because look at how great my vacation was, look at how great my marriage is, look at how wonderful my children are, or it becomes this thing where people are getting discouraged and defeated and depressed because they didn't go on that vacation and they don't have that type of life, and it becomes this self-promotion. And here's what I'm saying. Whenever we begin to promote ourselves, conflict will always arise. There's a stripe of vainglory. Proverbs 25, verse 27, notice what it said. It is not good to eat much honey, so for men to search their own glory is not glory. He says in the same way that there should be a limit, because all of us to an extent want to be great, but there should be a limit to that promotion of our own greatness because he says, notice the comparison, it is not good to eat much honey. Is there anything wrong with honey? No. But if you eat too much of it, it's going to make you sick. Generally speaking, the Christian life should be a balanced life. Whenever someone wants to just live on one extreme, they're usually wrong. And in the same way that it is not good to eat much honey, so for men to search their own glory is not glory. Here's what the Proverbs is telling us. If you have to tell me how great you are, then you must not be that great. If you have to tell me how wonderful of a father you are, I always think it's funny, people, because isn't this with social media? You ignore your kids all year long. You don't talk to your kids all year long, but you take them on one trip for five minutes, and you take 17 pictures and post them everywhere, look how wonderful of a father I am. Look how great of a dad I am. Look how wonderful. Well, here's the thing. If you've got to tell me how great of a dad you are, you must not be that great. If everything's got to be a photo op, look how wonderful of a mother I am. Look how, I'm an amazing mother. Well, you know what the Bible says about the virtuous woman? Let her children arise and call her blessed. And so if a man to search his own glory, someone to promote themselves, look how great I am, look how amazing I am. Well, look, if you're that great and you're that amazing, you don't need to announce it. We should be able to look at you and say, wow, look at that individual. That's an impressive individual. So for a man to search their own glory is not glory. Look at Proverbs 13 and verse 10. Proverbs 13 and verse 10. Now, I'm not saying that there's a time and a place, obviously. You know, one thing that we use social media for is not to promote myself personally, but to promote this ministry and Verity Baptist Church. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If you've got a business and you've got to make sales, then definitely promote your products, promote the things you're doing. You know, one thing that my wife and I have endeavored not to do, and again, we don't have personal social media accounts. The closest thing we've got is social media, the Verity Baptist Church social media, and we'll promote the youth rally and we'll promote things that are done for church. But you know, one thing that we've tried not to do is just to promote our own personal things that we do within our marriage and within our children. You say, why? Because we're not doing it for vainglory. I don't need to tell you how great of a dad I am or want to be, or my wife doesn't need to tell you. Look, you should be able to look at my children and think, okay, he's doing a good job. She's doing a good job. A man to search their own glory is not glory. Notice Proverbs 13 and verse 10. Only by pride cometh contention. The problem with promoting yourself is that it's prideful. And whenever pride steps in, there will be contention. This is why the Bible says that there was a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. Why? Because only by pride cometh contention. And whenever there's contention, just mark it down. And you may not like me saying this, but it's what the Bible says. Whenever there is conflict, whenever there's contention, whenever there's an argument, whenever there's a debate, mark it down. At least one member in that argument is being prideful and usually both are being prideful. Because only by pride cometh contention. So we see here in Luke 22, go back to Luke 22 if you would, and verse 24, we see the strife of vainglory. Everyone to an extent wants to be great, but when we promote ourselves, when we promote our own greatness, for men to search their own glory is not glory. Go to Galatians chapter 5. You're there in Luke. You'll go past John, past Acts, past Romans, first Corinthians, second Corinthians, Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. And look, I'm not telling you it'd be bad for you. I'm not trying to guilt you into quitting social media, although I think if some of you quit social media, it might revolutionize your life. You might be shocked how much Bible reading you can get done and how much you can get accomplished. Sometimes people, after a week like this, sometimes people will ask my wife and I and say something like, Matt, how do you guys get it all done? Well, one way we get it all done is by not spending three hours on Facebook every day. Just saying. Galatians 5.26. Notice what the Bible says. Let us not be desirous of vainglory. The word vaing means empty, shallow. It's glory, but it's empty, shallow glory when it's self-promotion. Let us not be desirous of vainglory. Notice, provoking one another, ending one another. Whenever there's a self-promotion, there's always going to be conflict. There's going to be a provoking of one another, an ending of one another. Go to Philippians chapter two. Are there in Galatians? Pass Ephesians into Philippians. Philippians chapter two. Look at verse three. Philippians chapter two, verse three. Let nothing be done, notice it, through strife or vainglory. