Greatness is Demonstrated in the Way I Treat Others
- Great people LIFT others, not themselves (Mk 9:33-34)
- Great people SERVE others, not themselves (Mk 9:35)
- Great people BLESS others, not themselves (Mk 9:36-37)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
Open up your Bibles to the Gospel according to Mark and chapter 9.
00:06-00:12
We're going to be picking up in verse 30. Mark chapter 9 verse 30. Are you there?
00:13-00:24
"As they went on and on from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know." Why?
00:24-00:44
Well, because the public ministry of history was done at this point. This was private teaching for the son of disciples in this chapter of Jesus' ministry. As for he was teaching his disciples saying to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill kill him.
00:45-01:29
And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise." But they did not understand the saying and we're afraid to ask him. You're going to see this throughout Mark. Jesus was constantly reminding the disciples, "I'm going to Jerusalem and they're going to kill me and then I'm going to rise from the dead." And this wasn't even on the disciples' radar. Jesus already talked about this. And you see at this point he brings it up again. What does Bible say? It says they did not understand the saying. You can kind of see that, right? Because Jesus raised people from the dead, right?
01:31-01:47
So if Jesus died, then who was going to raise him from the dead? Like, remember like Superman 1? Remember the classic line from Superman 1? Like, how many people remember the first Superman before they did all these reboots?
01:47-01:49
The cool ones with Christopher Reeve, right?
01:49-01:58
Remember that classic line with Lois Lane's falling from the building and Superman swoops up and catches her and he goes, "Don't worry, I got you." And what does she say?
02:00-02:01
"Who's got you?" Right?
02:04-02:06
I think maybe some of that was going through the disciples' minds here.
02:06-02:13
Like, well, if you're going to die, who's gonna do this resurrection thing?
02:13-02:16
Because, I mean, we've seen you do that.
02:19-02:21
"Who's going to resurrect you?" They didn't understand.
02:23-02:25
And then it says they were afraid to ask him.
02:25-02:26
Now, why were they afraid?
02:26-02:27
They were afraid to ask.
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I think that was one part.
02:28-02:30
I don't want to talk about it.
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And I think it was another part, remembering Peter getting rebuked.
02:34-02:35
Remember that?
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Last time Jesus talked about this, Peter pulled him aside.
02:38-02:40
Sides like, "Don't you talk like that, Jesus.
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"That's not gonna happen, Jesus.
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"Stop talking like that." And Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan." That was probably fresh in their mind or minds like, yeah, Peter got rebuked pretty good for that.
02:53-02:55
So let's just not talk about it.
02:57-03:05
But look at verses 33 and 34, it says where it says, "They came to Capernaum." Okay, this is on the way to Jerusalem.
03:07-03:08
They came to Capernaum and came in.
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When he was in the house, He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" They kept silent.
03:20-03:26
On the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
03:28-03:30
Okay, so they showed up at the house.
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Some, most people, just people think it was probably Peter's house in Capernaum.
03:33-03:41
And Jesus said, "What were you talking about?" Now, how many people think that Jesus kind of knew what they were talking about?
03:41-03:46
When he asks questions, when God asks questions, understand, he's not looking for information.
03:46-03:47
What's he looking for?
03:47-03:48
He's looking for a confession.
03:51-03:51
But Jesus knew.
03:54-03:57
What were you talking about while we were traveling?
03:58-04:03
And they were so busted and they were so embarrassed and they kept silent.
04:05-04:07
At this point, they're thinking, we wish it was something wholesome.
04:08-04:35
Like, you know, we were just talking about fasting and praying, and like the Pentateuch, and we were talking about something really wholesome and spiritual, and it was actually, "Which one of us is the greatest?" And they were so embarrassed they didn't even bring it up.
04:37-04:39
But who's the greatest?
04:40-04:42
The question this morning is, what is greatness?
04:43-04:45
What makes someone great?
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What is it that makes someone great?
04:50-04:56
That was a question that I was wrestling through this week, and when I have a really hard question like that, I just Google it, like you.
04:58-05:02
I went to this website that said, "What makes someone great?" Do you know what this website said?
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It said, "These are the things that make someone great." Perseverance.
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Someone that never gives up is someone who is great.
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Or this one said, "Somebody who sets goals and strives after the goals that they set for themselves." That's what makes somebody great.
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And one person said, "You know what makes somebody great?
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It's punctuality.
