2026.3.22 TFHC – Servant and Steward | 1 Corinthians 4:1-13

March 22, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. All right, dear ones, here we go. 1 Corinthians 4. Here’s what you need to know—same argument. All right? The Bible’s divided up—chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four. Paul is still dealing with the very first problem at Corinth that he presents. Corinth, he just presents one problem after another. He deals with about five of them. The first one is this: I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Paul. And he goes on for five chapters telling them, “Nah, you got that wrong.” All right? So still going on. Still going on. I follow Wesley. I follow Calvin. I follow Bethel. I follow this reform movement. I follow the Pope. I follow the Bishop of Canterbury. And Paul just says, “Who’s Apollos? Who’s Peter? Who’s Cephas? Who’s Paul?” And here’s what he says, who they are: 1 A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God. 2 In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one be found faithful. 3 It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. 4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God. 6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another. 7 For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it? 8 You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you! 9 For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! 11 Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; 12 we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage. (1 Corinthians 4:1-13, CSB) And may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and Redeemer. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) I am of Apollos. I am of Peter. I’m of Paul. Anybody from the ’60s? I’m of Mary. Peter, Paul, and Mary? There you go. So, Paul says, “No, let me tell you who Peter and Apollos and Paul are. We’re no big deal. We’re household servants.” That’s the word he uses. Doesn’t use the word doulos here for bondslave, but he uses a word that means “household servant.” And he says, “Not only we’re household servants, we’re stewards.” So, what is their specific role? Any of you watch “Downton Abbey” when it was back in the day? Yeah. Big “Downton Abbey” fans? I bet you were a “Downton Abbey” fan. Oh, you weren’t. Okay. Yeah. So, it’s right up your alley. So, I went to the “Downton Abbey” movie with my wife, and when we were walking out of the movie, she said, “You love me, don’t you?” I said, “You bet. You bet I do.” So, yeah… But in that house, they had the upstairs. It was the classic British upstairs, downstairs. You had the upstairs aristocrat, the downstairs servant. And the head of the servants, the man in the gap between the upstairs and the downstairs was a very proper, very dignified—in fact, he was much more dignified than the upstairs crowd. Very strict, but also compassionate—the butler. Paul says, “I’m a steward of the household of God. Apollos and I and Peter, we’re stewards. We’re butlers. You guys are saying, ‘I bring my allegiance to that butler, to that butler, that butler.'” He says, “How foolish. Your allegiance belongs to the Master of the house. Apollos handles the mysteries of God revealed in Jesus. I handle the mysteries of God revealed in Jesus. Peter handles the mysteries of God revealed in Jesus. We are not the big deal. Jesus is the big deal. We point you to Christ. You come to Christ through us. But it’s Him. It’s Him.” And we do it today. We pick popular, either historical or current leaders, and we hold them up as these great apostles, and they inevitably fall, and then we’re crushed. It’s like, well, dear ones, we put them in an impossible place, in celebrity culture. God never intended pastors, apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers to be celebrities. Butlers aren’t celebrities. Except for Batman’s butler. What was his name? Batman was Bruce. What was the butler’s name? Alfred. Thank you, Joe. Alfred. Butlers aren’t celebrities. Here’s what Paul does. Here’s why Paul has had such a great impact on history. It’s really quite simple. He did what he was told. “Paul, you converted Pharisee who used to call the Romans and the Gentiles dogs… I want you to go be my apostle to the Gentiles. I want you to tell the Gentiles that I am Israel’s promised Messiah and now I am their hope of the world.” You know what Paul said? “Gotcha.” And he went and they beat him up. They threw rocks at him, they whipped him, they threw him in jail. They fought with him, they argued with him. You know what he did? “I’m going to the next town. That’s what you told me to do.” Mark quit. Got hard. Mark came back; he redeemed himself. The first trip got too hard. “This can’t be God’s will. It’s hard.” Excuse me? This can’t be God’s will; it’s hard. If it’s God’s will, it’d be easy. The path would be smooth. He’d clear the path for me. Doesn’t it say He