Use Your Inside Voice

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.360 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.560 Turn in your bible to Matthew. Excuse me. Mark chapter three. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.919 I'll go to Matthew in a minute. I got so 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:28.840 much scripture. This is gonna be overwhelming today. I hope 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.560 you wore sweatpants because you're gonna get fat off of 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.480 this bread from heaven today. You need an elastic waistband 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:37.800 for this. God has been speaking to me because I 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:39.800 asked him. I said, God, give me a message for 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.600 your people, and he gave me so much to give. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.919 We'll see if we can get it done all in 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.879 this one session. Mark chapter three. I'm gonna pick up 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.360 at verse twenty. Do you remember a couple of years 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.520 ago I preached savage Jesus and we were saying, how 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:05.160 Jesus isn't solved, Jesus isn't scared. Jesus is so great 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.800 and so awesome and so powerful, and he's confident in 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.000 that way that true authority always carries itself to know 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.600 who he is and what he came to do. So 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.120 I figured we spend some time with him today, our example, 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.160 the author and finisher of our faith. Let's spend some 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.959 time with Jesus, seeing his example. In his days, things 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.959 were much different than they are now. There was a division, 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:35.399 political division, it was different. The Bible's not as relevant 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.760 in our times. But in his day there was uncertainty, 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.040 there was instability, and so he was dealing with things 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.840 that we don't deal with as an advanced civilization. But 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:47.640 let's see if we can find any help at all 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.400 from this quaint book called the Bible that has absolutely 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.920 no bearing on our current lives. That was sarcasm. I 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.040 can see them taking that and putting that on YouTube, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:02.480 So I have to okay, Mark three, verse twenty. This 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:04.400 is the message that I never got to preach from 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:09.960 savage Jesus, and so we're doing it today. Then Jesus 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:15.919 entered a house. Somebody say, come in my house. Lord, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.240 come on, come in my house, Come in this room, 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.720 Come in my kitchen. God, come in this house, right now, 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.160 come in my house, Come in my heart. Then Jesus 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.320 entered a house. And I believe he's come into your 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.799 house today too. Okay, not mister Rogers, but Jesus come 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.119 into your house right now. He said that he entered 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.520 a house. This is what Mark said. And a crowd 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.119 gathered so that he and his disciples were not even 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.280 able to eat. And when his family heard about this, 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.400 they went to take charge of him, for they said 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.760 he is out of his mind. And the teachers of 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.920 the law who came down from Jerusalem, said, he is 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:02.880 possessed by Beelzeble, by the prince of demons. He's driving 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:08.160 out demons. So Jesus called them over to him and 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.560 began to speak to them in parables. How can Satan 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:17.080 drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:23.640 that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:28.760 that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:35.160 is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come. In fact, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.040 no one can enter a strong man's house without first 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.800 tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house. Truly, 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.400 I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.000 and every slander they utter. Some of you better praise 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.440 God with the some of the stuff you've said. That's 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.320 a good verse. Let me read it again. People can 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.960 be forgiven all their sins and every facebook they utter. 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:10.040 I lost, y'all. But whoever blasphemes listen to this against 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.360 the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. They are guilty 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:18.120 of an eternal sin. He said this because they were 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.960 saying he has an impure spirit. Then Jesus' mother and 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:26.760 brothers arrived right just at that moment of pension, this 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:31.920 climax of conflict with the scribes. Here come his family members, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.039 and standing outside. I want you to pay attention to 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:44.120 this standing outside, they sent someone to call him. Standing outside, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:49.720 they sent someone in to call him. What I want 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:51.520 to talk to you today is from something you might 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.000 have heard in school from your teacher. The message is 0:04:55.040 --> 0:05:01.240 called use your inside voice. Did you ever have a 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.880 teacher tell you that? Did you ever tell those fifth 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.000 graders at Township three Elementary? Paul Holly was a school 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.280 teacher when we first got married, and she taught these 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:16.640 wild kids use your inside voice. And of course, you know, 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:18.560 I always love to talk about my kids any chance 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.320 I get, because I'm proud of them and using them 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.720 as sermon illustration, as a way that I have them 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.240 earn their keep around the house and they don't do 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:31.719 anything else. But I figure, Abby is what do you 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.400 call it? A paradox because she's the littlest one in 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:40.000 our family and the loudest, and we often wonder about Abby. 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.200 How can she be so little and so loud? It's 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.240 baffling to the mind. I had to slash back whilst 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.120 preparing this week, thinking about use your inside voice of 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:52.719 one time she came to me, and I'm not going 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.000 to make up what she said, because honestly don't remember, 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:59.120 but she was probably fussing about her brother's The odds 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.279 are very high that she that's what she was tweaked about. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.440 She said, uh, she says, A there's a lot of 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.839 people around. I think it was at church and he 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.640 was at church and there were people around. So she's 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.479 so loud and she doesn't even know how loud she is. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:19.400 And I say, baby, I'm listening, use your inside voice. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:24.760 She goes without adjusting her volume one decibel. This is 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:31.120 my inside voice. She was so confused, so frustrated. This 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.839 is my inside voice. I wonder about your inside voice, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.719 and what I wonder is what is your inside voice? 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.040 Mine would scare you my inside voice. I'm using that 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.520 not to mean my volume level. I'm using that to 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:53.240 mean my thought process and how critical I am of myself. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.640 Even right now, in this moment, there are two preachers preaching, 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.800 the one you hear and the one I hear. And 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.640 in between everything that the one you hear is saying, 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.320 the one I hear is trying to stop me from 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:15.080 saying what I'm saying, your inside voice, because I wonder 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.400 about your inside voice, because Holly's not that self critical 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.160 like I am, and I've often wished that I could 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.400 take a break from my brain and spend a day 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.000 inside of hers. I thought that would feel like a vacation, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.520 because she's really nice to herself. It turns out, and 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.120 one time we were watching this movie and they were 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.480 externalizing an inside voice, and it was so harsh and 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.400 it was so bad and it was almost demonic. And 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.160 I told her after the movie, I said, that's exactly 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.080 what it sounds like in my head. She's really that's 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.080 the dumbest movie scene I've ever seen in my life. 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.680 I didn't relate to it at all. And we were 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:56.840 watching the same movie and having a completely different experience 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:05.120 within our own minds. About your inside voice, Abby said, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.960 this is my inside voice. It's just normal to me. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.720 I just walk around talking at this volume all the time. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.720 Somebody asked me sometimes, are you the same off the 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:16.360 stage as on the stage. I was like, well, I 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.600 hope I have the same character, but I don't speak 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.200 at the same volume. It would be so weird to 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.800 walk in the house. You know, this is offside my pavia, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:31.800 sit down, they got the trash. This is all lotsed dishes. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:37.360 I don't do that at home. Liver approaches right. And 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.760 what I noticed about Jesus, I promised, this is a sermon. Uh, 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:42.840 this is a sermon from the Bible, from the passage 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.280 I just read you. What I noticed about Jesus is 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:52.280 that he was rarely, if ever, driven by the opinions 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:58.600 of outside voices. Think about it. I grew up hearing 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.320 all about how Jesus died for our sin, and he did. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:08.160 That's foundational. But what I wonder about for a lot 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.960 of us, your inside voice, my inside voice, All of 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.880 the voices that we consume on a daily basis, whether 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:15.720 we read them with our eyes or hear them with 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.120 our ears, all of the inputs, all of the noise 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.360 that I mentioned earlier. What I wonder about that is, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:26.600 have we accepted that Jesus died to forgive us for 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:32.720 our sin, but not experienced that he also died to 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:39.640 deliver us from cynicism. Can I preach for three and 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.800 a half hours today? Maybe we'll do that. Maybe we'll 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:45.520 just preach and chop it up and run it to 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.880 the end of the year. Because Jesus didn't just die 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:55.080 for my sin. He died for my cynical heart, which 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.960 I will mention multiple times in this message, but it's 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.320 all from the text. I mean, think about it. Jesus's 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:05.040 greatest struggle in life was not the temptation to sin. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.199 He was perfect, blameless, God of God. He was the 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.720 son of David. But he was also the Lamb slain 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.080 from the foundation of the earth. That means he was 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.720 perfectly pure. That means it no matter what he was 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.600 tempted with, he knew within who he was. Yet we 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:25.880 see him in this passage, like so many passages, dealing 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:34.199 with the cynicism of those he came to save, not 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:40.560 the people outside the church, but the passage I read. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:45.640 You said that the scribes king all the way from 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:50.200 Jerusalem to Capernaum, where he was doing his ministry around 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.360 the Sea of Galilee. Remember he was born in Bethlehem, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.160 grew up in Nazareth, and then he moved to Capernaum. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.600 That's cool. He moved away from where he came from 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:07.160 to do what he came to do. I'll come back 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.079 to that, I promise. If I forget, come up here 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:11.800 and tell me to go back to it, because it's 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:16.120 very important. Now. These rulers come from Jerusalem and they 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:23.160 come to accuse Jesus. They're fired up and mad, probably 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.360 not because of what he's doing, but because they are 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:30.640 not able to do it. So when you see someone 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.440 who is able to do something that you can't do, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.679 it is easier to criticize it than it is to 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:43.360 be challenged by it. For many of us, I feel 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:50.240 like preaching cynicism has become our strategy. It's how we 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:55.280 deal with disappointment. We don't get our hopes up, then 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:59.079 no one can bring them down. For many of us, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:03.160 cynicism sir as a shield to keep us from ever 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.600 exposing ourselves to the elements of mystery, which are the 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:14.240 