Let's open our Bibles to Romans 12. Romans 12, also if you want to, I forgot to mention, if you want to give to the base, you can just go to the website or everydaybuilding.com and you'll find ways to give, okay? Romans 12, verse 16, and this is part B, last week. Pastor Ben really hit us in between the eyes on the whole topic of peacemaking and live in harmony with one another.
And I know that there's so much fruit, just immediate fruit last week from that as we listen and obey. So Romans 12, 16b, it says this, do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Paul, when he's saying this in the Greek, what that means, don't be haughty is, hey, don't be proud or lofty.
Don't seek to be honored by man or aspire for riches. But associate with the lowly. In other words, carry humility and associate with the lowly. That's pretty straightforward.
So bring the lowly with you and bring humility with you in your soul and in your heart. So don't be haughty but associate with the lowly. Turn into your bibles now to Luke nine. We're gonna be in the gospels most of tonight.
I think when we think of our culture, there is a constant race of the proverbial ladder, right? It's the ladder of the Fortune 500 Company, it's the ladder of status, it's the ladder of the American dream. Everyone in the West is trying to climb the ladder and what I would probably name that ladder is the ladder of reputation, the ladder of success, right? And we see that in Luke nine, this is where Jesus disciples are.
They're trying to climb the ladder, look at Luke nine verse 46. In art, I love this story and so fun. An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child, a little boy, and put him by his side.
And then he spoke to his disciples and said, whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you is the one who is great. Jesus just kind of hits them in between the eyes with the truth of with this kingdom, it's not a race up, it's a race down. It's an upside down kingdom.
And it's not, let's reach for the next slap, let's reach for the next step, let's go up higher on the reputation ladder as the disciples are like, no, I'm gonna get a statue, no, I'm gonna get a statue, no, I'm gonna get my name on the building, no, I'm gonna get my name on the building, it's like, no, no, no, Jesus is going, let's race to the bottom, let's go low and let's go meek. But we feel this tension in everyday life, right? Because we live in the West and this is what we're swimming in. We're swimming in a culture that points us to go, hey, you need more.
Hey, if you want to really be happy, hey, you deserve this, right? And we're constantly feeling like I need to keep on climbing up the ladder of reputation. And oftentimes this ladder that we're climbing, as we're climbing this ladder, maybe your ladder is named differently than somebody else's because there's a different reason why you're climbing. What I mean by that is like some of you might be climbing this ladder of reputation so you can actually be respected.
And what's at the top of the ladder, like what you're aiming, why you're going to all of your troubles, why you're waking up early, why you're working overtime, why you're doing all of the stuff that you're doing is because you're seeking respect, right? Or you're seeking approval, or you're seeking a dream, or you're seeking impact. I'm trying to, I'll give you a couple other examples. Maybe you're seeking validation.
Maybe you're seeking the praise of man. Maybe you just want to be rich. You saw the yacht, you saw the Instagram post, and you're like, I want that. And that's at the top of the ladder because what that communicates is I've arrived.
I did it, right? I accomplished it. Maybe at the top of the ladder that you're going up is prestige or promotion or connection. And it's really like a hamster wheel.
Whatever you want to use, whatever example you want to use, hamster wheel, ladder, there's probably some other ones, okay? And the Lord is going, I don't want you to get caught on the ladder. Don't get caught on the ladder. Because oftentimes what happens is there's a voice inside of our head that when we think about, once I achieve this, then they will respect me.
Then they will love me. Then they will trust me. Then they will see me, or I'll be known, okay? So what I'm trying to draw your connection to is sometimes you have so much drive to climb the corporate ladder or climb the ladder of impact because you're going, if I do it, then they, then my mother-in-law, then my father-in-law, then my dad, then my mom will see me and they'll go, look at my boy.
Oh my goodness, look at my girl. Have you heard about my daughter? And will hit that feeling that we've always been longing for, right? So if you picture that person, that voice, that spouse, whoever that is, at the bottom holding your ladder.
And it's one of those ladders that's not an A-frame ladder, but it's like the extension ladders. And they're holding it and you're like, okay, I'm gonna keep on going. I should've just brought a ladder in. You should've held it for me, Ben.