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Somebody that is on time." And I was looking through this list, and I am like, "Puh-lease." Seriously. Seriously.
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In our culture, is that really what we think of when we think about somebody being great?
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Let's be honest.
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What does our culture equate with greatness?
05:51-06:00
Who are the people in our culture that we look at as, "They are great." It's not like, "Mr. Punctuality, right?
06:00-06:01
That doesn't happen.
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That doesn't happen.
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Come on.
06:03-06:04
Is that greatness?
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It's like, oh, Randy "Candy" Campbell, you are so punctual.
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Can I get your autograph?
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Please.
06:12-06:13
I want it for my scrapbook.
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Can I get a selfie with you, Randy, because you are so, so punctual?
06:18-06:20
That doesn't happen.
06:22-06:23
Who's considered great or great?
06:24-06:26
Tell me, who's considered great?
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People that have what?
06:29-06:32
People that have lots of money are considered greater and greater.
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People that have lots of stuff are considered great.
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People that are known for great achievements or great talents, like musicians or athletes.
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People who are popular, like movie stars.
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Those are the people that we've described greatness to.
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For some reason, it's their opinion that Hold so much weight.
06:59-07:00
Punctuality.
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Greatness is something that we all want deep down.
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And probably sitting in church, you're like, "Oh, not me, Pastor Jeff.
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I'm con Come on, seriously, seriously, deep down, deep down there is something in you that wants to be great." Muhammad Ali, remember Muhammad Ali? What was his saying? What was his saying?
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I am the greatest.
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You know why you still remember that saying all these years later?
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Do you know why you remember that saying, rather?
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It's because he was making the claim that he was better than everyone.
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And that's something that we sort of identify with.
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When I was a teenager, I had a Muhammad Ali baseball hat.
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And you know what it said across the back?
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I am the greatest.
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I was so proud of that hat because, like yeah man, that's me, I'm the greatest.
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Muhammad Ali probably wouldn't have gotten as much attention if he would have come out for one of his interviews and went, I am not bad.
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I am an above average fighter.
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I am an adequate pugilist.
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They wouldn't have sold hats that said that.
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But for some reason he got everybody's attention because he said he was the greatest.
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You know we don't give out trophies for last place do we?
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Actually.
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Nowadays kids get the dreaded participation trophy.
08:41-08:45
Look you do what you want in your household. I think the participation trophy is kind of lame.
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I just do. And you know what I played a lot of sports when I was a kid.
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I played baseball, and I played soccer.
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And I won a couple of trophies, but I'll tell you what.
08:56-08:58
I lost more seasons than I won.
08:58-09:00
And I think it should mean something.
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Nobody gives out the trophy for last place, the trophy that actually says last place.
09:07-09:08
Nobody's going to put that on their mantle.
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Like, oh, Pastor Jeff, I didn't know you played baseball.
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I don't.
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I stink.
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Ridic.
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Read the trophy.
09:14-09:15
Oh, yeah.
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Last place.
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Well done.
09:20-09:24
Well, I know why you're in church today.
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It's because you want to know what Jesus says about being great, don't you?
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Don't you?
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Well, three things for you.
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It all falls under one heading though, and here it is.
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If you missed this, you've missed everything, okay?
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If you missed this next line, you've missed everything.
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According to Jesus, greatness is demonstrated in the way that I treat others.
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You're gonna see it in the text, okay?
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I'm not making this up, you see it in the text.
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Greatness is demonstrated, not in how I dribble a basketball or play a guitar, or perform a role in a movie, or the way that I swipe a credit card, that's not greatness.
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We're going to see here that Jesus says that greatness is demonstrated in the way that I treat others.
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So first of all, greatness, number one, Great people lift up others, not themselves.
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Great people lift up others, not themselves.
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From these verses that we had just read, I want to remind you, verse 34.
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Okay, they kept silent when Jesus asked what they were discussing, why?
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Look what it says, what it says.
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They had argued with one another about who was the greatest, okay?
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It says that they argued about who was the greatest.
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That's a key word.
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Because what that means is this kind of conversation wasn't happening.
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It wasn't like this, like, "You know what, Jack? I think that I'm the greatest." And you're like, "Agreed to disagree. I'm the greatest." And I'm like, "I find it fascinating that Jack would think he's the greatest, when in fact I think that I'm the greatest, so agreed to disagree with you, young man." That wasn't the conversation. You know, the word "argue" I looked this up this week, it literally means to say thoroughly, meaning this, present your case.