essence of faith in God. These cynical scribes. Can I 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.760 tell you about the scribes. They had a lot of knowledge, 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:22.200 but they didn't have real wisdom. They had a lot 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.080 of knowledge. Information was their specialty. They were trained in 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.760 the law and discipline. These were not pornographers. These were 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.880 valued members, esteemed members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:42.760 Them that should have known that the one who was 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.720 the fulfillment of the law that they had expertly divined 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.920 was standing right in front of them, But they criticized 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.600 the very one that they spoke of, and they didn't 0:12:54.640 --> 0:13:00.800 even know it, because Jesus was doing weird stuff, healing 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.040 shriveled hands, packing out crowds. And I wanted to tell 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:09.320 you this, Annah. In Mark's Gospel it says crowd thirteen times, 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:15.400 and it's never positive. Me. As a preacher, I always 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:19.880 wanted to draw a crowd. But when Mark records his gospel, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.440 the thing that most preachers are trying to create was 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.880 the thing that actually got in Jesus' way of doing 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.960 what he came to do. That's not just for preachers. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.560 A lot of the times, the things that the world 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.600 celebrates actually get in the way of God doing what 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:42.480 he wants to do in your life. So everybody wants 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.400 to be busy, that's another way of saying crowded. But 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:49.360 sometimes our busyness is the very thing that keeps God 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.560 from doing his work his business. Now, now, Jesus said, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:58.680 I have to be about my father's business, not what 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.559 the crowds or the consumers wanted him to do. He 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.760 had to be about building what he called in this 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.960 passage his father's kingdom, or the Kingdom of God, the 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.520 kingdom of Heaven. It was a phrase that was unique 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:15.480 to Jesus. He came to inaugurate that kingdom, and he 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.920 was doing it. And in order to do that, he 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.320 had to drive out Satan. So this man comes to him, 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:23.640 and we don't read about him in Mark's Gospel, but 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.040 we read about him in the other gospels where he 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.520 was possessed with a demon and he couldn't speak, he 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.800 was mute, and he couldn't see, he was blind. And 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.520 so the Bible says that Jesus dealt with both of 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.920 those issues. And since we're talking about inside voice, it's 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:47.200 significant that the man left speaking right, that the man 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.240 who could not speak now could speak. Hold that for 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:55.760 a moment, now here come. The Pharisees describes it was 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.560 their job to interpret the law, and now they can't 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.800 even interpret the actions of the one who stands in 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.840 front of them to fulfill the law. I'm going deep today, 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.200 Are you with me? So? What God showed me in 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.480 this context is that the cynicism of the scribes was 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.360 one thing because they had too much knowledge, and it 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:23.040 blocked wisdom. Too much noise, too much of how we 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.320 think things are supposed to be, too much of our 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.120 mastery of God closes us from the mystery of God, 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.800 and it makes you cynical. It makes you start to 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:45.480 think that you know God better than God. Before he 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:51.240 died for our sin, he had to deal with their cynicism. Now, 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.040 can I really freak you out? Go to Matthew twelve 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.680 Real Quick twenty five. This is the same account. He 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.080 heals this demon possessed man, and the scribes don't like it. 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:06.640 They don't like it. It threatens them. So they do 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.200 what we do when we get threatened. They criticize, They 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.920 become cynical. They don't want to learn anything, They don't 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:19.240 really want to experience what God came to bring. They 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.520 just want to defend themselves. You know how you hide 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.600 your own dysfunction. I'm not breaking it down fine enough 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.200 for you. You You know the thoughts you have when you 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.240 go through your Instagram feed about other people. A lot 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.560 of those are designed to keep you from having to 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:42.800 be alone with you. So the scribes have their scrolls right, 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:49.040 and they interpreted the scrolls. What's it called when you're 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:58.200 on your phone? Say that they and they accuse him 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.160 of doing the devil's work, but they don't do it 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.240 out loud. This is what I want to show you 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:12.040 Verse twenty five. Jesus knew their thoughts. If that happened 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.919 every time you came to church, your stuff coming, be 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.800 honest about it. Come on, tell me about your inside voice. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.240 I've told you about mine. Mine will tell me the 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:28.480 most horrible things about myself about others. It is unthinkable. 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.600 It is not Pg. Thirteen what my inside voice says 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.800 to me. I'm sorry, but it's not King James English. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.760 I'm sorry, it's not Greek, it's not its compound. Cuss 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.919 words is cuss words in tongues, is cuss words that 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.720 bypass cultural cuss words. I'm talking about my inside voice, 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:53.080 and Jesus heard what they said in their heart. So 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.520 it goes to show you can have all the words right, 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.320 you can sing all the songs, you can do all 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:04.800 the stuff, you can call yourself a certain label. Jesus 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.760 knew their thoughts, and we think that he came to 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:13.080 deal with our external values. He came to deal with 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:19.160 your inside voice. I want to talk about your inside voice. 