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Why? Because only by pride cometh contention. Look at the last part of verse three. But in lowliness of mind, what is that? That's humility. Let each esteem other better than themselves. So we see this idea of the strife of vainglory. Whenever someone promotes themselves, whenever someone puts themselves first, whenever someone says, no, I'm better, no, I'm greater, no, I get to go first, no, it's my, I'm the most important one, there will be strife. And the disciples are no better. Keep your place there in Philippians two. We're going to come back to it. Please, please, a ribbon or a bookmark or something there. We're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it in Philippians chapter two. We see there in Luke, go back to Luke if you would, Luke 22 and verse 24. In verse 24 we see the strife of vainglory and there was also a strife among them. And I'd like you to notice in verse 25 of Luke 22, Jesus steps in to this conversation, to this discussion, to this argument. And I want you to notice that he speaks to us regarding this idea of greatness and next to verse 25, if you wrote next to verse 24, maybe in the margin of your Bible or in your notes, the strife of vainglory, then you can write next to verse 25, the status quo. The status quo. Notice verse 25, notice what Jesus says, And he, Jesus said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. Jesus steps in to this conversation and because remember the disciples are arguing about who should be the greatest. Who's the greatest? The strife and conflict. I'm better than you are. No, I'm better than you are. No, I should be first. No, I'm the greatest. And then Jesus steps in and he begins to make an observation about the status quo, about the way that things are in the real world or secular world. He says, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. Now he's not saying this as an approval. He's simply saying it as an observation because in verse 26, he says, But ye shall not be so. So he's not saying this is what you should try to be. He's just saying, Hey guys, you are right now trying to be what everyone else tries to be. The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. He says, Look, the status quo is to promote yourself and to try to get as many people to submit to you and to serve you as much as possible. You're there in Luke 22, flip back to Matthew chapter 20. You go backwards, you go past the book of Mark, into the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 20. This is one of the reasons why I can't stand politicians. Because politicians are just constantly telling you how great they are. Well, you don't have to tell me how great you are. Just be great. Just get an office and do great things and then I'll know. But to sit there and just say, I'm the greatest this, I'm the greatest that, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. Matthew 20, verse 25. But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion. See the word dominion there? It's where we get the same word meaning to dominate. They exercise dominion over them, they dominate them, and they that are great, this is the world standard, this is the status quo, this is what Jesus said. And they that are great exercise authority upon them. You know what the world calls greatness is how many people can I get to serve me, how many people can I get to go along with me, how many people can I have authority over. That's what the world, but why? Because everyone to an extent wants to be acknowledged, everyone to an extent wants to be appreciated, everyone to an extent wants to be admired. So the way the world does that is by exercising lordship and authority upon exercising dominion and authority upon people. That's what the world tells you. The world tells you that you need to, if you're going, look, the world tells you, you've got to look out for number one. And when they say look out for number one, they don't mean the Lord Jesus Christ, who is actually the number one, that in all things he might have the preeminence. When they say I'm just looking out for number one, they're talking about themselves. It's a dog eat dog world, you've got to climb that ladder and sometimes you've got to step over people. That's what the world says. The world tells you if you want to succeed in life, if you want to be great, you're going to have to climb over people, you're going to have to do wrong to people, you're going to have to steal and cheat or just not be as honest or just, you're going to have to be ruthless, you're going to have to be a beast. That's what the Bible calls the antichrist, by the way. Go to 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. If you can find the 1 and 2 books, they're all clustered together. 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles. 1 Kings chapter 12. The status quo is that the world measures greatness by how well we are served. You look at the world's greatness. Who does the world consider great? Athletes, professional athletes, the Hollywood stars, billionaires. What does the world consider great? The world says if you've got an entourage of people serving you hand and foot, if you've got an entourage of people that are making sure you're taken care of and you're pampered, then you must be great. So the world thinks the more I'm being served, the more people are serving me, the more people are concerned with me, that must mean I'm great. Let me tell you something. That does not mean you're great. Even by the world standards, that does not mean you're great. But it's funny that we get this idea in our heads. The world gets this idea that says the more I can get people to serve me, the greater I am. The world's measure of greatness is how well can I be served. And it becomes a self-serving culture. 