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It means to reason with someone.
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You know another way the word argue can be translated?
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Is preach.
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Okay, so do you have this scene, they're walking along and they are preaching to each other about which one of them was the greatest.
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They were actually giving each other little sermons about which one of them was the greatest.
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You would think, well, they were having a bad day that day, right?
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I mean, that's pretty tacky.
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They're having a bad day.
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I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but the truth is, we're gonna cover this again in Mark chapter 10, verse 35, it comes up.
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Luke chapter 22, verse 24 also is the Last Supper.
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Jesus is hours away from dying on the cross and bearing the full wrath of God on himself for my sin.
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And you would think the disciples would be coming around Jesus and let's pray and arms around and I know what you've been talking about Jesus and let's pray together.
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You would think that would be the scene.
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At the last supper, do you know what the disciples were doing?
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Luke 22 says that they were arguing about which one of them was the greatest.
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This was something that they constantly, constantly, constantly had going on.
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Giving, arguing, presenting their case.
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Who is the greatest at what?
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I don't think they were arguing about who was the greatest tax collector, okay, because Matthew's like, "I can't even believe we're having this conversation!
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I'm the greatest tax collector!" I don't think they were arguing about which of them was the greatest thief, because Judas would have been like, "Nobody's fingers are stickier than mine, okay? I'm the greatest thief of all y 'all." They weren't arguing about that.
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I don't think they were arguing about who was the greatest fisherman.
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Obviously, we know at least four of them would have been in the top running for that.
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Peter and Andrew and James and John were all fishermen.
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They were arguing about who was the greatest disciple.
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Okay, so they knew that Jesus was the Messiah.
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And some of them had just seen him transfigured.
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So they knew this kingdom of God thing wasn't some concept, wasn't some fairy tale.
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They knew this kingdom of God thing, this Jesus, Jesus is the Messiah.
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They knew this was a real thing.
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So they start thinking about, "Okay, well obviously Jesus is God, so where do the rest of us stack up there?" And you can imagine how these little sermons were going on.
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You know, I'm sure Peter was like, "Well, you know, I was one of the ones that went up on the Mount of...
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you know, where Jesus like showed his glory, I was one of the ones that was picked.
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So, you know, James the Less, where were you on that one?
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I think there's a reason they call you James the Less, okay?
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Like less important.
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You know, you know, pitch three tents idea, that was mine.
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And he presented his case, and I'm sure there were, like, John, like someday I'm going to write a gospel, and I'm going to refer to myself as the disciple whom Jesus loves.
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I'm the greatest.
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Just went on down the line, didn't it?
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I'm the greatest.
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No, no, this is why I'm the greatest, greatest.
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This is why Jesus loves me the most.
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This is why Jesus thinks I'm the best.
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This is why I'm the most humble.
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We read this and we're like, man, we are way too civilized for that, aren't we?
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Aren't we a little too civilized for that?
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That's like first century stuff.
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We don't do that.
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We don't do that.
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Do we?
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Or do we?
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I see a couple of heads going, actually, we do.
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We do this from childhood.
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I remember when I was a kid, there was a kid in my class.
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I'm not going to mention his name in case he's listening to this.
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He did this on the web somehow.
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Excuse me, but he knows who he is.
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I don't even know how it started.
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This is like second grade stuff, OK?
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I don't even know how it started, but he's like, I can run faster than you.
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And I'm looking at this kid, this kid, I'm like, "No, you cannot." He's like, "I can run faster than you." I said, "There is no way you're faster than me.
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No way you're faster than me." And he said, "I am faster than you because I am 63.77 Cherokee Indian." Like, what does that mean?
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He goes, "Well, because I'm," whatever it was, "60-some percent, the number might be a little off.
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Okay, it was second grade, okay?
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It was like 30 years ago.
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All right, all right." I'm like, "So you're part Indian?
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Okay, okay.
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That doesn't mean anything.
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I'm faster than you." And he was just like, "I remember this day, so all day I'm faster than you.
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I'm like, we're going to settle this.
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I'll tell you what, I'll race you at recess.
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And we did.
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We were out at Shakur Elementary School, and we were at the kickball field, you know, in the back end.
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And we stood in one end, and we said, OK, we're going to race down to that corner of the blacktop and back.
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OK?
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OK?
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And we're going to settle this once and for all.
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On your market set go, I was down and back before he was down.