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.320 I want to talk about the temptations that you don't 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.439 bring up in e group. Ah ah. They are not 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.399 Zoom appropriate, they are not church appropriate. You don't need 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:38.719 to tell anybody. But he knew their thoughts. The word 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:45.240 was made flesh. That means he already knows. He knows 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:51.439 it before you speak it. It's so silly what we 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:56.240 try to hide from God. When he hears your inside voice. 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.879 He hears your inside voice. One scripture says that his 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.320 spirit interprets their grooms. When you don't know what to pray, 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.080 and you can't find anything to pray, and all you 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.879 can barely do is move your lips, he interprets that 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:14.960 the scribes can't do it, the Savior can't. He knows 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.560 how to interpret the events of your life. He's good 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:23.040 at that, but we're not. So they see him he 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.120 makes a mute man speak and they go, that must 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.880 be the devil. Because you know in church we love 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:35.399 nothing more than to blame the devil. We should do 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:37.160 a word count of one of my sermons one day 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.080 and see if I say Jesus or the devil more 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:45.840 in my sermon, I might be embarrassed. Well, we do 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.320 it all the time, when we give the devil credit 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:56.360 for something that God is actually trying to do. That's 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.480 what they were doing in the passage. Oh, the devil 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:04.359 did that. The devil attacked me. I was the devil. 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:06.639 It wasn't the devil. And I don't know. If you 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:08.760 want to write this down, you write it down. The 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:14.240 devil didn't do it. The devil didn't do it. Sometimes 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:20.560 your decisions did it. The devil didn't wreck your car. 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.760 You're trying to turn the radio station at the same 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:27.720 time you tried to return the text that wrecked your car. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.520 That wasn't the devil. That's what Jesus said. The devil 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:35.399 didn't do this. In fact, it was Jesus doing it. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:42.280 But they blamed the devil. It's like this voice that 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:49.280 always makes you a victim, this voice that always tries 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.560 to give the devil credit for things that God is 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.480 actually doing. It'tn' crazy that the Kingdom of God was coming, 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:02.120 but their cynicism stopped them from participating in it. Oh, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.320 the number of times that you and I have missed 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.720 the God who was in our midst and the miracles 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:13.040 he was performing because of a cynical spirit. And I'm 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.119 going to show you where all that comes from in 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.879 the text. See in the text, you have a contrast 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.639 is the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:26.880 Did you notice that he said if Satan's kingdom is divided, 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.080 it will fall. And the crazy thing about it is 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:36.399 Satan is more strategic about his kingdom than a lot 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:42.080 of God's children are about God's kingdom, because we do 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.879 all the time what the devil knows better than to 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:49.200 ever do. He says, Satan won't fight Satan. He's bringing 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:54.439 a kingdom. But we, as God's children, we don't have 0:21:54.640 --> 0:22:01.160 enough good sense, so we embrace strategies of cynicism, and 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:06.560 we call it wisdom. So let me tell you something 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:08.520 and it'll come up on the screen when I say 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.720 it online later, not right now. They'll put it on later, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:13.440 And I promise you's gonna come up on the screen. 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:24.920 Cynicism is counterfeit wisdom. It looks like wisdom. It looks 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:28.879 like that tag Lawyer watch that I bought for thirty 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.080 dollars in New York. It looked like a tag. It 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:37.080 wasn't a tag. It looks like the truth. It isn't 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:42.080 the truth. It looks like righteousness. It's not righteousness. It 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:49.359 looks like faith. It's really manipulation. Cynicism is counter It's 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:53.480 as fake as that Louis v. Gucci bag that you 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.720 picked up online from an It's as fake as that. 0:22:57.040 --> 0:22:59.879 When you go through life with a cynical spirit, that 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.480 is not the spirit of God. And let me just 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:07.080 tell you something right now, I don't intend to run 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.879 this pulpit with the spirit of cynicism. No matter what 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:16.959 happens in the world. Gospel means good news, good news, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:22.520 good news, freedom. I'm gonna preach that for this pulpit. 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:30.040 I'm gonna preach that from this pulpit. How about your pulpit? 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:40.000 Whose report? Will you believe? Bus Her inside voice, So 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:42.879 he's building this kingdom in the contrast. At first I 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.680 thought it was God versus Satan. Then I thought, well, 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:49.320 that's kind of it. But it's something else too, And 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:55.440 then I thought, well, maybe it's maybe it's maybe it's 0:23:56.920 --> 0:23:59.680 maybe it's about the strong man versus the weak man, 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.360 because in the text too. And then there's this verse 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:04.880 that people worry about where it says, if you've blasting 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:07.160 the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven. And people 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.560 are thinking, oh, no, have I done that? But if 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:13.120 you're even asking have I done that, you haven't done that, 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:16.680 because that is the Holy Spirit convicting you, which means 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:19.080 that you are not denying His work inside of you. 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.120 So when he says anything you say or do can 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:24.960 be forgiven, that's based on the finished work of Christ 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:29.359 that he was completing. But what cannot be forgiven is 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:35.880 a sin that you will not deal with. And that's 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.800 why he mentions the Holy Spirit. So on one hand, 0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:43.280 you have the kingdom of Satan versus the Kingdom of God. 