1 Kings chapter 12. We have an example here of this. I think it's an interesting example. It's one of my favorite examples regarding leadership in the Bible. I've shown this to you in the past. 1 Kings 12, look at verse 1. And Rehoboam, of course, if you know the story, Rehoboam is Solomon's son. King Solomon is dead. And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. King Solomon has died. Rehoboam is his son. He's going to be taking his rightful place of authority as the king. And it came to pass when Jeroboam, Jeroboam is not Rehoboam. Rehoboam is Solomon's king. Jeroboam is Solomon's enemy. When Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, for he was fled from the presence of King Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, that they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spake unto Rehoboam. Notice what they said, saying, thy father made our yoke, the word yoke there is referring to workload. Thy father made our yoke grievous. They said, your father, Solomon, made our yoke, our workload, very grievous, very serious. He put a lot of work on us. Now therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father and his heavy yoke, which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. Now what are they saying? They're saying a couple of things, and this is why I think, you know, I just think you ought to read the Bible. The Bible is the greatest book in the world. And the psychology and the philosophy that you find in the Bible just cannot be found anywhere else. Because there's so much regarding leadership in this one chapter here with Rehoboam. Because what they are saying to Rehoboam, they're not saying these words, but what they're saying is this, Solomon put a heavy load on us. But notice, they're not complaining about Solomon. Solomon was the greatest king they ever had. Solomon, as far as physical need, probably did more for the nation of Israel and to help the nation of Israel than any other king had done. They had no problem working hard for Solomon because Solomon had worked hard for them. See, in leadership, what we need to understand, those of us that have positions of leadership, is this, that you can work your people hard as long as you work hard for your people. They'll follow you into these crazy youth rally hours and Red Hot preaching conference hours, and they'll go to the emergency rooms for wrestling and all sorts of crazy things. As long as they know you're in it with them. Solomon had worked hard for them, and they, as a result, worked hard for Solomon. They worked hard together, but now there was this new guy. And this new guy had not yet done anything for them. So what do they say? Look at the last part of verse 4. They make a request. They say, his heavy yoke, which he put upon us, they ask, make it lighter, and we will serve you. You know what they're asking? They're not saying these words, but here's what they're asking. Here's what they're saying to Rehoboam. They're saying, can you help us? Can you help us? This was really the first test of leadership for Rehoboam, because what a leader does is he helps. They said, can you help us? If you help us, we will serve thee. And he said unto them, depart ye for three days. Then come again to me, and the people departed. He said, let me think about it. By the way, I think that was a great answer. He said, let me think about it. Let me pray about it. Let me talk to some people. Now, Rehoboam makes a very bad decision, but up to this point, that was a good choice. Then he makes another good choice. Verse 6, and King Rehoboam consulted with the old men. He was a young king, so he went to some people who had experience, and he asked them. By the way, young people, when you first get married, you know who you should be asking advice of? It's people who have been married successfully for a long time. Not your buddy, who's still single. He went to the old men. He went to people with some experience, people who worked. Solomon's gone. He can't ask Solomon, but he can ask the people who worked with Solomon. And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon, his father, while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer these people? And they spake unto them, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto these people this day, and wilt serve them... What is he saying? What are they saying? They're not saying, go become a slave to the people. But what they're saying is, hey Rehoboam, if you would practice what we call, what the Bible teaches, servant leadership. Yes, you're the king. Yes, you're in charge. Yes, you have the authority. But use your authority to help people. Use your authority to serve others. Use your authority and lead for the benefit of others. They said, if thou wilt be a servant unto these people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever. If you serve them, they said, they will be grateful, and they will acknowledge it, and they will appreciate it, and they will admire it, and they will respect you. And you'll be great. Here was his downfall, verse 8. But he, Rehoboam, forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men. Now, nothing wrong with young men, but young men, because they're young, they don't have experience. They were as inexperienced as he was. He consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him. And he said unto them, what counsel give ye that we may answer this people who have spoken unto me, saying, make thy yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto them, saying, thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, here's their response, they said, here's what you should tell these people, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. They said, you think my father was tough? I'm going to be tougher. And now, whereas my father did laid, the word laid means burden you, with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke, my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. He said, I'm going to be strong, I'm going to be harder. And look, here's what I'm saying, and you may, this is just an observation, this is just a truth of leadership. You may like it, you may not like it, it doesn't really matter what you like or don't like, it's just the truth of the Bible. And the truth of the Bible is this, that we as leaders earn our right to lead and we earn our right to put a workload on people. And here's all I'm saying, is that when you have a pastor and a pastor's wife who for 12 years have worked hard, have stayed up late, have been there when you needed us, have been there late at night in your home during your chaos, during your tragedies, during the things that are, when you know that we're here for you, you know that we love you, you know, then we can ask of you to work hard with us. And here's what I'm saying, is if I died tomorrow and some young guy became the pastor of Area Baptist Church, what I would counsel him, if I could counsel him is, you ease into it. Don't expect so much till you've proven that you're going to work hard too. Don't expect people to serve and help you until you've proven that you're going to serve and help them. This is what the young