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Like 63.7% Indian.
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Like, what's the other 37% tortoise?
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So I'm at the finish line.
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At this point, I made myself a sandwich and finished my homework, waiting for him to get back.
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And I'm like, see, I'm faster than you.
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He said, well, it's not fair, because I was wearing my cowboy boots today.
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And I said, what's an Indian doing wearing cowboy boots?
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I'm the greatest.
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Maybe the current generation doesn't do this.
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I don't know.
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When we were kids-- some of you will back me up on this.
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Remember, my dad can beat up your dad.
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You remember that?
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Yeah, see, do people still do that?
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People still do that.
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My dad can beat up your dad.
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And if they don't do that to you, your dad would mop the floor with their dad.
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Amen.
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See?
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He knows.
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Do you remember that?
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My dad can beat up your dad?
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Do you remember that?
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And I'm like, your dad wouldn't want to beat up my dad.
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Because my dad's a bank manager.
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And when your dad comes into the bank looking for a loan, He's going to feel pretty stupid for beating up the bank manager.
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Not that he could have anyways, for the record.
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But as adults, we've so outgrown that stuff, haven't we?
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Well, actually, we really haven't.
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Because the truth is, we want people to think that we are the greatest.
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And it shows up very subtly in conversation, trying to insert yourself, somebody sharing something with you, and you're looking for your opportunity to talk about how you understand, but you do it a little bit better, or you've been through a little bit more, or somehow you're just a little bit greater. Social media has really had a field day with promoting greatness. Self-perceived greatness. You know, you get on social media, you know, you present the perfect family. Here's my selfie. I have the perfect dog. I have the perfect cat.
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I have the perfect kids.
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I, I, there's still something in us that wants to say, I'm, I'm the greatest.
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I'm the best.
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The truth is the attitude causes nothing but childish, childish discord.
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In fact, first Corinthians, you know, that's one of the reasons Paul wrote the book of first Corinthians.
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He's, he says in chapter three, verse three, that there's jealousy and strife, strife among you.
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They had this whole, you know, I follow Paulist, I follow, I follow Paul.
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There was this whole, I'm better than you mentality that was just tearing the church apart.
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And understand that greatness is not about exalting yourself.
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Greatness is about lifting up other people.
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Greatness is about lifting up other people.
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Getting ready for Taylor Brown's wedding.
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We were talking just a couple of weeks ago, and he said, I've got to tell you, I was going to quit ministry.
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I was done before I came to Harvest.
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He said, I was totally ready to quit before I came to Harvest.
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And I said, well, you know what?
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probably my biggest contribution to the kingdom. I was getting a guy that was going to be a pastor and decided he wasn't going to be a pastor and now he is pursuing the ministry again. I'm certainly not saying that to put the spotlight on myself. Here's what I want to highlight is this truth.
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Someone in your life needs encouraged. There's someone in your life that needs encouraged. There's someone in your life that could be one step a step away from ditching their marriage. There's someone in your life that could be one step away from just jumping off of the sobriety wagon.
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So instead of presenting your case for your greatness, worried about how you look, how do others perceive you, instead of that focus, Lift up others.
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Because great people lift up others, no others, not themselves.
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Obviously negative example here from the disciples.
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So Jesus steps in, number two in your outline, write this down, great people serve others, not themselves.
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Great people simply serve others.
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Okay, so again, they didn't say what they were arguing about, right?
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it says they kept silent, but obviously Jesus knew because look at verse 35.
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"And he sat down and called the 12.
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"And he said to them, 'If anyone would be first, "'he must be last of all and servant of all.
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"'Great people serve others, not themselves.
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The question, is it wrong to want to be great?
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Don't answer too quickly.
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I want you to think about that for a second.
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Is it wrong to want to be great?
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Great.
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The answer is no, it's not wrong.
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It's not wrong to want to be great.
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Notice that Jesus didn't say, Jesus didn't sit down and say, "Okay, you 12, you 12, gather around." Why are you being so stupid talking about this?
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This is an idiotic conversation that you're having.
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Knock it off.
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Jesus didn't say that.
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Notice what he did say.
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He said, "If anyone would be first." He was saying, "If someone really wants to be great, "here's how you go about it." Now, the desire to be great is not wrong.
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God gave you that desire.
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But understand, it's like sexual desire.
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I grew up thinking that sex was a dirty, taboo thing.
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When the truth is it's not, God created it, right?
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God created it for a purpose.