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:46.359 On the other hand, there's like a division, he says, 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:49.360 a house divided against his self. He's talking about the 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:55.720 eternal versus the temporal, the eternal versus the ephemeral, what 0:24:55.960 --> 0:25:00.399 lasts forever versus what's gonna wither in faith word of 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:03.720 the Lord versus the values of the world. But here 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:05.600 came the real thing for me, and it went all 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:07.320 the way back to the beginning. Do you remember how 0:25:07.359 --> 0:25:10.919 when I started reading the text in verse twenty, I 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:17.600 stopped and said, then Jesus entered a house. And you're 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:19.240 probably thinking, like, come on, man, get on with it, 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.200 you know, don't make a big deal about this. No, no, no, 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:27.400 Everything significant that happens in this text happens on the inside. 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:36.320 He entered a house, probably Simon's house, Peter's house. That's 0:25:36.359 --> 0:25:38.359 where he stayed in Capernaum. Yeah, that's where he stayed. 0:25:39.119 --> 0:25:43.560 And they probably just got done repairing the roof because 0:25:43.600 --> 0:25:46.560 in Mark chapter two, there was a big crow and 0:25:46.600 --> 0:25:48.280 the man who really needed help couldn't get in, so 0:25:48.280 --> 0:25:49.880 they tore off the roof to get the men down 0:25:49.880 --> 0:25:53.520 to Jesus. So now the roof is freshly repaired, there's 0:25:53.560 --> 0:25:57.280 another crow. Peter's telling Mark the gospel. He's the one 0:25:57.280 --> 0:25:59.359 who gave Mark the account to write, and Mark wrote 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:01.920 it for Peter. So Peter puts in there, we didn't 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:06.400 even have a chance to eat. I think that's probably 0:26:06.520 --> 0:26:09.280 due to what he was really focused on, you know, like, 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:12.240 of all the things to remember, Jesus is driving out devils, 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:16.159 and Peter's like and we miss lunch, you know, we 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:23.159 get focused on the temporal. But really the contrast that 0:26:23.160 --> 0:26:28.000 I want to bring up is external internal, because not 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:32.760 only is Jesus receiving criticism and opposition from the scribes, 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:41.040 but his own family. I never heard more people tell 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:44.439 me than this year, in fourteen years of pastoring, how 0:26:44.480 --> 0:26:48.480 they're not even speaking to their own family. It's got 0:26:48.520 --> 0:26:50.560 us so divided with different things that are going on. 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:57.320 And yet when I preach the passage, everybody thinks they're Jesus. 0:27:03.320 --> 0:27:07.439 Everybody thinks they're Jesus. So if I preach this and 0:27:07.480 --> 0:27:10.720 I say his family was standing on the outside of 0:27:10.760 --> 0:27:17.880 the house, everybody thinks that they're Jesus in the passage. 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:22.560 And I came with something real deep to tell you, you 0:27:22.400 --> 0:27:31.400 you and Jesus. In Jesus, I see a wife elbowing 0:27:31.400 --> 0:27:33.400 her husband right now on a couch in Minnesota, saying, 0:27:33.440 --> 0:27:35.040 you and Jesus, I did not tell you to tell 0:27:35.080 --> 0:27:38.120 your neighbor that. But listen to me when I say this. 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:43.480 The secret to Jesus doing his father's will, and the 0:27:43.480 --> 0:27:44.960 secret to you doing the will of God, and the 0:27:45.000 --> 0:27:47.719 secret to you not going crazy in this season of 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:51.960 life and with what the world is going through, is 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:56.439 going to be the voices that you respond to. The 0:27:56.520 --> 0:27:59.360 voices that you respond to are going to come mainly 0:28:00.119 --> 0:28:03.600 on what you surround yourself with. God help me preach it. 0:28:04.720 --> 0:28:08.120 What made Jesus so strong? Remember he said, I'm gonna 0:28:08.160 --> 0:28:11.200 go in the house of Satan and I'm gonna tie 0:28:11.240 --> 0:28:14.440 him up. And if I bind the strong man, if 0:28:14.480 --> 0:28:18.479 somebody greater, somebody stronger, he says, I am binding Satan. 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:21.199 That's what he was doing. Now. He could not bind 0:28:21.359 --> 0:28:26.159 Satan if he was fighting with people. So when he 0:28:26.200 --> 0:28:29.840 gets to the point where the scribes are criticizing him, 0:28:29.960 --> 0:28:33.040 and they're not even saying it out loud, but they're 0:28:33.080 --> 0:28:35.880 saying it in their heart, one translation says, they reasoned 0:28:35.880 --> 0:28:38.360 in their heart. Look what Jesus did in verse twenty three. 0:28:38.400 --> 0:28:42.360 You got it on the screen verse twenty three. No, no, no, 0:28:42.400 --> 0:28:46.040 I'm talking about Mark three twenty three. I'm sorry. I 0:28:46.040 --> 0:28:47.760 think I gave them the whole New Testament to get 0:28:47.800 --> 0:28:50.480 ready for the sermon today. Here it is, so Jesus 0:28:50.560 --> 0:28:57.400 called them over to him. They're over on the other 0:28:57.480 --> 0:29:01.680 side of the room. The scribes thinking about what Jesus 0:29:01.720 --> 0:29:07.960 just did. But he doesn't shout. He calls them over 0:29:09.280 --> 0:29:17.120 so he can use his his what, his why. See, 0:29:17.560 --> 0:29:26.000 real power doesn't have to show. He called them over. 0:29:27.560 --> 0:29:32.000 He knew where he came from, he knew who he was. 0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:38.840 Do you do you I'm checking on your inside voice. 0:29:40.760 --> 0:29:44.880 On one hand, externally speaking, I am the child of 0:29:45.160 --> 0:29:50.400 faith Bracy Lyles Ferdick. On one hand, speaking genetically, I 0:29:50.440 --> 0:29:53.400 am the son of Larry Stevens Ferdick. I am Larry 0:29:53.440 --> 0:29:57.600 Stevens Furdick, Jr. On one hand, but that's not where 0:29:57.600 --> 0:30:01.800 I came from. Do you know where you come from? 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:03.800 Let me show you in first John where you came from. 0:30:03.880 --> 0:30:06.600 You're ready for this? Now, where did Jesus come from? 0:30:08.600 --> 0:30:12.040 I just told you. He was born in Bethlehem. He 0:30:12.120 --> 0:30:15.840 grew up in Nazareth. He went to Capernaum. But in 0:30:15.960 --> 0:30:21.160 the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, 0:30:22.960 --> 0:30:28.920 and the Word was God. So Jesus didn't come from Mary. 0:30:29.880 --> 0:30:35.560 He came through Mary. So and his family showed up 0:30:35.840 --> 0:30:38.120 and said, Hey, here's what you gotta do. And the 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:40.600 scribes showed up from the synagogue and said, hey, here's 0:30:40.640 --> 0:30:44.080 what you gotta do. And everybody had an opinion. Jesus 0:30:44.280 --> 0:30:50.240 was not driven by their opinions. He was steered by 0:30:50.280 --> 0:30:56.520 the will of his father. Are you are you? Because 0:30:56.600 --> 0:30:59.520 if you're not, you're going to be tossed and driven 0:30:59.760 --> 0:31:03.040 with the wind, and your emotions are going to ruin 0:31:03.360 --> 0:31:10.680 your life, and your cynicism is going to constrict your wisdom. 0:31:10.840 --> 0:31:14.320 First John four, where do you come from? Ask somebody, 0:31:14.360 --> 0:31:16.640 where do you come from? Look at them in the 0:31:16.680 --> 0:31:18.920 pupils of their eyes. Y'all didn't say it in the room. 0:31:20.040 --> 0:31:22.800 Where do you come from? Ask them again, where do 0:31:22.840 --> 0:31:25.480 you come from? You don't even have to answer. I'm 0:31:25.520 --> 0:31:28.880 going to answer it. You ready for this? This is 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:31.800 first John four, verse four. I love this Bible verse. 0:31:31.840 --> 0:31:33.239 I've quoted it a lot. I don't think I ever 0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:35.400 understood it till this week. One John four four? Are 0:31:35.400 --> 0:31:48.280 you ready? You, dear children, are from God? Check this morning? Okay? 0:31:48.920 --> 0:31:59.719 You are from God and have overcome them? You you 0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:04.080 from God and have overcome them because the one who 0:32:04.200 --> 0:32:11.959 is It's hard for me to say this like I 0:32:12.000 --> 0:32:15.680 want to say it. It's so powerful to me. It 0:32:15.760 --> 0:32:17.880 reminds me of a lady. She came up to me 0:32:17.920 --> 0:32:20.880 one time after I preached. She had a deep Southern accent, 0:32:21.440 --> 0:32:26.400 and she said, aren't you from Monk's Corner, South Carolina? 0:32:26.960 --> 0:32:31.840 I said, yes, ma'am. She said, I'm from Somerville, which 0:32:31.880 --> 0:32:35.320 is only twenty miles from Monk's Corner or so, and 0:32:35.360 --> 0:32:38.360 that's where my rival the high school team football team, 0:32:38.400 --> 0:32:41.080 the Somerville Greenway. So I said, well, I won't hold 0:32:41.120 --> 0:32:43.760 that against you. You know, that little small town humor, 0:32:43.800 --> 0:32:45.920 you know, give her that little Monk's Corner. I said, well, 0:32:45.960 --> 0:32:48.520 I won't hold it against you because I'm a Berkeley 0:32:48.560 --> 0:32:51.200 Stag and they're the Greenway. I said, it's all right. 