man did not understand. See, Solomon did not begin on day one with this heavy burden. He earned that credibility, he earned that respect, he earned that. And as he grew, so grew the workload, so grew the ministry, so grew what he was doing. But now Rehoboam is being told, hey, why don't you step back and do what Solomon did when he was your age and help the people, serve the people. Of course he takes the wrong advice and look at the result, verse 19, 1 Kings 12 verse 19. So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again and they sent and called him unto the congregation and made him king over all Israel, there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only. This is of course when we have the famous split between the kingdom. The nation of Israel was one nation under the reign of Saul, under the reign of David, under the reign of Solomon. But due to Rehoboam, and of course we know that this was of God, but due to Rehoboam's pride and arrogance, the kingdom split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And look, here's all I'm telling you, is that the status quo, the world says, if I can get as many people to serve me, then that must make me great. But here's the truth, when we are self-serving, we will actually be despised. You may be the king. You may be the boss. You may have the position of authority. You may be the manager. You may be the pastor. You may be the husband. You may be the father. But listen to me, it does not matter what position of authority you have. When you serve others, they'll love you for it. But when you're self-serving, they will despise you. I wish some of you would get this. Husbands who see their wives as a slave to fulfill their needs? Because the Bible says that wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands who see their wives, they don't see themselves as a leader to serve others and to say, well, I'm the husband and my job is to lead for the benefit of my wife. My job is to lead for the benefit of my children. My job is to leverage my authority, leverage my resources, leverage what I have to help those that are following me. When you do not see your position as that, and you see your position more like, well, she's just my slave. God gave me these children so that I could have slaves. Those children will hate you. That wife will hate you. And look, and then people want to take this on the street. Do you hear me say that? And then people think, you know, the kids go home after the service. See, dad, you don't ask me to clean the room. I'm not your slave. That's not what I said. Children should work. Wives should work. Employees should work. But here's what I'm telling you, leader, is that when you serve and love and lead and invest and you serve for the benefit of others, that wife will willingly submit to your authority. Those children will obey you and respect you because they know that you have, they may not like everything you say, but they will know that you have their best interest in mind. But when your follower can acknowledge that you're in it for yourself, that you're just trying to get the most service, squeeze the most service, they will hate you. And look, and it doesn't matter. You say, okay, what if I'm not the leader? Okay, the wife who's self-serving, the wife who disrespects and treats her husband and uses her husband as a tool, the wife who says, oh, I'm a submissive wife until my husband does something I don't like, and then I turn into a monster, and I'm going to just make his life miserable till he does what I want. Well, let me tell you something. In that relationship, you're actually in charge. Wife and your husband will hate you and resent you for it. I don't think you should be saying, I'm just telling you the truth. I'm a submissive wife till he does something I don't like, then I'll become this angry monster of a woman till he just crumbles and submits to my will. Is that really what you're, yeah, that's what me and wife's very. And then you wonder why your husband doesn't want to come home. Look, I'm just trying to help you out. I'm not mean to you. I'm just telling you. When we, it doesn't matter, you're the leader or you're the follower. When we are self-serving, it's not great. It actually makes people hate you. That's why they leave. That's why divorce. That's why they quit the church. So why do people quit churches? You know, usually a lot of times, I'm not saying it all the time, but a lot of times it's because people realize this pastor's in it for themselves. People don't mind working hard as long as they know you're working hard for them too. Go back to Luke 22. In verse 24, we see the strife of vainglory. So please don't misunderstand me. Kids should work hard. Make them have chores. But you know, in our home, our children don't feel like they're our slaves. We try to teach them, no, you're going to do these things because you need to be responsible. We clean the house before you were born. In fact, the house was cleaner before you were born. And we will continue to clean the house after you're gone. The reason we make you clean the house is not because we need you to clean the house. The reason we need you to clean the house is because you need to learn responsibility. You need to learn that we're not your slave. So in some places, it's not what's being done, but why it's being done and with what spirit it's being done. We saw in verse 24, the strife of vainglory. We saw in verse 25, the status quo. Then I want you to notice in verse 26, we see the service mandate. The service mandate. Here's what Jesus says. He talks about the status quo. He says, in the service mandate, we see the service mandate. The service mandate. Here's what Jesus says. He talks about the status quo. He says, in the world, the kings, they have authority and dominion over you. And then in verse 26, he says, but ye shall not so be. Notice verse 26, but ye shall not so be, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief, as he that doth serve. Jesus says, there's a mandate for service. He's teaching the disciples. He's teaching the disciples, you want to be great? You want to be great? Here's how you do it. You serve others. Go back to Philippians chapter two. Look at verse three. And again, servant leadership does not mean