makes the mountains come down and the hills rise up and the path is level? Yeah, He says the path is level, but you still get blisters. There’s still criminals on that path. In fact, He says quite the opposite. He says, “If you are faithful to me, you will be opposed, you will be slandered, you’ll be persecuted.” And he just goes from one town to the other with just amazing courage. And all he’s doing is what he was told, and 2,000 years later, we’re talking about it. Finally, he got to Corinth, and God had to give him a dream and says, “Yeah, they’re not going to whip you or throw any rocks at you in this town.” He’s getting a little skittish. You could give him a break. We’d have been skittish a lot sooner than that. When every town you go into, they about kill you? God says, “Go to another town.” “Okay.” He is a faithful steward. He has responsibility for the household of God to dispense the truth faithfully. And that’s what he did. He answers only to one Master. My favorite book on pastoring is called The Art of Pastoring. I’ve read it many times. Ministry Without All the Answers, written by David Hanson. If you ever want to go into being a pastor… every wannabe pastor or every young pastor that I talk to, I say, “Read that book.” And it’s about a guy who pastors two small churches. He’s not a celebrity. Unfortunately, his book became so popular, became a celebrity. But before that, he wasn’t. And he was a fly fisherman in Montana. That’s what he loved to do. He loved to pastor, and he loved to fly fish. And he’s in this little broken-down church in Montana with a space heater that didn’t work and walls without insulation. It’s 32. It’s, you know, it’s like 10 degrees below zero outside with a 30-degree wind chill. He’s got a jacket on, working on his sermon. And he says, “These are not bad people. They don’t have money to fix the church. And they, you know, they want me down here working on my sermon.” But then he says, “You know what? There’s skunks underneath the foundations, so the place smells like skunks.” You know, we think pastoring—megachurch pastor and lights and TV ministry and cameras. Now that’s 90% of the pastors are there. But here’s what he said. He said, “What keeps me in this job, it’s not the money. It certainly isn’t the building.” He says, “The people are good,” he says, “but I don’t work for them.” I’ve had people, you know—none of you guys do this. I appreciate it. But I’ve had people… “We pay your salary, so do what we want.” It’s like, I don’t work for you. That’s not the call. I serve you. And here’s what the service is supposed to look like: Faithfully dispense the truth. That’s it. Tell you the truth. He answers only to one Master. And we all—that’s all of us—we answer to only one Master. Nobody else is your judge. I had this, you know, back when I cared as a young man… I cared what people thought. You know, I was always trying to take a poll of the congregation. Do they like me? Do they not like me? I thought they liked me at the time. And this principal, this retired school principal came out—big, tall guy, wise guy, had a deep voice. John Matthews. Walked out of the building one day and he said, “Kevin, other people’s opinion of you is none of your business.” And he walked on. Up until that time, I thought people liked me. But when he said that, I thought, what? What opinions? What’s going on? It was a great word, but at the time, it got me a little paranoid. I thought they liked me. “Other people’s opinions…” Man, but I’ve lived by that word. Other people’s opinion of you is none of your business. You don’t judge yourself. You don’t let other people judge you. You wait for God. And you know what He says? “And then praise will come to each one from God.” 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5, CSB) If you live for God, you will get your praise from God. And I guarantee you, when you and I get our praise from God, John Matthews will prove himself as a prophet. Other people’s opinion of us is none of our business, and it does not matter at all if God looks at you and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Now, you won’t do this because you’re a good servant, but you could turn to all those people who criticized you and say, “Neener. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” You will receive your praise from God. For doing what? Doing what you’re told. Doing what you’re told. God is the judge of our faithfulness. You can’t judge me. I can’t judge me. Only God can judge. And He will reward the faithful. Be faithful. The root problem in Corinth and the reason they’re worshiping Cephas and Apollos and Paul instead of Jesus, the reason in the first century they’re already forming Christian denominations is because of the sin of pride. “I know who the true man of God is.” These men of God weren’t claiming that. Nowadays they do. Nowadays they say, “I’m the real voice. Listen to me.” But back then… That’s why Paul’s aghast at this. He says, “I never told you to follow. I never told you to set up First Paul at the corner of, you know, Prostitute and Licentiousness in Corinth. I never told you to do this. Peter never told you to do this. Apollos never told you to. None of us came in saying, ‘Hey, what those other guys are saying is about 90% right, but I got the 100% version.’ I said we’re all just butlers. But you think you know better. You think, oh, that’s the one. That’s the one. Peter’s the real pope. That’s the one.'” And he says, “No. What makes you so smart? What makes you think you’re superior? You know, how are you different than other people? You’re not. You’re not. Why do you boast? Why do you think I’ve received special wisdom? You haven’t. Don’t go beyond what is written. Everything you have is from God. Why do you boast as if it isn’t? It is. You have accomplished nothing. You have simply received a gift. You’re not smart enough to figure out Peter, Apollos, or Paul, Corinthians.” Two years in the church and we think we know stuff. I see it online; it drives me nuts. But I get involved in it because, you know, I get kind of sucked in because I like to argue. But I don’t… I work really hard to shut my… Don’t type, don’t hit send. Just if it bugs me… But oh my goodness, people use the H word quick. “That person’s a heretic.” And actually they don’t even know their church history because that person is actually articulating—how many of you heard of the kenosis theory of the Incarnation? Kenosis is a Greek word for emptying. That Jesus emptied himself. And there was a well-known Charismatic Pentecostal pastor who said everything Jesus did—and he said it awkwardly. He articulated the kenosis theory. I don’t even know if he knew the kenosis theory, but he articulated it accurately but awkwardly. He said everything Jesus did was as a man, not as the Son of God. Well, that’s not theologically correct. But his point was the kenosis theory: that Jesus actually emptied himself, set aside His divine privileges on earth, and the power that operated through Him was the power that He received from submission to the Father through the Holy Spirit. Now, that is actually, not a universally held Christian theory of how the Incarnation works, but people started calling this man a heretic for saying Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. He quickly revised his statement and said, “No, Jesus is the Son of God. He always was the Son of God. There was never a time He wasn’t the Son of God. When He was on the earth, He was fully the Son of God.” And you know, he tried to backtrack and clarify his statements and people said, “No, no, you said Jesus wasn’t the Son of God. You said He was just a man. And that’s Nestorianism and that’s…” And they, you know, they did a quick Google search and came up with a big word. And none of these people—they’re all like, they’re all like young, reformed guys and they’re all like, you know, jumping down the sky. John Owen, one of the most quoted and honored Pilgrim reformed theologians fully embraced and articulated—guess what? The kenosis theory. You know who else articulated the kenosis theory? I’ve heard him. He preached it. I heard him. The late John MacArthur said it. But these people: “Oh, that’s a heresy.” You don’t even know church history. Ooh. That’s what I want to tell them. You young, immature… I don’t, though. I let somebody else argue with them because I don’t want to be there. All I want to do is come to you guys each week—like Paul says, I do not know if there are any bad motives in me. I’m not aware of any. I really am not. I’m just like, I don’t feel like I got this other agenda going on. I just want to tell you what the Bible says, and I want to see you prosper in Christ. I really do. I just want to see Jesus come alive in each of us. Me, too. That’s what it is. That’s who we are. Now, it’s amazing, because we’re butlers, we’re humble servants, and yet we’re also sons and daughters of the King. But how do we get there? And this is the truth of the Christian life. How do you get high? By going low. By going low. I told you guys last week, my humbling experience with my ladies who pray for me. You know, “I want kindness.” “You have kindness, Pastor. But we’ll pray for that.” “I want encouragement.” “Oh, you’re a good encourager. But we’ll pray for that.” “I want wisdom.” “Oh, you’re wise. But we’ll pray for that.” “I want humility.” “Oh, we’ll pray for that.” Golly, that was quick. They answered it quick, too. It was like, oh, boy. But that’s how you go high. You go low. Humble yourself. Little ’70s, ’80s praise chorus that we used to sing in Young Life. And it was just a round. You’d sing it in a round, and it was just real simple. “Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.” And then the women kick in: “Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.” You