And they're at the bottom because you're climbing for them. And then many of us have probably experienced that moment where they walked away. And you, it just crashed and burned. And you started realizing your whole life was built on making another person think a certain way or act a certain way to you.
And that's very disorienting. And that's real because we have our identities wrapped up into that other person's opinion. And it's about our reputation. And some of us are like, I don't care if I have the blue check mark.
I don't care if the masses can't think about my life. You know, you're like, I don't care what people think. But that one person, I really care. Are you hearing me?
Some of us is like, I don't care what the crowds think, but I care what he thinks. And that's what the Lord is addressing. He's going, you are trying to get up in terms of your reputation. You're trying to be high and lofty and seen and accepted.
The Lord's going, let's go low. Let's go meet. Okay. Maybe you're on the ladder if you feel like you need to look a certain way to be accepted or you need to own certain things to not feel shame or embarrassment, to own a better car, a nicer apartment, a nicer home.
Maybe you're on the ladder if you've been, you've been realizing that you're just not as far along as the people that are the same life stage or age as you. And you might be on the ladder if you're always feeling like you're behind when you look at everybody around you. Maybe you're on a ladder of reputation if you always feel discontent and you never feel like it's enough. Are you on the ladder?
The Lord is beckoning you to get off of it, to get off of the hamster wheel of trying to be something so that you can look down on others or at least just feel good about you. The Lord's going, I went to the cross so that you would know your identity. And now all of these other things are getting added on top of it, making you miserable. And now you don't feel free because all of these things have to be working out for you and you need to be able to prove to everybody else that you're amazing when the Lord's like, you're amazing, own it, live in it.
You're free, stop doing that. Stop climbing so hard and just start getting low. And so we look at Jesus and he's going, hey, don't get caught on the ladder. It's a race to the bottom.
And he's going, greatness isn't defined that way. But greatness is on the inside of all of us. We all want greatness, right? Some of us are like, I don't want greatness, but it's in you.
Some of us have just died to that reality because our mediocrity seems so real. But deep down inside, you wanna be great. And greatness doesn't look like whining and dining and bigger and better. That's not what greatness is.
Jesus shows us greatness. We're gonna just look at Jesus' life. Are you ready? Let's turn to Matthew one.
We're just gonna walk through Jesus' life. Something I love about Jesus is that he walks the walk. He's the real deal. That's an understatement, right?
Man, Jesus is the real deal. Never said that, sorry, Lord. But we're gonna work through just the first couple moments of Jesus' life. And then we're gonna skip to where he starts his ministry and what he does in the first couple months in his ministry.
And I want you to catch that Jesus is free from the reputation train. He is so free that he's doing the craziest stuff. He is doing things that you would never, ever, ever do. And I wouldn't do either.
But he's so free from this capitalistic, we've got to do more better and we've got to have more momentum. And he's just free from it. And he's going, I associate with the lowly. I'm not haughty and prideful.
And I don't look down my nose at other people like the Pharisees did. And like culture was telling him to, okay? So we're gonna unpack how he did that, okay? You got your Bibles open?
This is so fun. All right, Matthew one. First of all, it starts out that Jesus is an illegitimate child. You know, it's like a young girl, unmarried, is now pregnant.
And so his mom, he's seen as an illegitimate child in his hometown for his whole life. Are you catching that? It's like he's, as everybody else is concerned, he's an accident. And that's his storyline for his family in Nazareth.
That's what his life, that's the title that he has with all the neighbors and all the opinions, all right? He's born in a cave, okay? So the God that created everything is born in a cave. And then his welcome crew is some shepherds.
Now the thing that you need to know about shepherds. Shepherds were seen so awfully by the culture of the first century in Israel, that they were actually seen just because of their profession, they were seen as sinners. That was, it was like they are so far down on the socio-economic totem pole, that they were seen as like less than all of the worst of the worst. And there was actually writings in Jewish writings where the Pharisees and like in the Mishnah, where they're basically going, how could God ever relate himself to a shepherd?
They are that horrible. And God's welcome, they're like embarrassed that David was the king, but he was also a shepherd. They're embarrassed by that in their history. So now shepherds are the ones that are the welcome crew for the God of all creation, so lowly and humble.