that the leader has to do the chores of the servants. If I can use those terms. Servant leadership does not mean, husband, that you go home and do the dishes and you cook. Now if you send your wife off to work, then you should do the dishes and cook and you should split that. But servant leadership does not mean that the husband goes and works 40, 50 hours a week and then he also comes home and does the dishes and does the laundry while his wife, you know, sits at home and just is on Facebook all day. That's not servant leadership. Servant leadership is not that the leader has to serve or the leader should be willing to serve. Servant leadership is that the leader uses his position to serve others, to help others. He leverages his authority and his influence and his resources and his relationships to serve others so that they will say, my life is better. So that the children will say, my life is better because of my dad. So that the wife will say, my life is better because of my husband. So that, Lord willing, the church people will say, our lives are better because of the shepherd that God has given us. Philippians 2 and verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. You see how that's different than the strife of greatness the disciples were having? They were saying, I'm the greatest, I'm the greatest. Jesus says, no, no, let each esteem other better than themselves. Now what does that produce? Verse 4, look not every man on his own things. Everyone's always concerned about themselves. What about me? What about my rights? That's not fair to me. Jesus says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. He said, why don't you be concerned with other people's problems, other people's trials? What's going on in other people's lives? Look at verse 21, same chapter. For all seek their own. Everyone's always just interested in themselves. And here's all the Bible is teaching. If my outlook is selfish, my outcome will be divisive and destructive. If my outlook is selfish, if all I'm focused on is myself and what's right for me and what's best for me, then my outcome will be divisive and destructive. If my outlook is self-sacrificing, then my outcome will be edifying and unifying. Go back to Luke 22. So in verse 24 we see the strife of anger. In verse 25 we see the status quo. In verse 26 we see the service mandate. What is the service mandate? The service mandate is that we should live for others, that we should serve others, that we should live to try to help others. That doesn't mean we do other people's jobs, but it means that we leverage wherever, whatever position we have, authority we have, influence we have, we leverage that to esteem others better than ourselves. To help others. We see the strife of vainglory, verse 24, the status quo, verse 25, the service mandate, verse 26. And then in verse 27, Jesus, the master teacher, he puts it all together in verse 27 and we see the secret to greatness. Because remember, that's what they were fighting about in verse 24, the strife of vainglory, who is the greatest? I want to be the greatest. No, I want to be the greatest. No, I think I'm the greatest. And in verse 27 Jesus says, let me give you the secret to greatness. He says, for weather is greater. He that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth. Is not he that sitteth at meat? And again, he's bringing up this idea of the status quo. He says, weather is greater. Which one of these is greater? The one that's sitting at meat, or he that serveth? The guy that's being served, or the guy that's doing the serving? The guy that's sitting at the table and having somebody bring him the steak dinner and the mashed potatoes and the bread. Who's greater? That guy or the guy that's bringing him the steak dinner, bringing him the mashed potatoes, bringing him the bread. By the world's center we say, well, this guy's greater. That guy's just a servant. Jesus says, for weather is greater. He that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at meat. He said, by the world's center, isn't he that sitteth at meat? Isn't the guy sitting for dinner? Isn't he greater? And then Jesus says, but I am among you as he that serveth. You know that there's not a greater person that's ever lived in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not just saying that. Obviously, I would hope that in a room full of Baptists you would all agree with that and say that amen. I would imagine that among Christians we would all say that. I'm just saying, even by the world's standards, even by the world's standards, when we're talking about who has impacted the world, who has more influence in the world, who has more respect, more acknowledgement, been admired. I mean, who? Name the historical figure. George Washington? Alexander the Great? Caesar? Name one historical figure, even if you're not a Christian, even if you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the God in the flesh. Tell me of a figure that has had more impact and more influence than the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, you can't acknowledge the date without saying 2023. 2023. 2023 what? Today is March, whatever, what's the date? March 12, 2023. 2023 says when? Has the world been around? I mean, if you ask the world, even though not Christians, just secular, has the world been around for 2020? Whoa, it's been around for billions and billions of years, which is not true either. Since 2023, since when? Since the birth of who? Since the birth of Alexander the Great. Since the birth of Abraham Lincoln. I mean, does the whole world on December 25th just stop to celebrate the birth of John Adams? The two greatest holidays across the world celebrate the birth and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even for atheists. The greatest man who's ever lived said, I am among you as he that serveth. Go to Matthew 20, Matthew 20, verse 28. See, Jesus understood something that we all need to understand. Is that the secret to greatness is serving others. The secret to greatness is not how many people I can get to help me, but how many people I can help. Not how many people I can get to serve me, but how many people I can serve. In Matthew 20, verse 28, the Bible says, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Notice, he