know it, Aiko? You know that one? Yeah. You could do the women’s part if you want, but you won’t do it, will you? Just leave me up here hanging, won’t you? Yeah, yeah. God bless you, introverts. Love you. “And He will lift you up… ” And what do the ladies sing? Yeah, yeah. “Higher and higher.” “And He will lift…” Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. And Jesus says whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12, CSB) One of the most confusing passages in the Bible is when the Bible says—you know, Moses, it is said, wrote the first five books in the Bible. But in the first five books of the Bible, it says Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. And I thought, you know, if an editor didn’t insert that, it kind of defeats the point, doesn’t it? Because humility is the one virtue you lose once you recognize it. “I’m so humble. Dang. Lost it.” Paul contrasts the humility of the apostles to the pride of the Corinthians. Man, this is so different than… Listen, there’s no sin in being a megachurch pastor. There is sin in flaunting it. There is sin in flaunting it. And Paul gives this list that is the exact opposite of people who flaunt their Christian position. He says, “You want to know what an apostle looks like? Apostle doesn’t look like, you know, the guy flaunting the biggest ministry in town. Here’s what an apostle looks like. You say you reign;” he said, “we’re just beginners. We’re fools for Christ. You boast in your wisdom. We’re weak, but you talk about how strong you are.” He’s being sarcastic with the Corinthians. He says, “You’re so honored, but we’re dishonored everywhere we go. We’re poor, but you’re so rich. And everywhere we’re slandered and abused, we respond in kindness to our persecutors and mockers.” Want to be an apostle? There’s the job description. There’s the job description. The apostles should be the most humble, the lowliest. You know, young men… there’s a movement among young men, and it is to reassert masculinity as the head of the house. And I’m actually, I like the idea. I think, you know, we fell off the horse one way for many years, and I think we’ve fallen off the other side of the horse. And I think men need to be men again. You know, I do. You know, this one feminist woman, she came to me and she was complaining. Kind of ironic. But she says, “Where are all the John Waynes? You know, where are all the John Waynes?” But here’s where it goes off tilt, kilter. “That’s right. I’m the man of the house, and what I say goes. That wife of mine better be a tradition—a trad,” they call them, trad wives. “She better be a trad wife. A traditional wife. I married myself a trad girl. Traditional woman. Her job is to cook for me, clean for me, raise the kids. I’ll buy a gun and protect everybody from all the bad ‘uns out there and make a bunch of money so everybody can eat.” It’s like, no, no. You wanna be the head of your house. Good. You should be. You should lead. You know what leading means? You take the first bullet. That’s true. You’re a protector. I always said, if somebody comes into my house and I’m there alone, and they say, “I’m going to shoot you and steal all your stuff,” I’ll probably say—I don’t know, I’ve never been put in the situation—but I’d like to say, “Go ahead, man, aim well. I’m going to heaven, you’re going to hell, so I’m not going to kill you.” But if my wife is there, my grandbaby’s there, I’m calling Sophia, saying, “Bring your gun, sister. Shoot them dead.” I hear you’re a good shot. Okay, I’ll call Orzo. I don’t have a gun, but I’ll take a baseball bat or whatever. They get near my grandkids, they get near my wife, there’s a different reaction, right? Well, what does that mean? That means if you want to be the head, you exist to serve them. You know what a successful man is? A man whose wife and children shine, not a man who makes the most money. Pastors… Oh, my goodness. Pastors get together—I don’t know if you knew this—pastors get together and you know who we talk about? Y’all. We actually wish we were general managers, like a baseball team, because we’d trade some of you. “I’ll give you two steady tithers for some young prospects,” you know? “Okay, that’ll work. Yeah.” So, you know, it’s like—we don’t do that, but, I mean… And, you know, good pastors don’t do this, but some pastors, you get around, and the first question they ask is never, never how much money you make. Because except for a few exceptions in the pastoral ministry, that’s a way too discouraging topic to talk about. But here’s what they ask, right? You know what they ask? What do they ask? “How big is your church?” Man, 16 tonight. 