My goodness. All right, let's look at Matthew two. Look at verse 13. What's happening?
Well, Joseph has a dream. And he miraculously has this dream, and it's a warning that he's supposed to flee to Egypt with Jesus and Mary. And so now they move to Egypt and their refugees. There's many refugees probably in this room, where you're part of a war-torn country, and you're in a different land, and that's a Jesus story.
So you have a story that's very similar to Jesus story if you're a refugee. He's one that gets it. He understands what that was like, to be growing up in a different culture, and then go back home and feel out of place. He understands that, not gonna make new friends.
Maybe you've been misplaced in terms of like, men, your parents were military family. Jesus gets it where you have to go, he's like moving to different spaces, right? He understands what moving felt like as a young child. All right, Matthew three, this is unbelievable.
For 30 years, Jesus is in hiddenness. So they're like, return to Nazareth. Some of you remember the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple. We get like a little window into how he's developing.
And then for 30 years, he's just lonely. Where's the stories? Where's the miracle stories? And then what does he do when he comes out of his like hiding?
Hiding as the son of God in Nazareth. What happens? He goes to his weird cousin, John the Baptist. Do you look at that?
Look it. Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John to be baptized by John. John the one that eats insects, that's wearing camel hair, and that is the outcast prophet in the wilderness. John the Baptist, who is literally, let's tell him out, if you were Jesus and you're going, okay, I'm God and I'm going to start my ministry.
Like if I was Jesus, do you know what? I would have been doing in my 20s. I would have been starting to develop relationships with the ministers. I would have been starting my networking process with all the Pharisees and the power players, right?
What does Jesus do? Just keeps on building stuff in Nazareth. Then the father says it's your time. And he goes to John the Baptist.
John the Baptist who has no clout. John the Baptist is calling all of the religious leaders, like serpents. He's calling them a brute of vipers. He's calling them snakes.
Are you hearing that? What does Jesus do? Why would he do that? That's gonna discount.
He's associating with someone that's actually, that's not good for his ministry to associate himself with cousin Johnny, okay? All right, but God still is like, takes it, right? God's like, all right, I can still work with you, Jesus. No, I'm just kidding.
And God splits open the heavens. Says this is my son who I'm well pleased with. Everybody's like, okay, what just happened? And then what does Jesus do?
He doesn't build off of the momentum. He's like, okay, yep, I know that father in heaven just ripped open the heavens and you guys saw it. But I'm instead going to not build on the momentum and I'm gonna disappear for 40 days. And I'm not gonna eat and I'm not gonna drink and I'm gonna be tempted for 40 days.
And then what is Satan, tempting with the ladder? He's like, you could just skip up these, all these steps. You can have the greatest reputation in all of history and you can have all of the kingdoms. They're yours.
And he says no. And then he moves on. All right. Matthew, Matthew four, first 12, you know that section, no, verse 18.
He's walking by the Sea of Galilee. He sees two brothers. It's lottery pick time. I don't know if any of you are in the NFL draft, NBA draft, I don't even know if MLS has a draft, but it's lottery pick time.
And Jesus has the opportunity to pick his top disciples, his first picks for the team. And who does he go to? He goes to the Sea of Galilee and he chews a bunch of fishermen that have foul mouths. They're like young whippersnappers that have no ministry experience.
What is he thinking? What is he doing? associating himself with fishermen? You're a rabbi.
What are you doing? Who else is gonna wanna be a disciple if those are Jesus' first picks? He's associating himself with all of these people. John the Baptist.
Now these guys, they're not even good fishermen. You can't catch anything unless he says, go the other side. That's crazy. So then he somehow crowds are following him, right?
Yawe in the flesh, that's why. And then Matthew five, he starts the greatest sermon in human history. He preaches, he like orates the most powerful, succinct, jam-packed sermon on the Mount of Olives. And it's the greatest sermon ever preached by a man.
He preaches from Matthew five, six, you can turn with me, seven. Then it says in Matthew seven verse 28, okay, what will he put it says? Jesus finished these saints. The crowds were astonished at his teaching.
Like that's a good message. Like I don't think any of you have ever left my sermon and been like, I am astonished. Like I don't think that's, I'm confident. That's never happened ever.