said, I didn't come to be ministered. The word minister means to serve. I did not come to be served, but to minister, to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. And it's interesting to me because right in the context of this verse, we see him do that, verse 29. And as he departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him, and behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside. When they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the great multitude rebuked them because that they should hold their peace, but they cried. The more saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still and called them and said. And I remember in verse 28, he just got done telling us that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And then in verse 32, we see a beautiful picture of that. You have these blind men calling unto Jesus, and Jesus stood still and called them and said. Notice this little phrase. Notice this question. He says, What will ye that I shall do unto you? What's he asking? Here's what he's basically asking is, How can I help you? One phrase that I've, one question that I've tried to make, a phrase, a common phrase that comes out of my mouth. I've tried to do this. I'm not saying I've been successful. I try to ask this question as much as possible. How can I help? People often come to me as a pastor with issues and problems. I try to let this be a statement that is near to my tongue. How can I help? Because Jesus is saying, What will ye that I should do unto you? What is he asking? He's saying, How can I help you? The question that he's asking is, How can I lean into you? How can I use my time, my money, my talent, my authority, my ability, my resources, my relationship to help to better you? Because most everyone else in this world is asking, How can you help me? But greatness is asking, How can I help you? True greatness is not defined by how well others serve me, but how well I serve others. Greatness is not found in personal success, but in the success of others. If you help people get what they need, and even if you can, what they want, as long as it's not simple, you'll find that you'll have everything you need. And oftentimes, you'll have everything you want. This does not take away from the leadership of a husband it fulfills in. This does not take away from the role of a wife. It fulfills it. Parents, you ought to look at your job as, My job is to leverage who I am to help these children grow up to be who God has called them to be. And I'm just telling you, if you serve your employees, I didn't say do your employees' job. I don't do my employees' job. If I did my employees' job, I'd get rid of them. But I do try to lead to help them. I'm not saying, I'm saying using your resources. And look, this works whether you're the leader or not. Let me just give you some real quick examples. Esther, you don't have to turn there. Remember Esther? She wasn't in charge. She wasn't the king. In Esther 4 and verse 14, the Bible says, this is Mordecai speaking, he says, If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? She wasn't in charge, but what Mordecai was saying to her was, who knows if God has allowed you to take this position of queen, this position of influence. Who knows if you were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this? What about Joseph? Joseph in Genesis 50 and verse 20, you don't have to turn there. It says, But as for you, ye thought evil against me. This is Joseph speaking to his brothers that sold him into slavery. He says, Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. What about Nehemiah, who was the king's cupbearer, but yet his heart broke over the condition of his people, and what did he do? He used his position. He used his influence. He was not the king, but he used whatever he had at his disposal, and he leveraged it to help others. You ought to ask the question, how can I help? Honestly, let me say it this way, and I don't mean to offend you. I'm just trying to help you. Go back to Luke 22. You ought to look in your life to be a help, not a hindrance. You ought to try to be a blessing, not a burden. Look, I realize we all need help from time to time. I'm not against you. If you find yourself in a position where you need help, we're here to help. I'm not speaking against you. But what I am saying is that we should all be working towards the place where we can be a blessing, not a burden, a help, not a hindrance. Because that's what true greatness is. True greatness is, you say, I want to be acknowledged. I want to be appreciated. I want to be admired. Well, no one's going to appreciate your amazing vacations. They might envy them. They might give you a thumbs up or whatever people give you on Facebook. But nobody's saying like, your amazing vacation changed my life. No one's going to show up at your funeral and say, I just want to acknowledge the fact. I just want to appreciate that. I just admire that all those pictures on Facebook just made me feel like garbage all the time. They were great. But people might stand up at your funeral and say, she was a friend. She was there when I needed her. She was there for me during hard times, during difficult times. My life was a mess, and they were there. And I know it was hard for them, but that's what gets you acknowledgement. That's what gets you appreciation. That's what gets admiration, is when we live our lives for others. So look, try, try to be a help, not a hindrance, a blessing, not a burden. This week we had this youth rally, and we had this big wrestling show, and I think it was a success. I think everybody had a good time. I think the kids had a great time, and I appreciate everyone involved. Of course, I don't want to give all the names because I'll forget someone. Obviously, we had ladies helping with the decorations and the food and men grilling and setting up and cleaning and all these things. And guys, all these guys with the wrestling show, and I appreciate all of them. I want to give you an example of what I mean by be a blessing, not a burden, and be a help, not a hindrance. Because this wrestling show, honestly, was kind of a nightmare, to be honest with you. I mean, several years ago, brother Josh Lunsford and my niece Rebecca got married, and