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And the problem is God gave us the desire And we misuse it.
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We go after it the wrong way.
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And so it is with greatness.
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God gave us the desire to be great.
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But the problem is we go after greatness in the wrong way.
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We think greatness is about, put me on the pedestal.
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Think much of me.
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Think more of me.
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Think great things of me.
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That's the wrong way to go about greatness.
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Jesus said, here's how you go about greatness.
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Do you see that?
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that?
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If anyone would be first, in other words, you want to be great? He must be last of all and servant of all. You want to be first? Be last.
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And that flies in the face of what people teach. Ugh, gag.
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We hear it all the time. Here's three words of bad advice jot it down, jot these down.
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These are three words of bad advice that people give in this regard.
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You gotta, here's the first one, you gotta have more self-esteem.
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You hear people say that?
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You gotta have more self-esteem.
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That's a lie.
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That's a lie.
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You already think too much of yourself.
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And for the person that says, much of myself. I hate myself. You know what you're doing? You're giving yourself too much undue attention. You're so focused on yourself and these things in yourself that you perceive are hateful, it's self-absorbed, self-absorbed. I hate myself. You're thinking too much about yourself is what you're doing. Here's another one.
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You need to learn to love yourself.
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Same You already love yourself.
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You love yourself too much. You give yourself too much attention.
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That's almost as if, you know what, you just need to give yourself some more attention.
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That is not biblical.
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It is not biblical.
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The Bible would say that we already have that problem of loving ourselves.
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That's why Paul says in, what is it, Philippians 2?
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Was it Philippians 2, 3?
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He said you need to consider others as being more significant than yourselves.
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Because our default mode is attention on me, attention on me, attention on me.
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The last one, bad advice.
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These are all very synonymous, but I want you to see these different facets.
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Think more of yourself.
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Several years ago I was standing outside a bookstore and there was the new Osteen book out.
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It was after Your Best Life Now, but it was before Every Day is a Friday, whatever.
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What was the second one?
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I don't even know, but I picked it up and I'm flipping through it and I'm just like, "Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie." It was just full of lies.
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of them is, he says, "You know what? God wants you to think more of yourself." Like, that is so not my problem. My problem is I already think too much of myself. This guy's coming along saying, "I need to think more of myself." What did Jesus say? You want to be first, you're going to be last.
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You need to think more of yourself. Listen, I'm not saying, please understand, I'm not saying that you need to think poorly of yourself, okay?
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I'm not saying that at all.
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I'm not even saying you need to think less of yourself.
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What I am saying is this, you need to stop thinking about yourself at all.
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That's humility.
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Humility isn't walking around, I'm dirt, I'm garbage, nobody likes me, nobody should or should like me because I'm dirt.
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I already covered that.
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I'm garbage, I'm repetitive.
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You see the problem with that kind of thinking?
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I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, you're absorbed with yourself.
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That's the problem.
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Inhumility says I'm not going to think about myself.
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Because greatness is demonstrated in the way that I treat others.
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What does it mean to be last?
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Well, I believe when Jesus said, be a servant of all, he's clarifying that.
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That's what it means to be last.
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It means you are the servant, you are the slave of everyone.
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We've all said that, and hopefully today's a day of repentance.
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And your kids leave the socks on the floor.
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Hey, pick that up, I'm not your slave.
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Guess what?
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Yes, you are.
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Just kidding, kid, you have to pick your own socks up.
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But Jesus said greatness is this, it's being a servant of all.
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Not servant of the people that I like.
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Or servant of the people that I respect.
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He said the servant of all.
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Jesus wasn't saying the people who serve become great.
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He's saying great people are the ones who serve.
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I want you to think about a time in your life that you poured yourself out serving.
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Maybe it was when we went and worked down at World Vision.
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Think of the prison ministry.
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Think of those times in your life that you've gone into the prison pouring yourself out.
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Think of a mission trip.
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Darla, think of your time over in Moldova pouring yourself out and teaching and encouraging.
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and think about the time in your life that you're like, you know what, I am doing this for other people.
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I'm going to serve others.
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When you think back to those times in your life, you realize that that brings far more fulfillment than any of the stuff of the earth can give you.
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I think to some of the, especially the newer guys getting involved with prison ministry, Mark and I have been to jail a lot together, and I think some of the newer guys getting involved, coming out of jail going, "That was awesome!" Like, really?