Okay, for he was teaching them as one who has authority and not as their scribes. Maybe I need to pray and fast more. Okay, Matthew eight, when he came down from the Mount of Olives, great crowds followed him. This is good momentum.
Do you see that? Great crowds, the masses are following him. And behold, a leper. Oh no, a leper.
Do you know what the scene looked like? Jesus is walking and there's hundreds, maybe thousands of people that are walking behind him. And there's a whole entourage. And then as he's walking, there's a leper that stands in the middle of the road and says, he smells, he looks nasty, his skin is falling off.
It's very unpleasant. And you just see everybody just kind of backing away. And Jesus approaches him and does the unthinkable. Listen, he's got all the momentum.
He's got all of the reputation. It's a billion. And what does he do? He touches the guy.
Why did he have to touch him? He could have said be healed and he would have been healed. But instead, he now is like, he touched the contagious guy. I mean, I just, he could have ruined his whole ministry right there.
He could have gotten lepercy right there. He took the risk. By some of you are like, no, well, he's the son of God. No, no, no.
He could have gotten lepercy in that moment and he knew it. And so Jesus literally comes and touches the leper and he just started his ministry. What is he doing? associating with the lowly, associating with the outcast, saying I'm lowly and I feel right at home with the one that's in the middle of the road saying unclean.
Even though I've never sinned and there's never been any uncleanness in me, there's a day coming where I'm going to take all of the unclean sins on top of me and I'm going to become one with them. But he reaches out his hand. Now he's unclean for seven days because he touched the leper. So now he can't be in ministry for seven days.
That doesn't seem like a good strategy at all. You're gone for 40 days. Then you preach the best message ever in history. And then you go touch a leper and you get unclean for seven days.
He doesn't seem to be concerned with reputation. That is so. Wow. So not like us most of the time.
All right, let's keep on going. Here we go. Here we go again. He decides in Matthew 8, verses 5 through 13, to heal the oppressors servant.
So Roman centurion is like a commander of 80 troops, Roman soldiers. So this Roman captain says, hey, I've got a servant. They need to get healed. And Jesus actually heals the servant.
That's not a good political move. Like how many of you know that Simon the zealot is going to be pretty upset about that one. He's like, what did you do for the Roman official? You mean the guy that I'd like to just like take my dagger out and get him and you did that for his servant?
Why'd you do that? It's not popular. OK. Matthew 8.
This is where it gets good at Matthew 8, verse 18. Now Jesus saw a crowd around him. He gave orders to go over to the other side. We'll talk about the other side in a little bit.
Verse 19, ascribe came up. Who came up? ascribe and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. In other words, teacher, I want to be on your team.
I want to be a disciple. That's what disciples do. They follow their rabbis everywhere they go. Jesus says to him, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Then another of the disciples says to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father, because I don't want to go to the other side. And Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. OK. Jesus has a fantastic opportunity in front of him.
He's got a bunch of fishermen that don't know squat, that haven't memorized the Torah the way that ascribe would. So how many of you have ever been on a staff where you're understaffed? And you're like, there's so much, just raise your hand. There's so much work, and there's not enough bodies.
Jesus is in this moment. Do you feel that? No, never. There's this moment where Jesus could get an atomer.
Jesus could get ascribe. What a fantastic ministry asset to have on your team. Someone that's not of lowest state, someone that actually has some religious wherewithal that understands everything that Jesus understands. And what does Jesus do?
He says, nah. And then one of his disciples, so one of his teammates, one of the guys that he's hired on his staff, says, Jesus, I don't want to go to the other side. I want to go deal with my dad's body. And Jesus says, tough.
If you want to follow me, you're going to come with me. But there's a lot of people and a lot of needs. Do you know at this moment that the crowds are trying to pull on him? Can you imagine the amount of ministerial need that is around him for the first time?
And forever, there's a rabbi-profit teacher that actually is healing the sick, casting out demons. Everybody is swarming. He needs people to go, hey, yep, one second. He'll be with you in a second.
Yep, one second. He'll be with you in a second. One second. Hey, back up.
He needs people to just do that. And there's literally a disciple that's like, hey, real quick. Just go do this, and then I'm going to be right back. Jesus?