they had this wrestling show at their wedding. And I thought it was weird at a wedding, but whatever. I noticed the kids really liked it. So I told brother Josh, like, hey, when we have a youth rally, we should do a wrestling show. And of course, we didn't have the first youth rally because it didn't work out, and we had it this year for the first time. And when we started, we had to go through several wrestlers. And when we started this thing, it was originally supposed to be brother Josh and brother Moses wrestling. But Moses, my nephew, he got just super busy at work, and he just didn't have the time free to be able to commit to wrestling. Getting everything done. So he found his calling as a referee, and he was a great referee. He did a great job. He just didn't have the time. Obviously, he's a young guy. He's working, supporting a family as a baby on the way. Just didn't have the time to be able to devote into it. So then we're looking at this, and I'm like, okay, well, this takes a lot of time. It's a skill to get hit over the head with a frying pan. It may not seem like it. So then I had brother Shaw because I thought, okay, well, brother Shaw works for me, so I can just clear his schedule. He has three hours a day or whatever to do this. Brother Shaw started training and wrestling. But then brother Shaw got injured and got a concussion. Allegedly. So then the doctor's just like, he can't wrestle. My wife was looking it up, and it's like, we don't want to reinjure your head after you have a concussion. So then we had three weeks or a couple of weeks before the wrestling show. So then we're like, we don't have a wrestler. So then brother Josh calls his friend who wrestled with him at the wedding, and he's like, I think he could do it. But then it was this thing where like, could he get the time off of work because it was kind of short notice. I want to say it was like a week, a week before the show. We had one week before the youth rally, and we're like looking for a wrestler. And we're like, okay, he's worked at this place. He works late. Let's see if we can get the time off. So my wife and I were just praying that he can get the time off of work. And he's going to go in there and ask the manager. And it was like, he gets off of work real late, like 11, 10, 15. You know what I'm saying? He got up late, like 11 or midnight or something. And I'm telling Josh, you just call me, it doesn't matter what time. It was one in the morning, and let me know. Because we're praying that he gets the time off. So he gets the time off of work. So then him and Josh start practicing. I mean, we have a week to get this thing done. They start practicing. It's going well. Then his friend goes into work. This has nothing to do with wrestling. He just goes into work. He's just at work one day, and he collapses. And he just goes. This was like three days before the youth rally. He goes to the emergency room, and it turns out he had some heart condition his whole life that he never knew of. And the doctor's like, you're not wrestling. And this is literally just a couple of days before the youth rally. But one thing that I want to say, and I'm bringing this up to give this example. One thing that I appreciate about Brother Josh is I get a call from, I mean, it was probably like midnight. And as a pastor, I leave my phone on 24 hours a day because someone's always in trouble. And so he calls me at midnight, and he's telling me what I just told you about his friend. This is like three days before the youth rally, and he's telling me he's in the hospital. He has this heart condition. He can't wrestle. And I'm just thinking to myself, freaking out in my head, what are we going to do? Literally, we have three days before. But I'm thankful because Brother Josh says, but I called everyone I know that wrestled. Because he used to wrestle when he was a kid, so he knows all these wrestlers. He's like, I called everyone I know. So here's the other problem. The other problem is that a bunch of these wrestlers weren't answering him because on the night of the youth rally, like the big WWE that's like the big wrestling show, they were actually in Sacramento doing a show on Wednesday night. So all these wrestlers were there, you know, like at their big WWE show or whatever. So he's calling every wrestler he knows. He finally finds this guy, Christian Sky, and he agrees to do it, and he did a great job. I mean, he was perfect. Phenomenal. But here's what I appreciate about Brother Josh is he calls me, it's like one in the morning, and he's like, this is what I'm into, my friend. He's got this heart condition again. And I'm just like, I'm telling my wife, I'm like, this is not good, you know, whatever. But he says to me, but I found this guy, Christian Sky, and he asked me, would it be okay to bring in a professional? And I'm like, absolutely. And here's the point that I'm saying. Over 12 years of ministry, I've learned that this is how most people deal with problems. Once they have some failure or some problem, they just bring it to me. And they're like, sorry, here's a big letdown for you. You deal with it. Like, that's how most people would have done it. I mean, most people would have been like, sorry, three days before the youth rally, you figure it out, pastor. And then it would have been like, you know what I appreciate about Brother Josh is that not only did he bring me the problem, which he needed to, but he also brought me a solution. You know what that is? That's called being a help, not a hindrance. That's called being a blessing, not a burden. I often teach our staff, I tell our staff, you know, I want to know everything. Bring me all the problems. Don't hide anything from me. If you hide stuff from me, that's going to piss me off. But at the same time, when you bring me a problem, why don't you brainstorm one or two or three solutions and bring me some solutions with the problems? And I may not like your solutions, but at least I'll know you tried. You know, so I appreciate for Brother Josh because he's like, this is a big problem, this is a major problem. He's like, but here's a solution. And I even told him on the phone, I said like, wow, thank you. Like this was going to ruin the rest of my night. Like this was going to make me and my wife