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You just got out of jail and you're like, "That was awesome?" What was so awesome about it?
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Because I was in a position where I was serving people and sharing Christ with people and loving people to people in the Lord.
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That kind of servanthood, that's how Jesus Christ defines greatness.
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I read a quote from Mother Teresa one time where she was cleaning, cleaning the wounds of a leper.
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And there was a reporter covering her story.
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And this reporter saw her cleaning the wounds of this leper and was just kind of looking on with disgust, disgust.
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And he said, I wouldn't do that for a million dollars.
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Mother Teresa said, neither would I.
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It's about serving.
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Greatness is about serving.
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And it's moving on from I have to serve, that's obligation, I have to serve, to saying I get to serve.
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You see, we have opportunity here at the church to serve, whether it's the weekly kingdom responsibility that happens every Sunday morning, being involved with setting up and the sound and the music and the hospitality and the children, there's incredible opportunity to serve here.
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There's incredible opportunity to serve to serve in a small group where you open up your home and you're pouring into other people outreach opportunities that we take as a church, opportunities to serve.
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Every time someone in this church's church has a baby or is sick or has lost a loved one or runs into a financial issue, those are incredible opportunities where you can say, I get to serve.
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I have an incredible opportunity to serve here.
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I'd like to challenge you to evaluate yourself.
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In your service, you have to ask yourself, here's three questions to ask, just ask yourself, I can't answer these, these are hard questions, you have to wrestle with the Lord through these questions.
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Ask yourself, first of all, do I serve to be noticed?
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Do I serve to be noticed?
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Am I involved in the church because I want people to come up?
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"Laura, this church wouldn't run without you.
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"Lord, you are the backbone of this church." And is that why you do it?
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So the people would notice you?
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The people would think much of you?
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Another question is, am I serving because I feel guilty if I don't?
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That's how it is for some people.
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I really don't want to, but I see like most everybody else around here is doing something, and I'm gonna feel really guilty if I don't serve.
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Do you see how self is inserted there?
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It's not serving, serving other people.
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There you're serving yourself because you're trying to get rid of feelings of guilt.
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You see that?
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That's self-serving.
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Here's another question.
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Thirdly, do I get angry when I'm not acknowledged?
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Do I get angry when I'm not acknowledged?
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You know what, I helped out with this function at the church the last three times they did it.
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I didn't get one thank you card for that.
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I didn't get one gift certificate to my favorite restaurant for that.
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What kind of a church is this?
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Are you angry if you're not acknowledged?
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You know, Pastor Jeff has not one time put me on the golden stool on the stage and said everybody be like this person.
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He's never done that, done that.
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Maybe you don't take it to that extreme stream, but is there something in you that feels like, you know, they really should parade me around at least a little bit.
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Maybe a shout out in the bulletin.
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My own webpage something.
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Well, it's not about you, about you because you are last.
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Right?
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Jesus said, "If anyone would be first, "must be last, last of all, and servant of all." Not about you, about you, your last.
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It's about the ones that you serve.
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But great people serve others, not themselves.
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And finally today, great people bless others, not themselves.
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Yes Anonymous, we're going to see a slight difference here in the emphasis that Jesus was making.
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Look at verses 36 and 37. Here Jesus is going to illustrate the point. It says, "And he took a child." Where did he get the kid from? Well, where were they at again?
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They were in a house, and like I said, most scholars think that it was probably Peter's house. Was this one of Peter's children? Was it one of Andrew's children? Was it like Dennis the Menace, you know, the neighbor kid that's always coming over and I don't know but there was a kid in the house right right okay there's a kid in the house where did he get that kid from?
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that's not the point here's the point he took a child a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms he said to them whoever receives one such child in my name receives me and whoever receives me is me receives not me but him who sent me what does it mean to receive Jesus said whoever receives such a child what does what does it mean to receive well it can be translated accept, it can mean welcome. You look at parallel accounts, for example, this account is also in Matthew chapter 18, and in the context there Jesus is also teaching about guiding and protecting young believers, okay?
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So when you look at receiving, accepting, welcome, guiding, protecting, I just put that all under the heading of "bless." It's blessing someone.
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It's benefiting someone. Motivated from love.
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But understand that Jesus wasn't just talking about kids, right? Jesus wasn't like, "Here's my children's ministry seminar." He was using the child as an example.
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Notice He says, "Such a And here's the point. It's blessing someone and expecting nothing in return.
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That's why Jesus used a child.
