"Above All Else" Chapel Series: Pastor Kyle Jackson | Highlands College Chapel

what's up highlands college we doing good yeah if we haven't made yet my name is jordan and i just want to start by saying i could not be more proud of you guys than i am right now we're six weeks in everybody six weeks into the semester sports are in full swing i think i heard a little uh smack talk where's brax i think he's already claimed the championship just for for anyone that's wondering there he is sports are full swings small groups and how many of you are thankful for chapel you know i don't know about you but we get to come in and just the moment we just experience step into the presence of god incredible team that leads us pastor mark pestler jill that just set the tone for us i'm thankful for that and i'm very certain that today is going to be no different we're in the middle y'all enjoying the above all out series it's been great what we've heard so far and today we really have a he's a guest but he's also family so it's his first time to speak at chapel but he's definitely a part of highland's family and he brought his whole team i think we have 20 team members here with us so a couple of things i'm gonna i'm gonna it's the whole thing when you're introducing a guest like when do i expose the name how long do i wait so i'm kind of in that moment and i'll tell you who it is but i actually met him for the first time about six or seven years ago and knew immediately when i met him that it was someone that number one loves jesus just in the first interaction he loves the lord but also that he is a lover of people someone that that wants to invest and develop and seize the best in everyone that's around him and over the years i've just seen that happen time and time again and just a few years ago pastor kyle and jen jackson went and launched our columbus campus our one out of state campus in columbus georgia launched it two years ago and that that campus is thriving started out of the state and it just continues to grow 20 leaders from the campus are here uh just today so highlands college i want you to do me a favor and let's give pastor kyle jackson the best welcome that we can [Music] love you too all right all right anybody love jesus today yes good stay on your feet for just a second um hey man thank you for letting me be with you guys today so honored to be with you this is my first highland college chapel so i'm like i i'm so being being with you guys watching you worship makes you feel pretty good about where our world is going so in the midst of everybody saying our world's going down the drain i think more people need to come watch this and see that our world's in pretty good hands so um so we're proud of you so we're so honored to be here with you today let me just while you're on your feet honor a few people and i know you guys do this i know every chapel speaker probably comes in and does this but don't ever don't ever lessen your honor for those that deserve honor and they don't need it but the bible is very clear i hope you know that you've got the greatest pastor i believe in the world today in pastor chris hodges and i love him i know you love him and i hope while you're here you don't just see him as the head of highlands college i hope you see him as your pastor like that's it's he gets to do both and then obviously uh pastor mark and jill pettis i am um [Music] so my wife and i moved here two and a half years ago from florida we were at a church for 10 years in florida and and my florida folks said all right good for you all that's good we moved north we did it so fort myers where are you from you're from amend florida orlando okay big disney people no not big disney people okay it's okay yeah it's like we live by the beach and we never went to the beach like why would you do that makes no sense right now we've moved here and we've gone three times i'm like let's let's spend money to do it and we could have done it for free so it's real very dave ramsey of us so um i got to watch pastor mark and jill for nine or ten years from a distance and you know i think one of the unique things that you get to experience when you come to highlands if you're not if you've never been a part of highlands is you're like is it as good on the inside as it looks on the outside like that's the question honestly that's the question i used to ask is is it as good as it looks like or is it just so big that nobody can really tell like and coming here two and a half years ago you always looked on at mark and jill and i always thought i'm like man they are so humble in light of what they've been a part of helping build in light of motion and light of highlands college in light of 23 campuses across the state and i'm just telling you the closer i got to pastor mark i met with him recently and i walked away and the first thing i said to myself is i'm like man how humble could you be in light of all that god's allowed you to be a part of like there wasn't an ounce of this was about me and as i've gotten to know jill it's the same thing like there's not an ounce in them that they actually think that anything that's happened has anything to do with them and i tell you humility is the thing that highlands i think is known for around the country and as you get on the inside it's more humble than it looks from the outside and i love that and then jordan i've got to meet jordan where jordan go where do you run off to evp mercy avp he probably ran to a meeting that's what evps do they're like they're in meetings so what a great what i mean i'm sure pastor jill and mark get honored and pc gets honored but jordan in the role he plays what an incredible leader you guys have around you there and then ma the team that i get to serve with is here today and my staff team is here some of our high level leaders are here and i just raise your hand if you're on the columbus team real quick real high real high yeah and then maybe the biggest hand clap before we sit is we brought four high school seniors with us that are interested in highlands college sitting right over here all right all right here's my prayer for you today is that um that you get this every tuesday and thursday and man i hope you never get used to it i hope you never get used to