be stressed out for like the next three hours. And this is what he said to me. He's like, well, I've been stressed out for the last three hours. Because I found out about this a couple of hours ago and I've just been calling around trying to find people. But here's what I'm saying. That's somebody trying to be helpful. So, you know, Brother Josh, God bless you. He was the MVP of the youth rally. Let's give him a round of applause. Here's what I'm saying. Greatness is not, here's my problems, you deal with it. Greatness is saying, here's a problem, how can I help? How can I leverage who I am, who I know, the resources I have, the relationships I have, the influences I have to try to help? And, you know, maybe it wouldn't have worked out. Maybe I wouldn't have had to stand up at the youth rally and say, sorry kids, I know we told you it was a wrestling show, but everybody's dead. But what I'm saying is, at least go out swinging. At least go out trying. It's called tenacity. You stick with it. See, I'm going to do what I can. I'm going to overcome. We're going to get this thing done. It's called being a help, not a hindrance, a blessing, not a burden. Go back to Luke 22. Let's finish this thing up. Say, well Pastor, you brought up Brother Josh, and what about me? You know. Luke 22 verse 28. Here's the truth. Sometimes in this world, you don't get the appreciation, you don't get the acknowledgement, you don't get the admiration you think you deserve. I mean, I'll be honest with you. In ministry, I would say my wife and I, our life verse in ministry is, I will gladly spend and be spent for you. And we've tried to do that. But, you know, there are some times when you just give of yourself, and you give your all, and you put it all out there, and you give it all, and then you're done. It's done. And you're just kind of standing there, and you're like, I did it. And then people, they're like, do more. Can you give us more? Can you help me with this? Can you help me with that? Can you be there for this? Can you be there for that? You know, honestly, sometimes you don't feel appreciated. You don't feel acknowledged. You don't feel admired. You say, how do you deal with that? You say, how do you deal with that? Well, notice what Jesus said. Luke 22, verse 28. You know what Jesus was telling them? He was telling them, you serve others and you'll be great. But if you don't get the acknowledgement, you don't get the appreciation, you don't get the admiration, he says, one day in heaven you will. And you know what? Maybe you do serve, and maybe you do help, and maybe you do everything you're supposed to do, and you say, no one sees it, no one admires it. Pastor didn't bring me up. I brought cookies. You should have told the story about how my cookies burned, and I have to go to the store and buy other ones. You know, whatever. I'm not minimizing you if you brought cookies. If you brought cookies, we appreciate you. Thank you. I'm just saying, sometimes we serve and it's not acknowledged. Sometimes we serve and it's not appreciated. Sometimes we don't get the acknowledgement, the appreciation, the admiration you do, but let me tell you something. When you serve God, you will. You may have to wait until heaven, but you know I'd rather get it in heaven anyway. I'd rather get my rewards in heaven than here on earth. I'd rather get the acknowledgement in heaven than here on earth. I'd rather be great in heaven than here on earth. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this passage. The secret to greatness, I pray you'd help us to learn it. Help us to be people who overcome. Help us to be people with tenacity. I realize everybody needs help from time to time. I get that. And I'm not against that. That's what we're here to do. We're here to help. But help us, Lord, when we find ourselves in a place where we can be a help, help us to be a help, not a hindrance. Help us to be a blessing, not a burden. Help us to realize that the secret to greatness is serving others, is helping others, is loving others. And if we don't get the acknowledgement here on earth, help us to realize that you will make all things right in heaven. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song. I just want to remind you, of course, that we'd love for you to bring someone to church with you next week. And we want you to be thinking about, you have one of these cards in your bulletin, the Easter card. If you think about someone that you could invite to the Easter service on Sunday, April 9th, and maybe a coworker, maybe a friend, someone in your life that you could invite to Easter on Sunday, April 9th. I do want to encourage you to be back tonight at 6 p.m. for the evening service. Go home and take a nap or whatever you've got to do. But tonight we're going to be showing the recap video for the youth rally and you're going to like it. I'd like you to see, especially those of you that were not part of the youth rally, maybe didn't have teams or whatever, I'd like you to see what the youth rally is all about and how it all went. And I think you'll enjoy it. So make sure you're back tonight at 6 p.m. for that. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. We're here to help and we want to help in any way we can. We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song. Let's turn to song 261. 261. 261. On the first. Oh, soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. There's light for all who get the silver. The light forever in the tree. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Turn through His wonderful grace. Now the things of your world go strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting. He has made me follow Him there. Over us, single forehead, the million. The more than numbers we have. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Turn through His wonderful grace. Now the things of your world go strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. All the last. His word shall not fail you, established. Believe Him and the world be well. Then go to a world that is tiny. His perfect salvation today. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Turn through His wonderful grace. Now the things of your world go strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. Amen. Amen. Amen.