0:32:51.360 --> 0:32:53.560 She said, well, then I got a question for you. 0:32:53.640 --> 0:32:57.680 If you're from Monk's Corner, why don't you talk like 0:32:57.720 --> 0:33:06.720 where you come from? She said this about my accent, 0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:14.160 But I want to ask this about your attitude. Now. 0:33:14.520 --> 0:33:18.440 I just read you a Bible verse. I just read 0:33:18.520 --> 0:33:23.600 you a Bible verse that said you are a child 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:26.320 of God. Helljae. I didn't get a B twelve shot, 0:33:26.360 --> 0:33:31.600 Give me a B three. You are a child of God, 0:33:32.760 --> 0:33:36.959 So why don't you talk like where you come from? 0:33:37.320 --> 0:33:41.280 You'll come from God, You'll come from royalty, He'll flow 0:33:41.440 --> 0:33:49.520 from his side, shock, like where you come from. I'm 0:33:49.520 --> 0:33:54.000 looking for thirty people to have church with, So watch this. 0:33:55.160 --> 0:34:00.440 Let the week say, I am trust, I come from strength, 0:34:00.800 --> 0:34:06.160 I cut from the rock. I come from the world. WHOA, 0:34:07.240 --> 0:34:11.600 I don't come from Nazarin. I don't come from Month's corner. 0:34:12.360 --> 0:34:16.200 I didn't come from Larry. I came from the Lord. 0:34:17.000 --> 0:34:22.279 I haven't inheritance. I'm a fack y'all do her real quick, 0:34:22.640 --> 0:34:27.359 give God twenty seconds of praise. Let you know where 0:34:27.440 --> 0:34:35.319 you come from. You are a royal priesthood. You are 0:34:36.280 --> 0:34:45.520 a holy nation. To declare the praises, to declare the praises, 0:34:46.239 --> 0:34:51.359 to declare the praises, to declare the praises. Anybody can 0:34:51.440 --> 0:34:56.279 describe the problem, to declare the praises. It doesn't take 0:34:56.400 --> 0:34:59.680 faith to be cynical. It doesn't take smart to be 0:34:59.760 --> 0:35:10.440 said Nicole. It takes faith to contradict your circumstance with 0:35:10.560 --> 0:35:17.040 your confession right there in the chat. Say I'm talking 0:35:17.160 --> 0:35:20.399 like where I come from. I'm talking like she said. 0:35:20.400 --> 0:35:23.440 You don't talk like you're from Monk's corner. Some of y'all, 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.719 you don't talk like you don't talk like you You 0:35:26.840 --> 0:35:29.879 know that his blood was shed for you. You talk 0:35:29.960 --> 0:35:32.880 to yourself like you're workless. I'm not even talking about 0:35:32.880 --> 0:35:34.759 what you say to other people. I'm talking about how 0:35:34.800 --> 0:35:42.200 we talk to ourself. I'm talking about the inside voice. 0:35:41.120 --> 0:35:49.920 God said, let us make man in our image. You you, 0:35:49.920 --> 0:35:53.680 you were me in his image. Paul said, you are 0:35:53.920 --> 0:36:00.000 God's workmanship created in Christ before the world got started. 0:36:01.320 --> 0:36:05.760 What gave Jesus the authority to focus on his assignment? 0:36:05.880 --> 0:36:08.120 And what's going to help you do it as a mom, 0:36:08.440 --> 0:36:11.200 as a man? What's going to help you to still 0:36:11.280 --> 0:36:13.480 know who you are even though the addictions that you 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:17.040 carry say otherwise. Because I'm telling you God knows what's 0:36:17.080 --> 0:36:19.799 going on inside of your heart today. I don't he does. 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:25.880 But even still before any of that, before any of 0:36:25.920 --> 0:36:34.240 those layers of life that labeled you, you children of God, 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:43.600 dear children, have overcouse, greater is He? That is, if 0:36:43.640 --> 0:36:47.319 I could teach you one thing about God today, I 0:36:47.360 --> 0:36:49.120 can't tell you who he is because that would take 0:36:49.840 --> 0:36:52.040 the rest of my life to even read the introduction. 0:36:54.520 --> 0:36:56.160 But I can tell you where he is in one 0:36:56.200 --> 0:37:09.319 word inside. So look at the rest of the text 0:37:09.400 --> 0:37:13.000 in first John, It's very powerful, he said in verse five, 0:37:16.200 --> 0:37:18.400 they are from the world, and therefore speak from the 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:23.960 viewpoint of the world. How can we have God's spirit 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:30.600 and speak Satan's language? How can Satan drive out satan 0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:38.400 Cynicism is counterfeit strategy. The real wisdom of God is 0:37:38.440 --> 0:37:43.800 peaceable and pure, and it creates more faith, not less. 0:37:43.840 --> 0:37:55.560 But who are you listening to? Voices become viewpoints. He 0:37:55.680 --> 0:37:58.279 said that you come from God, but you listen to 0:37:58.320 --> 0:38:02.680 the world. You come from God, but you listen to 0:38:02.800 --> 0:38:06.280 the opinions of people who don't have your best interest 0:38:06.320 --> 0:38:09.360 at heart. I know everybody's trying to read into what 0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:11.880 I'm saying, because you can't say anything anymore without it 0:38:11.880 --> 0:38:15.560 being political. I'm saying first John four or five is 0:38:15.560 --> 0:38:21.880 what I'm saying, that worldly values have no place in 0:38:21.920 --> 0:38:25.520 the heart of a Christian. Here froud preacher ass wholen smoke. 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:29.520 The Bible don't even have cigarettes in it. This is 0:38:29.560 --> 0:38:34.560 not about the external stuff. That's not what he's writing about. 0:38:34.960 --> 0:38:38.319 He's saying, there are false prophets that have come and 0:38:38.360 --> 0:38:40.839 the way you can recognize put it back up verse five. 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:43.319 He says, they speak from the viewpoint of the world. 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:51.200 You see it. Voices become viewpoints. Voices become viewpoints. What 0:38:51.239 --> 0:38:57.480 you hear gets in your heart, what you scroll gets 0:38:57.480 --> 0:39:02.080 in your spirit. I'm helping somebody in the most practical 0:39:02.120 --> 0:39:04.839 way today. Help me help them, Lord, help me help them. Lord. 0:39:05.080 --> 0:39:10.359 The Lord said, this is why you're stressed. Cynicism is 0:39:10.400 --> 0:39:17.440 not wisdom, It's a sickness. They are from the world. 0:39:17.560 --> 0:39:20.120 They speak like the world. Why would we have the 0:39:20.160 --> 0:39:25.640 spirit of God and speak the language of satan? Just 0:39:25.680 --> 0:39:30.439 the things we say to ourselves about ourselves? He said, 0:39:30.440 --> 0:39:33.200 the world listens to them. But wat's what I found 0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:37.440 in verse six. I love this. We are from God, 0:39:39.640 --> 0:39:45.960 and whoever knows God listens to us. That really got me, man, 0:39:47.680 --> 0:39:51.080 because I pictured Jesus. There's a crowd around him and 0:39:51.120 --> 0:39:54.120 they want something from him. How many you feel like 0:39:54.120 --> 0:39:56.600 there's people that want things from you all the time. 0:39:58.120 --> 0:39:59.839 I know you're sitting next to him, so you can't 0:39:59.840 --> 0:40:01.960 really raise your hand on that point. I know I 0:40:01.960 --> 0:40:07.560 hear your inside voice, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:12.560 of God made flesh, the incarnate, eternal in itself. That's 0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:18.839 a contradiction, is standing with the crowd, surrounded by scribes, 0:40:20.520 --> 0:40:24.360 and even dealing with the cynicism of his own family right, 0:40:25.520 --> 0:40:29.560 but he knew where he came from. We are from 0:40:29.600 --> 0:40:33.239 God this week in your heart. I want you to 0:40:33.320 --> 0:40:35.200 and don't start playing self music because I'm not closing. 0:40:36.680 --> 0:40:38.439 I want you to talk like where you come from. 0:40:40.920 --> 0:40:44.560 Talk like where you come from, or another way to 0:40:44.600 --> 0:40:48.560 say it. Use your inside voice. The world is so 0:40:48.680 --> 0:40:51.560 loud you think it's normal, Like Abby, this is my 0:40:51.680 --> 0:40:55.120 inside voice. I'm just a pessimistic person. That's just the 0:40:55.120 --> 0:41:00.279 way I am. What about the great I am? I 0:41:00.400 --> 0:41:03.040 thought we just read a verse that said greater is 0:41:03.080 --> 0:41:05.920 he that is in you than he that is in 0:41:05.960 --> 0:41:12.160 the world. So what about that? Voices become viewpoints? Right? 0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:16.520 I thought you were seated in heavenly places with Jesus 0:41:16.760 --> 0:41:20.520 where he reigns. So what are you doing down in 0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:27.040 the sewer of cynicism? The real issue isn't whether our 0:41:27.120 --> 0:41:31.879 nation is divided. The real issue is whether your heart 0:41:32.000 --> 0:41:40.200 is divided. Do you really trust his authority? Jesus had 0:41:40.360 --> 0:41:43.680 internal authority. You know what that means. He didn't need 0:41:43.719 --> 0:41:47.520 other people to tell him who he was. That's so cool. 0:41:47.560 --> 0:41:53.080 Wouldn't you like to get there? I would. You're already there, Andrew, 0:41:53.080 --> 0:41:55.880 but I've still got some work to do. Right. If 0:41:55.920 --> 0:41:57.880 I had your beard, I'd be more confident too. But 0:41:59.239 --> 0:42:02.120 look at Jesus. In verse twenty eight, he says something. 