IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU, IT IS ABOUT GOD

That's a hard one. We talked about a little bit this morning already, but it's not about us. And can you think of the last problem you had inside where you're going, well it's, I know it's not about me, it's all about God. But still, no,

the problem is because we keep thinking it's about us,

right? How can somebody mistreat you if it's about God,

Well, if it's not about you and we're an alien and stranger in the land (I Peter 2:11), right? And you are there to do something, it's, it's kind of like this. My buddy Terry, he might come here sometime, I'd like to, I'd like to him come and he's the one that's developmentally disabled, but he's got some, you know, real wisdom about things that people struggle with.

So I had a guy working at my house. He had three master's degrees and he knew four languages, okay? And so pretty sharp guy was out of work. And so I had him come work, well, he starts, I tell him what to do and he started doing it. And then he'd go sideways and kind of do his own thing. And I'd say to him, I said, no, you can't do it that way. And he’d have his reason for it. But he didn't understand construction. He didn't understand how to do things in the yard. And he'd have his things and “Oh, there’s going to be erosion” and this, this, and I said, “No, it's been here for 40 years, it's going to be fine.” But he wouldn't follow the instructions, right?

And so I, I brought it up in, in class and Terry's there, he goes, “Well, you're the boss, right?” He said, “You do what the boss says!”

That's it. Done deal. Pretty simple. Okay? Pretty simple. You’re the boss, you do what the boss says. When you are working for somebody and you got a better way to do something, and they're willing to listen, share it. But if they say, “No, do it this way, this is the way you do it.” That's it.

You do what the boss says. That's your job. You're in your lane.

Your lane is to be obedient to what the boss says. They're paying you to do this. Okay?

But

when God says, this is your lane and you're here to do live for me

(Romans 14:8)

it's not about you, it's about him.

And you get outside of it, your lane. That's your problem. And, so when you are walking and God said, this is the way you go, and then you get people getting in your face and all this stuff, it's not about you. How can you be disrespected?

How could you be disrespected if you're living for God?

Well, that person disrespected me. Well, who are you? I thought it's about God.

It Is All About God (Audio) 4:15

There's one of the foundational rules I want you to get. And it's funny,

it's all about you, and it's not about you.

It's all about you, and it's not about you. We'll deal with the “not about you” part. It's not about you in two different ways. One,

it's not about you not being good enough to do anything

(I Corinthians 4:7), because it's God's work in you that makes you everything you are. (Philippians 1:6) Okay? In other words, I don't have what it takes to be up here talking to you guys. I don't. And so if there's anything that blesses you, it's God who's doing the work. It's not about me. It's about what God does through me. It's not about you. It's what God does through you. It's also not about you when you're going through life and you're going, “Everything, I'm the center of everything.” Right? In other words, how, how, how is everybody treating me? How's my life going? It's not about you.

It's about glorifying God.

(1 Corinthians 10:31) So, it's both about what God does through us and what our purpose is. It's not about us. Okay?

“Where, in the scripture?”, he said, “Where'd you get? Where did you get that in the Bible Rick?”

“You are but a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes. What is your life?” Scripture says,

“What is your life? You are but a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes.”

(James 4:14)

Boom! It's not about you. You just appear here for a while. Man's glory is short.

And then

it's all about you

because when other people are interacting in your life and they're messing with you, or they're loving you, or whatever's happened,

it's all about how you respond.

(Matthew 5:43-45) Because it's between you and God, even when you're married, it's between you and God. You're walking alone in this world. It's all about you. You can't say He did that, so I sinned. All these things, people did this to me, so I sinned. They're all doing it. So I sinned.

You can't use other people as an excuse for your behavior.

(James 1:14) You can't use other people no matter what they're doing. God is using those people doing bad things to strengthen you.