30, 33 this morning. It’s just… I’m bumming because. What’s 33 plus 16? I want 50. Golly, one short. Couldn’t you bring a friend, Sophia? Hey, I count myself twice. I’m in both those numbers, so really they’re just 48 individual people, but I’m at both services. I count twice. All right, what is the lesson? To Corinthians and to us? Be a humble servant. That’s it. Just do what you’re told. You have a call. “Pastor, I don’t know what my call is.” Well, then do what’s in front of you. Likely is, that’s your call. I don’t know, Jamie, you know what your call is? I think so, too. But how’d you get started? How did you enter into that call? Because God gave you a clear call to honcho all homeschools in northern Kitsap County, or did God just say to you, “You know, you’re a mom, and your kids… public schools are crazy now, why don’t you teach your kids?” And you said—and as a mom, you followed your call to be a mother, and a good one, in my estimation. And do you know what? More important what Sophia thinks. But anyway, you know what? You know what? You end up stepping into this thing where, like, 300 parents and volunteers, and you got Stevin working like a dog, and in the middle of March Madness, when I just want to watch basketball games on TV, you get me down there to do stuff, and Jan’s down there, and Brad was down there, and Josh, and, man, what did you have, 50 people? You probably had 25 of us down there. Hard to say no to, right, Stevin? Yeah. And you stepped into that. How do you find your call? Do what’s in front of you to do. “Well, Lord, I don’t know if I’m supposed to minister in St. Louis or Los Angeles.” Well, while you’re figuring it out, preach the kingdom, raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons in Bremerton, Poulsbo, Silverdale, Hansville. While you’re figuring out your call, there’s Jesus stuff right in front of you. And dispense your duty faithfully. “Lord, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I think I’ll go talk to my neighbors about Jesus. Invite them to our Bible study.” And you find out later, oh, that was my call. Just be a faithful—get up tomorrow morning, say, “Lord, I want to be a faithful follower of yours today.” And you will fulfill your call. You’ll step into it. You might recognize it 10 years after you’ve been doing it. “That’s what I’m supposed to do.” Some people recognize it already. “That’s what I’m supposed to do,” right? Other people, it’s like I tell you, I recognized my call early. So early, I denied it. I became a Christian and started listening to other speakers. And I’d listen to other speakers and go, “Well, he’s all right, but I’d say it this way.” My mom said, “Now that you’re a Christian, what do you want to be?” Honest, flat out, I remember my words. She remembers. Before she died, she remembered my words: “I’ll do anything but be a pastor.” And God’s up there and goes, “Oh, now I know what we’re telling them to do. I got it now.” Just live it out, live it out. All we have is from Him. You got no reason to be proud. The Corinthians were proud. That’s how they used spiritual gifts. We’re going to get to this, but that’s how they used spiritual gifts. By the way, that’s Paul’s rebuke to them with spiritual gifts: “I speak in tongues more than you do.” We still do that, right? “You’re a second-class Christian if you don’t speak in tongues.” I mean, that’s still kind of the insinuation of some, that you’re the spiritual elite. I speak in tongues. I’ll tell you exactly why I think God gave me the gift of tongues. Not because I’m spiritually elite, but because I became a Christian and I am a left-brain rationalistic nerd. And I’m studying the Bible and I’m trying to figure out arguments to convince people to be Christians, and I’m going down that path, you know, to become kind of the legalistic Bible scholar, Bible arguer, debate winning… Listen. And I was a nerd. I was a sports nerd. And this was a new place for me to invest my nerdom. So, I’m going for it. Only as I’m going for it, I have a terrible prayer life because I’m not into a relationship; I’m into information. Theology, philosophy, history. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with being an apologist. It’s great for those who do it. But I mean, I was such a nerd. I was this close to being a Calvinist probably. I can say that safely here. I didn’t say it in Bremerton this morning because there’s just people who resemble that remark. I was one of them. I couldn’t pray, but I did have the sense of reading the Bible to say at least one good prayer. And here’s what it was. “Lord, teach me, help me pray.” I realized that I was spiritually not elite, but that I was deplete. And my guardian angel realized it, and the Heavenly Father realized it. And so my guardian angel looked at the Heavenly Father… This is my picture of what happened in heaven. I could be wrong on this. This is just Kevin’s speculation. It’s not in the Bible. I’m going beyond what is written. My guardian angel up in heaven going, “Father, that boy you assigned me to?” “Yeah?” “That boy can’t pray a lick.” Father goes, “I know, I know. He’s a bad prayer. He likes to read the Bible and oh, man, he