0:42:02.320 --> 0:42:05.040 You can't really get the full sense of it in English, 0:42:05.280 --> 0:42:09.239 but go back to Mark three twenty eight. Truly, I 0:42:09.320 --> 0:42:16.320 tell you this phrase is only recorded from the lips 0:42:16.320 --> 0:42:19.120 of Jesus in the whole New Testament in this way, 0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:23.480 And let me tell you what's interesting about it. Usually 0:42:23.480 --> 0:42:27.640 when a priest or a prophet would prophesy, they would say, 0:42:27.800 --> 0:42:32.160 thus say it the Lord, and the people would say amen. 0:42:33.880 --> 0:42:36.840 It was a response to what was spoken that confirmed 0:42:36.880 --> 0:42:40.920 the truth of it, or a witness everybody say amen, 0:42:42.040 --> 0:42:44.680 say it louder, say amen, Come on, say it like 0:42:44.719 --> 0:42:50.160 you're from Monks Corner, South Carolina, Pentecostal Holiness Church. That 0:42:50.440 --> 0:42:55.719 was terrible. Don't ever do that again. That's terrible. Well, 0:42:55.760 --> 0:42:58.160 in the text it says truly, I tell you, but 0:42:58.239 --> 0:43:01.160 the actual literal translation is a man, I tell you 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:07.280 the truth. What's weird about it is he said amen first. 0:43:08.960 --> 0:43:12.839 He is the only one who does that. I don't 0:43:12.840 --> 0:43:14.360 mean to bore you today. I know you want to 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:16.080 get back to count in ballots, but can I talk 0:43:16.080 --> 0:43:20.640 about the Bible for three seconds, for three seconds? Can 0:43:20.719 --> 0:43:25.400 the Lord have three seconds of your attention? All right? Then? See, 0:43:25.520 --> 0:43:29.520 let me read this to you. Witherington said in his commentary, 0:43:29.960 --> 0:43:33.200 I read this really expensive book to be able to 0:43:33.239 --> 0:43:36.960 tell you the significance of this moment. And Jesus goes 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:39.920 on to say this in March's Gospel over and over again, 0:43:40.080 --> 0:43:44.480 the phrase is, amen, I tell you the truth. Amen, 0:43:45.040 --> 0:43:47.880 I say to you. And this is the first instance 0:43:47.920 --> 0:43:51.759 in Mark. But listen. This phrase, which was characteristic of 0:43:51.840 --> 0:43:56.040 Jesus get ready to shout, suggests that he felt free 0:43:56.360 --> 0:44:08.200 to vouch for himself. It was a real expensive book, 0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:11.720 so I got to read it again. This phrase, a man, 0:44:12.040 --> 0:44:15.720 I tell you suggests that he felt free to vouch 0:44:15.800 --> 0:44:22.080 for himself and the truth of his own word without 0:44:22.239 --> 0:44:28.719 requiring external human testimony to his truthfulness. So I want 0:44:28.719 --> 0:44:31.880 you to say amen. I want you to say it again. 0:44:32.640 --> 0:44:35.279 I want you to say it again. I want you 0:44:35.320 --> 0:44:39.080 to learn how to say a man from within. What 0:44:39.160 --> 0:44:41.719 I mean is I want you to get to the 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:44.239 point in your faith. And I want to get to 0:44:44.280 --> 0:44:47.120 the point in my life where I do not wait 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:52.440 for humans to validate my identity or for events to 0:44:52.600 --> 0:44:56.600 validate my optimism. I want to be able to watch this, 0:44:57.120 --> 0:45:01.720 to say a man to begin with, So say amen. 0:45:03.120 --> 0:45:05.160 If you know who you are, you can say that 0:45:05.280 --> 0:45:07.640 and not wait for anybody else to say it for you. 0:45:09.160 --> 0:45:11.600 If you know what he's spoken, if you know what 0:45:11.680 --> 0:45:14.319 he said, if you know where you come from, you 0:45:14.360 --> 0:45:18.560 can start your This is so grammatically incorrect, but theologically 0:45:18.680 --> 0:45:21.719 is so powerful because Jesus wasn't waiting on anybody else 0:45:21.760 --> 0:45:27.080 for an amen. He wasn't waiting for anybody else. He 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:30.799 wasn't waiting for anybody else. He had an amen that 0:45:30.880 --> 0:45:37.000 came from within. And I think we've lost that. I 0:45:37.040 --> 0:45:39.360 think we are so consumed with the voices of others 0:45:39.400 --> 0:45:44.080 that we can't even hear our Father, and then we 0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:48.279 start asking God to take away things that we put 0:45:48.320 --> 0:45:52.400 in our hearts through the wrong voices. But today the 0:45:52.440 --> 0:45:54.479 Lord said, it's going to be a better work week 0:45:54.560 --> 0:46:02.720 for you, cause you're gonna begin with Amen. Clap your hands. 0:46:06.680 --> 0:46:09.319 I'm gonna try that again. Clap your hands like you're 0:46:09.360 --> 0:46:15.359 not at the masters. Clap your hands like what God's there, 0:46:15.360 --> 0:46:20.080 you go, clap your hands. I'm on the thirteen of y'all, 0:46:21.360 --> 0:46:27.200 I'm any thirty of y'all. I'm any somebody to clap 0:46:27.280 --> 0:46:39.200 your hands if you receive this word, so Jesus. Jesus, 0:46:39.920 --> 0:46:44.000 who was surrounded by cynicism, was not driven by the 0:46:44.040 --> 0:46:48.319 agendas of others. He was led by the spirit of God. 0:46:49.719 --> 0:46:55.759 We make this our prayer. God. We came today so 0:46:55.840 --> 0:46:59.680 you could deal with our inside voice. We've been saying, 0:46:59.719 --> 0:47:07.600 a man to the world's values and the world's vocabulary. Lord, 0:47:07.640 --> 0:47:12.120 help me to begin my day with amen. So be it, Yes, Lord, 0:47:12.320 --> 0:47:16.560 agreement with you. I agree with you. You say I'm 0:47:16.640 --> 0:47:18.960 your child. I agree with you. You say I can 0:47:18.960 --> 0:47:21.279 make it. I agree with you. You say you got me. 0:47:21.480 --> 0:47:25.640 I agree with you. Why in the world will we 0:47:25.680 --> 0:47:28.400 allow the language of the enemy to permeate the heart 0:47:29.120 --> 0:47:33.720 of a child of God. Everyone's standing, everyone's standing, everyone's standing. 0:47:35.680 --> 0:47:38.040 A woman told me one time, I know I'm doing 0:47:38.080 --> 0:47:40.680 all these quotes today, But she said, I say amen 0:47:40.719 --> 0:47:42.760 when you're preaching, but I just don't say it out loud. 0:47:44.040 --> 0:47:46.000 She said, don't ever think that I'm not listening to you. 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:50.400 I'm saying amen on the inside. Everybody in here is 0:47:50.440 --> 0:47:55.000 saying amen to something on the inside, coming into agreement 0:47:55.040 --> 0:48:01.440 with viewpoints and values on the inside. Jesus said something 0:48:01.560 --> 0:48:08.080 very interesting when his mother and his brothers came to 0:48:08.120 --> 0:48:13.480 the door and they said, get out here, go back 0:48:13.480 --> 0:48:16.240 to Nazareth. You know, you know that voice that always 0:48:16.239 --> 0:48:19.520 tries to call you back to what's familiar, even if 0:48:19.520 --> 0:48:22.719 it's not good for you. Come on, now, you got 0:48:22.719 --> 0:48:27.200 to go back to Nazareth. Jesus had an inside voice. 0:48:27.480 --> 0:48:36.280 He knew what his father had spoken. Voices become viewpoints. 0:48:38.000 --> 0:48:41.279 Jesus wasn't going to be driven by something from the outside. 0:48:41.920 --> 0:48:45.200 He was steered by the spirit of God on the inside. 0:48:45.440 --> 0:48:50.640 Am I are you? Or have you got so much 0:48:50.800 --> 0:48:55.600 noise that you don't even notice God's voice anymore when 0:48:55.640 --> 0:49:00.879 he speaks. I gotta confess I'm guilty most of the time. 0:49:00.920 --> 0:49:04.200 I preach to you what I pray to God about. 0:49:05.640 --> 0:49:07.759 Help me with this, Lord, how many needs some help? 0:49:07.760 --> 0:49:13.680 With your inside voice? You got it? He said. Greater 0:49:13.800 --> 0:49:15.640 is he that's in you than he that's in the world. 0:49:16.880 --> 0:49:20.880 And I believe that the voice you give attention to, 0:49:22.480 --> 0:49:28.839 that's the one you're going to experience. Jesus said, I'm 0:49:28.880 --> 0:49:33.239 not going to be driven by the opinions of anyone. 0:49:33.360 --> 0:49:37.200 I'm moving according to my Father's agenda. He used his 0:49:37.320 --> 0:49:43.520 inside voice. God, help us to hear your voice of 0:49:43.560 --> 0:49:47.239 wisdom in this moment. Somebody right now is making big 0:49:47.280 --> 0:49:49.440 decisions in their life. They're deciding whether to move or 0:49:49.440 --> 0:49:53.760 to stay, whether to sell or to buy. Somebody's deciding 0:49:53.800 --> 0:49:58.120 do they even think their life is worth living? And 0:49:58.200 --> 0:50:01.239 right now is so important that they can hear you voice. 0:50:02.480 --> 0:50:04.839 That's why the enemy has been crowding them out, doing 0:50:04.880 --> 0:50:09.000 everything he can to keep them blind, to keep them mute, 0:50:09.680 --> 0:50:14.560 to keep them confused. You are not the author of confusion, Lord, 0:50:16.120 --> 0:50:20.359 So right now we ask for the clarity of the 0:50:20.400 --> 0:50:22.880 whisper of your spirit. Call us over like you call 0:50:22.960 --> 0:50:27.319 those scribes over it, and correct us, Lord, because we 0:50:27.400 --> 0:50:30.160 have our own opinions in ways that things are supposed 0:50:30.200 --> 0:50:35.799 to work, and we need to hear the word that 0:50:35.920 --> 0:50:42.200 only you can speak from the inside voice. Speak on 0:50:42.239 --> 0:50:46.799 the inside, Lord, that we start talking like where we 0:50:46.880 --> 0:50:51.040 come from, that we start telling ourselves that we're loved 0:50:51.040 --> 0:50:56.919 and we're okay, and we're sufficient, not because of some accomplishment. 