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It's blessing someone and expecting nothing in return. Why he used the child as an example? Because children are needy and dependent. Have you noticed? Has anyone noticed that? Children are so stinking needy and so stinking dependent.
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My kids are nine and eight and I'll just be honest with you there are days that I'm just like come on I fed you yesterday. You're hungry already today?
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Hey, hey!
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What gives, man?
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You're sucking me dry high here, come on!
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Feel like you're Butler!
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Gosh, will there be anything else, your highness?
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So needy.
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You know, I spent time with you last week.
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You had a cup of water yesterday.
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Come on, children are so needy.
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That's the point.
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I talked about my son Owen last week, and you know, Owen does nothing, nothing for me.
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He does nothing for me. Oh my gosh, that's harsh. Just think about it.
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Owen doesn't personally benefit me.
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You see, it's not like Owen and I have this exchange agreement. I'm like, I'll tell you what, you mow the grass, you start researching for my sermon and you do my taxes and I'll feed you feed you today. It's like okay we kind of got this little bartering system going on where I do stuff for dad and dad and he does stuff for me. We don't have that going on.
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Understand it's all going one way in our house, right? It's going from parents to child in the provision, in the blessing, in the who's benefiting and who department.
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That's how it is with all children really. They have nothing to benefit you. No wisdom. I thought for sure I was gonna hear an amen from somebody on that one. All right, keep moving. No authority. They can't return the favor. And that's why I said in the point three, great people, people bless others, not themselves. You're like, what do you mean to bless yourself? What I mean is this.
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It's blessing someone with no ulterior motive. That's what it means no ulterior motive.
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Like, I'm going to be really nice to that guy because he has a swimming pool and it is hot, hot.
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We do that stuff, right?
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Hey, did you meet that new guy at church that has a pool?
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No, but I want to now.
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There's something in our minds.
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If I'm nice to him, he'll invite me over for a pool party.
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Or what if somebody visited this church and you found out that he was a very high and influential person in your line of work?
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And you're like, I'm making it my mission to be nice to that guy.
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I'm going to serve that guy.
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I'm going to make sure that that guy sees how awesome I am.
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That's ulterior motive.
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You're not serving out of love, you're serving out of what?
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I'm hoping that something in particular is going to be coming back my way on this.
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That's why Jesus, such a warm picture in picture, isn't it?
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There's the child in the midst of them.
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What does your Bible say?
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It says, "Took him in his arms." You see that picture?
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Jesus taking his child.
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And whoever receives, there's one such child in my name.
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is there is nothing self-serving about serving a child.
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Serving a child is done purely out of what?
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Purely out of love, right?
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Right?
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We already talked.
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Thompsons were blessed with a new daughter.
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And I know Dan and Alicia, they're not like, well, we're sort of obligated to take care of the child now.
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It's done out of love.
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Like, okay, well, we're gonna take care of her this week, but next week she better start carrying her share of the load around this house.
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It's done out of what?
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Done out of love.
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Done out of love.
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So here's the point.
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Jesus said, "Whoever receives one such child "of my name receives me.
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"And whoever receives me receives not me." Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?
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receives me receives not me but him who sent me." Here's the point. How you treat someone who can't repay and who can't reciprocate is how you treat Jesus.
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According to Jesus, it even goes into another dimension.
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How you treat someone who can't repay you or who can't reciprocate the favor is the way that you would treat God himself. I'd like to add one more thing.
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You can't miss this.
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When Jesus talks about how we should receive people, you realize that's how Jesus receives us.
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That's how Jesus receives us. For those of you that are born again believers in Christ, how did Jesus receive you? Was he looking down saying, "You know what, that Paul Fields is pretty cool.
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He's the kind of guy I want on my team." The truth is, I love you Paul, but the truth is you add nothing to Jesus.
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You don't.
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Jesus isn't any more awesome because you follow Him.
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And if you chose not to follow Him, that wouldn't make Him any less awesome.
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His degree of awesomeness is infinite.
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So understand, we don't bring anything, anything to the table in that relationship.
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What Jesus received us, He receives us purely out of what?
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Purely out of love.
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We don't add to Him.
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We don't benefit Him in the sense of there is something He would lack if we didn't follow him. There is something he would miss out on. If we did, we didn't worship him. Jesus would call us to receive others the way that he received you.
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Lift them up, serve them, and bless them because you love them.
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That is great.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 9:30-37
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another!