He's like, sorry. What? OK. Oh, man.
Come to the storm. Then what does he do? He goes to the other side. We came to the other side.
And so that's what he was talking about in verse 18, 19, 20. He goes to the other side. And the other side is the Gatorines. So the Gatorines is a town that had Gentiles.
It was a Gentile town. And there was like pagan worship there. It was not a good town. And Jews always avoided the Gatorines.
So when Jesus says, we're going to the other side, no, we're not. That's what his disciples are like. Wait, are you sure? No, we shouldn't.
Every good Jewish boy and Jewish girl knows you don't go to the other side. And Jesus says, no, we're going to the other side. And then what happens when they get to the other side is two demonized men. They get set free.
Then there's a whole pig situation, which tells you that it was not a kosher community. And then I love it to add to his resume as a leader. Even the Gatorines community is like, please leave. We don't want you here.
It's like, Jewish rabbi, please go away. We don't want you here. Wow. What a reputation.
Then Jesus is having a house meeting. Getting to the boat, crossed over, came to his own city. And he holds some people brought to him a paralytic, laying on a bed. And you know what?
I was thinking this is a different story. But I'm going to tell this story anyways, because it was probably in this. Maybe it was the story. Maybe it's not.
But I just picture Jesus. This is one of the stories. Just bear with me. Jesus goes into a house.
He's got this host that has prepared an amazing meal. And they're in the living room. And then what happens? Somebody starts digging through the ceiling.
Vandalizing the house. This woman has a great ambiance that she set up, the woman of the home. Very nice fireplace in Garland, because it's Christmas season. And now there's a whole getting dug through the ceiling.
That is not good. That's bad. That is bad. How many people are going to host him now that that's happening?
Because of him. I don't know. We just off the rails, because that's not even that same passage. And let's finish with this.
Here's the kicker. He adds somebody else to his team. Matthew 9, verse 9. And it's Matthew, the tax collector.
Matthew, the guy that nobody likes that's stolen a bunch of money from Aunt Julie and Uncle Larry, and Mom, and Dad, and all the cousins. And he took more money from me last week than what he was supposed to. And everybody hates him. And Jesus is like, yep, you're on my team.
And then he says, you know what? Let's go over the tax collector's house, so I can associate with more of these people. And let's eat with the prostitutes. And let's eat with the sinners.
And let's go to the woman at the well in Samaria. And she's going to be a woman that's been unfaithful many times. And let's go to the, let's be in the room and let the woman, actually, that's a prostitute. Wash my feet with her hair and her tears and some ointment.
Let's actually let this woman that is found in adultery and all be associated with her and lean down in the dirt. Jesus the lowly one. Jesus the one that has gone far off from the ladder of reputation. And he's going, I am lowly and meek, and I associate with the lowly and the meek.
The Apostle Paul and Jesus have the same message to address the hotties spirit that looks down on people. And I just need to name this. I think that we are guilty of this way more than we think we are. I think we look down on people way more than we're willing to be honest.
Because of social status, because of the, wherever they are financially, in what type of neighborhood they live in, what type of ethnicity they have, whatever their background is. And there's underneath the surface, there's an arrogance that we carry that we most of the time don't want to look at, but the Lord's going, for those who are struggling with this, there's a remedy. And the remedy is that you actually serve and love those that you can't get anything from. Yeah.
He's like, hey, I want you to throw a party. And I want you to throw a party for the people that can't throw you a party. And then you're going to get really connected to your depravity of pride in your heart, in your discomfort. And then you're going to start realizing that the arrogance that you've been living in is actually anti-God.
And you're actually supposed to step into his humility and loneliness and meekness and care for those that are different for you, different from you, those that maybe you in your mindset think that you're higher than. And the Lord's like, we need to address that now. We need to weed that lie out now. You're to be a set-apart one that carries the humility and meekness of God.
And so as a people, I want to be like Jesus. And I think you want to be like Jesus, too. And that's why you're here. You don't want to just get entrance into the kingdom and then not have transformation.
You want to step into greatness. And stepping into greatness looks like caring for those that can't even care for you or do anything for you, like children, right? And associating with children, associating with the people of our culture and society that get pushed to the edges. And the Lord's going, those are the ones that you get to step in in love.