0:50:56.960 --> 0:50:58.839 No no, no no, that's external. No no no no no no, 0:50:59.360 --> 0:51:03.080 because God made me, because I am made of the 0:51:03.120 --> 0:51:06.919 same substance that God spoke the world with, so that 0:51:07.120 --> 0:51:14.359 word is alive and acted the inside voice. Hey look 0:51:14.400 --> 0:51:17.359 at me, Jed, do you remember I want to tell 0:51:17.400 --> 0:51:19.560 you this because I know love. I know you love 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:22.840 the scriptures. When Jesus showed up at the tomb of Lazarus, 0:51:24.480 --> 0:51:26.879 you remember how he got there and Lazarus was already dead. 0:51:28.280 --> 0:51:31.759 So Mary and Martha were just so hurt by that. 0:51:31.960 --> 0:51:34.200 Like a lot of people that are listening to this 0:51:34.280 --> 0:51:39.000 word today, it's just so much noise, so much confusion. Literally, 0:51:39.000 --> 0:51:41.600 you have felt like you're going crazy, and you kind 0:51:41.600 --> 0:51:45.080 of are because you're trying to hold too much in 0:51:45.120 --> 0:51:48.560 your head and in your heart, and you're being controlled 0:51:48.560 --> 0:51:52.040 by external stuff, and everything else affects you. Everything else 0:51:52.120 --> 0:51:54.080 tells you what it would take for you to matter. 0:51:54.239 --> 0:51:57.920 That's what's happening. Well, in this particular case, they lost 0:51:57.920 --> 0:52:01.600 their brother Lazarus. I spent the whole year trying to 0:52:01.600 --> 0:52:03.960 write a book about Lazarus, so it was fresh on 0:52:04.000 --> 0:52:07.239 my mind. And when Jesus got to the tomb, it 0:52:07.239 --> 0:52:11.120 said that he felt something for the sisters. Look at me, 0:52:11.400 --> 0:52:15.160 he feels something for you. He feels something for you. 0:52:16.560 --> 0:52:20.000 He felt something on the inside and put up the 0:52:20.080 --> 0:52:23.959 verse in chapter eleven, John, chapter eleven, Please, I gotta 0:52:23.960 --> 0:52:25.879 show you this. It would be disobedient to the Lord 0:52:25.880 --> 0:52:27.480 for me to not give you this. It was the 0:52:27.520 --> 0:52:29.759 last thing God gave me for the sermon. But it 0:52:29.800 --> 0:52:32.160 may be the thing you came for. John, chapter eleven. Please. 0:52:32.520 --> 0:52:35.839 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had 0:52:35.840 --> 0:52:39.160 come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved 0:52:39.320 --> 0:52:43.720 in spirit and troubled by her pain, by your tears, 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:48.200 by your questions, deeply moved in trouble. That's what he 0:52:48.200 --> 0:52:53.520 felt on the inside. Next verse, where have you laid him? 0:52:53.520 --> 0:52:57.120 He asked, Come and see Lord? They reply, And what 0:52:57.239 --> 0:52:59.279 came next was a miracle. How many are ready for 0:52:59.320 --> 0:53:02.319 a miracle today? This may not be for someone in 0:53:02.360 --> 0:53:06.600 this room. Maybe it's for you. I don't know. I 0:53:06.600 --> 0:53:11.680 don't know. But the scripture says that in verse thirty five, 0:53:11.760 --> 0:53:18.200 Jesus wept, and the Jews said, see how he loved him. 0:53:19.080 --> 0:53:22.880 But some of them said you ever had Some of 0:53:22.920 --> 0:53:27.040 them say, come on, talk to me, don't use your 0:53:27.080 --> 0:53:31.840 inside voice. Some of them will always say, could not 0:53:32.120 --> 0:53:36.279 he who opened the eyes of the blind man have 0:53:36.440 --> 0:53:40.319 kept this man from dying? All these voices on the 0:53:40.320 --> 0:53:44.640 inside of you could not He wouldn't shouldn't he have 0:53:45.920 --> 0:53:49.160 the Bible? Says Jesus, once more deeply moved Verse thirty eight. 0:53:49.719 --> 0:53:51.360 Came to the tomb. It was a cave with a 0:53:51.400 --> 0:53:55.560 stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said, 0:53:55.600 --> 0:53:57.719 But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man. 0:53:57.920 --> 0:53:59.880 By this time there's a bad odor, for he's been 0:54:00.000 --> 0:54:04.839 there four days. Then Jesus said, did I not tell 0:54:04.880 --> 0:54:07.760 you that if you believe, you will see the glory 0:54:07.760 --> 0:54:09.840 of God. Now here's what I wanted to show you. 0:54:09.880 --> 0:54:12.520 Please lean into this moment. Please don't get distracted. This 0:54:12.600 --> 0:54:17.520 is so important. So they took away the stone. Then 0:54:17.640 --> 0:54:23.560 Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that 0:54:23.600 --> 0:54:27.239 you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, 0:54:28.320 --> 0:54:30.320 but I said this for the benefit of the people 0:54:30.440 --> 0:54:33.759 standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. 0:54:35.400 --> 0:54:38.200 Verse forty three. This is what I'm familiar with. When 0:54:38.200 --> 0:54:42.799 he said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, in 0:54:42.840 --> 0:54:46.000 a what so I want you to say Lazarus on 0:54:46.080 --> 0:54:50.920 three in a loud voice one two three. So he didn't. 0:54:52.000 --> 0:54:58.560 He didn't say it softly. I could cry, thinking about it. 0:55:00.080 --> 0:55:03.719 When he spoke to Lazarus, who was dead, he said 0:55:03.719 --> 0:55:09.359 it loud. Jesus has an outside voice, he really does. 0:55:10.400 --> 0:55:14.400 He can command and speak. I mean, Jesus, some of 0:55:14.440 --> 0:55:17.480 y'all don't like it when I holler when I preach. 0:55:17.880 --> 0:55:20.920 That's my Bible verse right there, y'all, he said in 0:55:21.000 --> 0:55:26.759 a loud voice. But he didn't get loud until he 0:55:26.880 --> 0:55:32.160 was talking to Lazarus. When he spoke to his father, 0:55:34.280 --> 0:55:41.000 he said it in his inside voice because he knew 0:55:41.040 --> 0:55:49.640 God is not up there, out there distant. I and 0:55:49.719 --> 0:55:54.319 my father are one, and I want you to know 0:55:54.400 --> 0:55:56.240 that this week that when you talk to your father, 0:55:57.560 --> 0:56:03.120 you're using your inside voice. That's the real you, that's 0:56:03.160 --> 0:56:07.480 your spirit. That's what God knows about you. That's not 0:56:07.520 --> 0:56:11.520 what others say. Others think that's gonna drive you off 0:56:11.560 --> 0:56:15.240 the edge of a cliff. But Jesus said to his father, 0:56:16.640 --> 0:56:22.399 I know you always hear me. So Lord, you said 0:56:22.400 --> 0:56:26.120 that your word would be like rain that came from 0:56:26.120 --> 0:56:30.160 the heaven and did not return void. I believe that 0:56:30.280 --> 0:56:33.960 about your word in this moment, I believe that your 0:56:33.960 --> 0:56:36.560 word is gaining entrance to the hearts of men and women, 0:56:37.760 --> 0:56:39.920 even now as I preach it. Lord, there's a certain 0:56:39.960 --> 0:56:43.600 heaviness to those who are really receiving it, because the 0:56:43.719 --> 0:56:46.080 chatter is so bad and the noise is so loud. 0:56:47.320 --> 0:56:51.080 I pray that this week, amongst the shouts of the scribes, 0:56:52.000 --> 0:56:55.760 the cynicism of those who should support us, the division 0:56:55.800 --> 0:56:58.080 that we experience in our world, and the questions that 0:56:58.160 --> 0:57:04.080 will remain unanswered, that we would use our inside voice, 0:57:04.280 --> 0:57:08.120 that we would talk like where we come from, that 0:57:08.200 --> 0:57:13.640 we would remember that we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, 0:57:14.000 --> 0:57:17.240 and we have a king, and his name is Jesus, 0:57:18.000 --> 0:57:21.760 and that king is inside of me and inside of you. 0:57:22.680 --> 0:57:25.600 So if you know it on the inside, come on, 0:57:25.800 --> 0:57:29.880 use your outside voice for a minute. Come on, that's 0:57:29.920 --> 0:57:39.080 not it, That's not it. Lazarus, come far, shy co far, 0:57:40.400 --> 0:57:48.560 please come far, like a river outer flow from my soul. 0:57:49.840 --> 0:57:54.880 Come on, giving phraise in the house. Well, you know 0:57:54.960 --> 0:57:58.320 I always like to share a final word, and you 0:57:58.360 --> 0:58:00.600 can hear that it's kind of our right. I appreachied 0:58:00.640 --> 0:58:04.080 about inside voice, and then I appreci so loud. I 0:58:04.200 --> 0:58:08.920 lost my voice, but I'm working on it. Pray for me, seriously, 0:58:08.960 --> 0:58:11.800 we're praying for you. Don't forget that when you share 0:58:11.840 --> 0:58:16.680 this message with somebody, or when you invest into this ministry, 0:58:17.040 --> 0:58:21.360 when you give God uses it. It's planning seeds of 0:58:21.400 --> 0:58:24.439 the Gospel, and we need it right now more than ever. 0:58:24.560 --> 0:58:26.600 So I want to thank you for keeping the word 0:58:26.640 --> 0:58:29.840 of God going strong. There are so many thousands of 0:58:29.880 --> 0:58:32.840 you that make up our EPHAM around the world. It 0:58:32.960 --> 0:58:36.280 used to stand for extended family, but twenty twenty now 0:58:36.280 --> 0:58:38.800 it means everyone, and so we just thank you for 0:58:38.880 --> 0:58:42.080 being a part of this global ministry, this global family. 0:58:42.600 --> 0:58:45.320 It is an honor for me and for Holly to 0:58:45.360 --> 0:58:48.520 share God's word with you. Make sure you subscribe and 0:58:48.560 --> 0:58:52.840 don't forget this week. Use your inside voice, subscribe, share 0:58:53.320 --> 0:59:00.000 all that I see you next time. We love you.