gobbling up C.S. Lewis. That’s all good, but he can’t pray.” “What are we going to do, Father?” “I got a plan.” So, I’m in Young Life in college in Chico, and this nurse who all of a sudden got started hanging out—she was a rationalist too, but all of a sudden started hanging out with these Pentecostals. And she got transformed. And I’m smart enough to notice she’s different. She’s actually better. Kind of more in love with Jesus. One night she goes, “Kevin, you got to come with me to meet these people.” “Okay.” You know, hey, back then, any girl says, “You got to come with me,” I’m like, “I’m down.” So we come. Now in the car, we start driving around, driving around Chico. She goes, “I don’t know where they live.” “Okay.” “But I know what her car looks like. And I think I know the general area of town in which she lives.” So, we’re going up and down streets, and I’m thinking, this is the most ridiculous thing ever. And she goes, “There it is. That’s her car.” Nine o’clock at night. These people have no idea. She has not called them, talked to them. She’s just dragging me along. She gets up—well, they’re Pentecostal Holiness people. You know what they were doing at 9 o’clock at night? They were in bed. They’re asleep because they got to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and pray for three hours or whatever they do. They’re in bed, but they come up. Rub their eyes. “What? Oh, Mona. Good to see you, sister. Who’s this fella?” “It’s Kevin. And he wants to be baptized in the Holy Ghost.” I never said that. She just said, “Let’s go meet these people.” And they go, “Hallelujah! Praise you.” They were awake, man. They didn’t take nothing. They were, they were wide awake. “Yes. Come on in, young man. Come on in. Oh, Jesus, this is a glorious day. Oh, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Jesus. You want to be baptized in the Holy Ghost?” “Oh, I think I am. I don’t know. I think I got the Holy Ghost.” Said, “No, you got to get the full Holy Ghost. Here, we got a list here. You got to renounce all these things.” And it’s all about other world religions. They read off eight things that I had to renounce. I couldn’t renounce any of them because I didn’t—there were things like, “There is absolutely no truth in other world religions.” Like, no, there’s lots of truth in other world religions, just not the truth. But they told me I had to renounce all those things. But then, thank the Lord, they never held me accountable to that. They just read the list. They didn’t ask me, “Have you renounced these things?” In my mind, “I don’t renounce any of those things.” They didn’t care. They were on to the next thing. They said, “Well, son, get on your knees and pray.” I said, “How do you want me to pray?” “Well, just thank God in English until you run out of words.” I go, “Okay, that’ll be quick. Thank you, God. You’re good, God. I love you, God.” So, I get on my knees, I start saying stuff like that, and they just, they’re on me, man. And they start praying. But they don’t start praying like my evangelical friends. They do a couple things different. They never use the word “just.” Don’t they know that’s how evangelicals are supposed to pray? “Lord, we’re just so glad you’re here. We’re just so…. You’re just so good. We just love you so much.” Evangelical prayers, they’re consumed with justice. I mean, now it’s like one of those things, when you see it, you can’t unsee it. Every time I get in a praise circle, I’m going, here it goes. The “just” prayers are out. I mean, they use the word “just” 450 times in every prayer. And I just do the same thing. So. But these were not “just” prayers. And the other thing they did different, they didn’t use the word “just,” and they didn’t take turns. You get an evangelical prayer circle, people are very respectful. They’re like, “Your turn to pray, my turn to pray. We all pray.” You know, some people don’t pray, but, you know, we all take our little turn to pray. It’s very polite, very orderly, very good. No, no, no, no, no, no. Mona and these two dear old people, they’re all talking at once. They got their hands on me, and they’re all, “Hallelujah, Jesus! Oh, God, give you the glory tonight. This is a wonderful night, and you’re a wonderful God. And we’re just going to pray that your Holy Spirit just comes upon this young man and fills him to overflow. And hallelujah, Jesus. Oh, God! Give the glory to God. We praise your holy name. Hallelujah, Jesus! Oh, God. Oh!” So they can start going off in tongues and interspersed with “hallelujahs” and “praise Jesus.” And I’m just down there on my knees going, “Thank you, God. You’re good, God. You’re great, God. I bless your name, God. You just gave me a great salvation, God. You’re just so awesome. God, I just want to thank you tonight. God, I just want to say that, you know, I don’t know what these people are doing, but, God, I know you’re good, and I know you died on the cross for my sins, and I can’t renounce all those things. But, you know, if you have something for me here that I’m missing out on… Okay, so, God, I lift you up, and…” Oh, man, you thought they were turned on before. “Hallelujah, Jesus! You got it, boy. You got the Holy Ghost.” 