There's one major ditch that I have to warn you of though. And it's called self-righteousness. Because then if you let your left-hand know what your right hand is doing, what happens is you think you are holier than thou, caring for the lowly. And then you're in just as much deception as you were before.
As you care for others that can't give you anything back, you begin to realize that you can't really give Jesus anything back either. And you start stepping into humility and you go, I can't give him anything that he doesn't already have, other than my surrender and my praise. I have really nothing to offer you other than my love and affection. And the Lord's going, would you step into my loneliness?
Would you step out of pride? Get off of the reputation ladder. Don't be caught on the reputation ladder. Let's go low.
I want to respond to the Lord. That's all Stan. I'm going to close with Matthew 25. I think this is such a beautiful passage.
Jesus is talking about the end of the story of history. And he says this, the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, I don't remember. When did we see you hungry and feed you with thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? When did we even see you sick or in prison or visit you?
I don't remember. Then the king will answer them and he's going to say, truly, I say to you, as you did to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me. When you step and we step into this, I want you to know that it's a step into freedom, to get off of the ladder of the American dream and to be free from the love of money and free from the love of reputation. It actually sets our souls free.
And I want to step into this, and I think a lot of us want to step into this too. I don't want to be on the ladder. I want to bend low. There's a couple weeks ago we were at the base, and we were in the parking lot.
And there's a little nine-year-old girl, those in the parking lot. And her and her family live at the Motel 6, that's next door. And we just hung out with her as a family for about 15, 20 minutes. Just love down her, hung out with her.
Just like a nine-year-old girl just in a parking lot in a construction zone. Just hanging out. No parents around or anything like that. No caretakers.
But it felt so right to love her for those 20 minutes. And it felt like we were right in the middle of where Jesus would be in that moment. And I think as a community, we are going to step in to settings where it's gonna feel right. Because we're going to step in to serve and love the lowly.
And the Lord is gathering leaders in our city, in this hour, in this room, in this community that have been doing this for decades. And I think we get to be a part of a bigger story for a whole city, but it actually starts with us uprooting the comfort that pride gives and going, Lord, I'm okay to be uncomfortable. I'm okay to not associate myself with all of the wealthy and all of the managers that can promote me and all of the people that are doing all of the amazing things that maybe someday I hope to climb the ladder and get to their level. The Lord's going, let's go after the one.
Let's be people that go after the one. I see greatness in you. And greatness doesn't look like great exploits, most of the time. Greatness looks like serving, washing feet, going low.
I want this in my story. I want this in my life. So what I want us to do is just take a practical step. So if you want to just get some elbow room and spread out, we're gonna just connect with the Lord.
So you can spread into the aisles. We're gonna linger with the Lord for a little bit, just five minutes, okay? We're gonna, I don't want us to just hear a message and go, that man, that was a good message, great. Awesome, yeah.
I want us to actually like figure out what's the next step where I'm gonna step into it, okay? Let's actually activate and obey the Lord, okay? We're gonna ask the Lord this question, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now knowing this, what do you want me to do?
So you can, in your own words, ask the Holy Spirit this question. Now do not ask him that question if you're not gonna obey. If you have no attention of obeying, then don't even ask him the question. But if you have a surrendered heart, you're going, whatever it is Lord, I want to obey you.
It's called Shama, it's listening to Anobane. Then you can just ask him that question, Lord, what would you have me do? I'm gonna give about three minutes. Trust me, just be with the Lord.
I think he wants to give us some next steps, action steps. I want to be like him, you know? And when I look at you guys, I think you want to be like him too. We have something in common, we both want to be like Jesus.
So Lord, we want to be like you. We want to grow up to be like our older brother. We want to be like our brother that went before us, that endured the cross and humbled himself. Lord, we want to be like you, the meek one, the lowly one, the leader that would touch the untouchables, the leader that would actually go after the one and leave the 99, the leader that did the unpopular things because it was obedience to the Father before the praise of man.
Lord, we just leave the ladder of the praise of man and the rejection of man. And we just say that we want you as the only one that has the strongest opinion to move us to action. We love you and we say that it's our joy to follow this type of rabbi. And everybody said amen.