What's an example of that in the Bible? It's a huge example. Look at Paul. He wrote a huge part of the New Testament, right? Apostle Paul, where'd he write it from? Prison. Lousy prison conditions. So what'd he do when he goes to prison? Hmm, bummer. Here. Here I'm, well, I got some time on my hands. Well, God, what do you want me to do? Well, why don't you start writing to the churches? You can't talk to them. So why don't you write to them? You do what you can do in your situation you're in. You ask God, what can I do? He's, he was the most limited you can imagine. And he did the most blessed work that you can imagine in the most limited of conditions in place. And when he talked, he said, I don't speak with eloquence, just like I don't when I come up here, I don't speak eloquently, alright. And, but he said, I speak with power. So he didn't, he wasn't an eloquent chief speaker. And his writing kind of rambled on and on. His sentences all go together. He wasn't quite that great of a writer. And yet he, God's words went through him to give us.

So don't, it's all, it's all about you.

It's all about what God's going to do in you. You can't, you can't think you're all that

(Romans 12:3)

and you can't limit yourself

(Phillipians 4:13)

either one. You are whatever God does through you. So when you get this vision, you talk about your goals. Here, you ask God, God, what? What do my goals look like? Where? Where do you want me to be in my relationship with you? (James 1:5) And it might be,

· I want to quit reacting to other people.

· I want to be walking in peace. Your Bible says, "You will walk in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you."

· I see myself trusting you more six months from now,

· I see myself not getting knocked around by the world like I am now.

· I see myself reading the word and understanding more of it and being more devoted.

That's how I see myself.

Think of Others (Audio) :49

It's not about us. It's not about what we do in our life. It's about being considered of others.

“Religion is pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress

(when they're having a hard time)

and to not let oneself be polluted by the world.”

(James 1:27)

So we're, so the whole concept of the Bible is in, when we're showing love. We're looking after the needy. We're looking after those who can't help themselves and we're, and

We come alongside and say, “What can I do to help?”

And you can't help everybody at every time. And so you have God to show you who you can help and when you can do it.

Alright, so get some goals. Get some goals. What does it look like? So goals could be, I see myself in a relationship with God being sensitive to other people's needs, not just thinking about myself. And you write it down as God shows you those things and then you can look at it.

By Faith Hebrews 11 (Audio) 13:43

So I like to talk about the songs and the song about victory and talk about what victory of Jesus really looks like. And I still remember meeting up with a pastor of a church about 30 years ago, and I just listened to a sermon that somebody gave me and it was troubling to me. And he could tell I was troubled. And he said, why are you troubled? And I said, well, I listened to this guy. He said, oh, he's good. And I pulled out my Bible and I read this chapter, I'm going to read to you about faith because this guy was basically saying,

If you have enough faith, you're going to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

You're all, you're going to have all your blessings on this earth.

And that troubled me.

Hebrews 11. All right.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God,"

I'm going to say it again.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that

He rewards those who earnestly seek him."

So let's look at what the reward looks like. All right.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They all live by faith. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

So think about

the faith that these people had was in what God was going to do for them in eternity

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones. 23 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25

He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

let's say, I'm going to read that one again. He chose to be mistreated, okay? Not living in abundance, but mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a short time. Wow, that sure sounds like addictive behavior. The pleasures are for a very short time, right? They're, they're a very short time.

26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt,

because he was looking ahead to his reward."

Okay? Again, think the focus here. Looking ahead, looking ahead, he he, he endured the disgrace because he was looking ahead to his reward

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. WHO WAS JESUS 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

Others, now women, their back, back to life again, the dead back to life.

So all these were victories on this earth. All right? And they talked about the victories that were gained by faith. But now I want you to hear the rest. And I'm just reading the scripture here many times. I come up and share things, and I say, always question me if you want to hear where it's at in the scripture.

And this time I decided just to start with the scripture and let it speak for itself because it does speak very well for itself. All right? Scripture has a way of doing that. So women receive back their dead, raised to life again. I mean, wow, that's pretty awesome. You have enough faith in the people you love come back to life.