30 hours. 30 hours. I couldn’t stop. I went to bed that night, I called Jill, said, “I got tongues.” She goes, “What?” “I got tongues. I’ve been praying in tongues.” But then I did something that the Pentecostals wouldn’t have liked. I went to the Charismatic Catholic movement in town because one of my Young Life friends, her mom was a Charismatic Catholic, right? And so, she heard about it, and she had the same reaction. “Praise the Lord. The Holy Spirit’s hitting Young Life.” And she wanted us all to be Catholics. Her deal was, “You guys all need to reform the Catholic Church. We need young people like you who are in love with Jesus.” So I go to this Charismatic Catholic group, and they weren’t country, “hallelujah” Pentecostals. They were doctors and lawyers and, you know, accountants. They were all professionals, but they believed in the Holy Spirit, and they just talked about the Holy Spirit. And this was a little bit more my speed, right? It’s like, all right, this is like, this is like Poulsbo and Bainbridge Charismatics, not Bremerton and Port Orchard Charismatics, all right? It’s a little bit more my speed. And so I’m like—and I’ll never forget the funniest thing happened that night. And my whole point on this is saying I received tongues. Not because I’m better than anybody but because I was more desperate. I wasn’t spiritually elite, I was spiritually deplete. But I’ll never forget that night. First time I saw people slain in the Spirit or go down in the Spirit. They had us all stand up, and the leader came by and laid hands on people and prayed for people. And there was a catcher who went behind each person. He prayed for me, and I didn’t go down. It was years, years later before I ever went down. But you know, other people, a few, not everybody, you know, no big deal. But I just will never forget. It was just the funniest thing to me at the time. My friend’s brother and sister-in-law were at that group, and they stood up to pray, and he put his hands on her sister-in-law. And the catcher was standing behind the sister-in-law. And as he was, the brother fell. And for some reason, it just struck me as so funny. I’m just sitting there, I’m watching this catcher. It just struck me as—and I just thought, “Can’t outsmart God.” You know, God’s like, “This guy’s going to hit the floor tonight. He needs to hit the floor.” So anyway, be humble. Nou want to be happy? One simple rule to being happy, it really is. There’s one thing, one. There’s one thing to make you happy in this world. It’s a world of woe. You can’t count on circumstances to make you happy. That will crush your spirit. Bad stuff happens. Here’s what will make you happy. Live with gratitude. It’s the old, you know, the old wisdom—sometimes the best wisdom—count your blessings. Whenever I start going, “Oh, my gosh, I got this, I got this, I got this, I got this, I got this,” and that stuff starts to pile up on me, I do two things when I recognize that I’m feeling like just… I just go through seasons where other people’s pain climbs on my shoulders, right? We all do. And you’ve just heard this story of woe and this heartbreak, and this is going on with this family… As a pastor, you get that. You know, I get in this room. I know what’s going on in your lives. I know your joys, but I also know your pains and your heartaches and your heartbreaks. And there are times… And here’s what I do. I just… Then I remember 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast your cares upon Him.” And I just go through that list, and I just say, “Lord, I want to love this person through this, but I can’t fix this. It’s your problem, not mine. Lord, this is your problem, not mine. Take this dear person that I love and, Lord, get them the help they need.” And then the other thing I do is I just go, “Oh, my goodness. Who’s got it better than me? Who’s got it better than me? Nobody’s got it better than me. I’m married to Ms. Jill. Nobody’s got it better than me.” And if I forget that, she’ll remind me: you have it so good. I do. I was FaceTiming my grandkids this morning after church, and they are happy to see me. Three years old and one year old, and we’re just talking on the phone. Nobody’s got it better than me. And I get to pastor you all, like the nicest church. The best kept secret in Poulsbo is how nice this church is, how sweet you all are. And you’re good to me. Better to me than I deserve. You really are. Don’t stop, by the way. I’m fine with that. I’m fine with that. All right? And you just count your blessings. And what happens when you count your blessings, Jan? What happens when you count your