Others were tortured and refused to be released,

so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned ; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—

You know what it says about those people? That they didn't have enough faith? You know what it says?

the world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, commended! a very difficult life. And none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

God's promise. And, and, it could be summed up with, with what Paul said when he talked about all that He went through all the shipwrecks and torture and all the things. And he said,

"for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain"

right? God gives the faith to be overcomers in the midst of all the difficulty. And that is his promise not to do away with the difficulty.

Because scripture's very clear in this world you'll have much trouble and endure hardship is discipline. This is, this is what the world that we're in. And if we have the concept that if I have enough faith, and if I just trust Jesus enough that I'm going to have this victory over all things, then when those things don't happen, we're going to be disillusioned and we're going to be discouraged. Say, it is not working out. I, all my bills didn't get paid. My, I didn't get healed. This didn't happen.

And that didn't happen. And so God isn't real and

we're going to be disillusioned because we misunderstood what he promised.

He allowed his own son who had great faith to go through a horrible life all along. And the disciples after that, in fact, it's interesting when I talked to atheists sometime and they don't believe the Bible, and of course I, and I asked this one question, they really struggle with it. And I said, well, do you believe the Christians were persecuted historically? Yeah.

Happened. And they said, and so they were at the very time, the same timeframe as when Jesus was on the earth and he died, right? And they go, yeah. And so they, I can understand people a hundred years later or a thousand years later, dying for something that they believe that's not true. You know? But I said at the time, they gave their lives for a lie? They knew he didn't rise from the dead? And yet they let themselves be tortured that way? Does that make any sense?

Yeah. That's a good question. And they can't answer that one. Why? If, if you guys were at the time of Jesus and you knew he really didn't rise from the dead and it was all a ruse, are you going to go die for it? You’ve got to be kidding. You're going to say, forget this. I know, I know.

It was all just, they, they stole his body. You know, I know what happened. I didn't see him. I don't know anybody that really saw him. I'm not dying for this. You got to be kidding. You know, a hundred years later you might, because you believe Grandma and Grandpa and what they said, but the people died at the time that witnessed Jesus' death and resurrection. And they saw him alive after he died. And they knew people that they trusted that said, yeah, I saw him, I saw him. He was here for a week, he was here for two weeks. We ate with him, we talked with him, and they died for that belief.

And they said,

how much better is the faith of those? The Bible says, who did not see, but yet believed?

So I just want to encourage you that it's discouraging and encouraging both.

It's discouraging

in the short term because what I'm saying to you is

don't expect an easy life.

If you're walking with God. it might get harder,

but you are going to be stronger

and you're going to be able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear evil and be able to handle it. Because no matter what's coming against you, by faith,

the power of God is going to be manifest in you

and through you. So you are, are, are able to rise above whatever is going on.

Hallelujah. Amen. Okay? And that is the promise of God that you'll receive. Now, if you trust in him, the Bible says you will keep in perfect peace. Him who the mind is steadfast because he trusts in you. You know, one of my people that I look at with the greatest admiration, he's not, he's not alive now, but he was all hunched over.

And he, he was a, he was a good preacher, he was a lay preacher, you know, kind of like me, I guess. And he just always said, God is good all the time. God is good. And he, he had a hard time getting through life. And he had a wife who was pretty difficult because I'm going, whoa, I, I kind of like met up and I'm watching, and nothing touched him. Nothing touched him. No matter what happened, he's got a smile.

God is good all the time.

And he just had this peace. And you think of, of these people that we normally look at, heroes and people that you look up to, and they'd be the, the buff dudes and the guys that got life together and they're, they got popularity and health and all this kind of stuff, man, it doesn't take much for them to get toppled. But this guy, nothing toppled him. And I go, that's what I want to be like, that's what I want to be like.

I want to be like the guy that no matter what's coming against me, I say, "God is good."

You got this, you got this. because my foundation is on the rock.

His foundation was on the rock. That's where his house was built. There was no sand there. So no matter what rains and streams came against him, he was all right. So anyway, that was all from the song .