blessings? You’re lifted up. You’ve gone through your share of heartache, haven’t you? And you still come in here with a smile on your face. What’s your secret? You praise God and you give Him thanks. I know you. You’re a good example to people, all right? Keep hanging around her, Marsha. She’s a good influence on you. She’s a good influence on you, too. Count your blessings and then live with hope. Faithful service is rewarded with the praise of God. Live for that day. Live for that day. It’s coming. It’s coming. All right. I said last week, I said, “Man, I think I’m in the fourth quarter.” And my wife meant—she says things wrong, and it ends up being the exact opposite of what she meant. She meant to say, “Hey, you might have longer than you think.” And she said, “But there’s overtime.” But the way she said it is, “You might be in overtime,” which sounded like I have less time than ever. Going, “What?” And she goes, “No, no, that’s not what I meant. That’s not what I meant.” So it’s like, “That’s what you’re hoping, isn’t it? That this is like sudden death. Oh, yes. Sudden death over time.” Exactly. Faithful service is rewarded with the praise of God. God’s approval and rewards are infinitely greater than the passing praise of men and the riches of this world. It’s just the way it is. Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of men and women conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him. And C.S. Lewis is just my go-to on this. The New Testament rustles with inexpressible problems—I mean inexpressible glory. Paul says suffering… Romans 8:17-18 has seared themselves into my mind this year, that suffering and glory are inseparable. Pain and glory are inseparable. But then the very next verse says this: They are also incomparable. That the sufferings of this life cannot be compared to the glory to be revealed to us. And I believe that glory is already being revealed to us and in us as we walk out this life. And so I know it is painful and hard to be human on Planet Earth and to be a follower of Jesus. I get it. I’m with you. And I also know that, as C.S. Lewis said, don’t be like “a child making mud pies in the slum because you don’t know what is offered by a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” That’s why we read John Burke’s book, Imagine Heaven. It’s coming. You can’t get off that train. There are trains you can get off of, but you can’t get off that train, dear ones. April 15th is coming. According to the United States government, you can’t get off that train. Right? The two things that are sure: death and taxes. I don’t know. You can get off that train, but you might go to jail. You won’t typically go to jail for making a mistake on your tax returns. You will go to jail if you don’t file one. So go ahead and file one. There are some mistakes you can actually go to jail for too. But anyway, not going to get into that. I already did. But that’s—you can’t get off that train. You are rapidly, rapidly—60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 28 to 31 days a month, 364 or 65 days a year, depending on the year—you are rapidly heading to a face-to-face encounter with the One from whom you will receive your praise. Even you young ‘uns. Even you young ‘uns. Isaiah, you’re on that train. Live for it, hope for it, rejoice in it. That day is coming. Amen. Amen. Here’s a meal of hope. A meal of hope and thanksgiving. It’s a foretaste, right? Appetizers. You go out to a nice restaurant, what do they give you? An appetizer. Here’s what an appetizer is. It’s a trick to get you to eat a lot of that, you know, pay money for that. And then, and then, you know, well, then you buy something else and it gets you going, gets you started. But here’s the deal. The whole point of an appetizer in true dining is this: You think this is good. You think bacon-wrapped jalapenos are a treat. But wait—you fish eaters, I don’t understand you—ribeye is coming. Steak is coming. You think being in church and hearing the Word of God and being filled by the Spirit and speaking in tongues with a bunch of Pentecostals for the first time—those are glorious experiences. You think all that is good? Eye has not seen or ear heard. But this is our appetizer. There’s a feast waiting for us. And Jesus invites us to this table to remind us of that feast. His body and blood were shed. Feed on Him in this life, and you will fully become like Him as you already are becoming. That will fully be realized in the next. Isn’t that great? Isn’t that the greatest of all the promises of the New Testament? You will be like Him. Anybody walk in here today and just think, “I want to be a better person”? I think that every day. Every day I wish I was a better man. Guess what? It’s promised. I get to be. I get to be. One day I’ll be as good as Stevin. Even better, I’ll be like Jesus. How good is that? 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