the opportunity that we live in the greatest country in the world that you can walk into one of the greatest schools in the world and you can worship with some of the greatest worship in the world and you get some of the greatest speakers i'll step out of that title you get some of the greatest speakers in the world to come speak to you and challenge you i hope you never get used to it so here's my encouragement on week six of hc on chapel 10 11 12 whatever this is anybody ever been to a brazilian steakhouse where it's the all-you-can-eat thing anybody somebody likes to eat so so if you've ever been there before they give you a card they give you a red card and they give you a card on one side it's red on one side it's green and when you're eating there you can flip it over on red when you're tired of them bringing you meat like you're like i am good i don't need anything else put it on red and they'll stop coming by and their presents will leave your area until you flip it on green and once you flip it on green they like come out of the woodworks with like duck and deer and cow and chicken and it's like where did they come from the green side said you know what i need your presents around me i need you to come feed me and i just hope that none of your cards are on red today at chapel 12. like i want you to flip it on green and let's allow god to come into this place so jesus right now before we even get started today we lift our hands to you god and we turn our card on green and we say we need your presence today god we need something from your word today god we cannot walk into this place and leave the same today so holy spirit have your way come into this place god i thank you for the way these students have already worshipped and ushered in the presence of god i pray that we would never be in the presence of god and leave the same so god i pray that one verse one point one illustration would penetrate the hearts of these incredibly called young people that over the next two years while they're here the next year that they're here god as they go out into the harvest field god they would not go out the same as they walked in because they had the opportunity three or four times a week to be in your presence and god talk about the shaping and the molding and the maturity that can be on them as young leaders god that they could walk into the to churches all across our country they could walk into campuses across highlands and they could kick their head up high and then nobody would look down on them because of their age because of their maturity in christ so god i pray today lord that you would have your way and we give you all the praise and all the glory for it in advance and we prayed in jesus name everybody who agreed said amen amen come on high five somebody to your left and to your right say turn your card on green [Music] all right anybody anybody here so anybody here ever had performance anxiety my man josh by the way josh come on everybody like it was so good it was so good we could have stayed right there man just so so good josh is an auburn fan which makes him even it even was more anointed as it came off the keys right there so everybody love josh today give josh a round of applause [Applause] anybody ever had performance anxiety like i'm about to do something in front of a group of people or individual and i'm like oh boy i am nervous performance anxiety so my wife and i met when i was jennifer my wife is here on the front she's our worship director of our columbus campus and she is the more talented of the two i tell people all the time they hired jen and they let me have a job when uh we were coming from florida so um but i didn't meet jennifer until i'd already graduated college and i'm being honest with you where am i where are my former high school athletes at in the room anybody former high school athlete it's okay good so i'll just be honest i was a big deal in high school like i was 2a allstate um private school 2a all state like it's a big deal like it's it's a big deal um yeah so i some of you only played one way in football i played both ways that might have been because we had 27 people on the team but i was a big deal and um so when you make 2a all state like yours there's a chance that you won't get any offers in college so um so now i played all i played football basketball baseball in high school got a chance to play college baseball coach college baseball for a while at lee university which is an incredible school that a lot of our staff have even come from over the years and i didn't meet jennifer until i was already at lee and out of college so we started dating and we got married and then we got into ministry and i went to speak at a church in north georgia probably seven or eight years ago and we were there and they said hey do you want to play slow pitch softball tonight we have a church league and the pastor of that church was on that team he's like why don't you play i'm like sure man slow pitch softball how hard could it be so jennifer comes to the game this is the first time this is like the first opportunity i've got to show her how athletic i really am like like it's it's i mean like to prove that the plaque that we still have in our bedroom that says i was 2a allstate is real and like this is the opportunity so anyway i go up so i get my first opportunity to hit a slow pitch softball never done it before so they lob it up there and i take a pretty good swing at it and i hit it pretty good like i hit it right between first and second base single in the four hole but when i hit it i knew she was watching and i so i hit and i kind of like watched it go through the four holes like and kind of came out and no lie a girl fielded that ball in right field and threw me out at first base in front of my wife and um not that being a girl makes any difference there but if i'm being honest i did not think she had an opportunity i didn't even think she was gonna i thought she would just lob it into second base like that's what you do and she just comes up firing right on the bag throws me out by like two steps and my wife dies laughing on the front row um and i was devastated honestly because i was a big deal i'm a big deal i'm like this is this doesn't happen so devastated in front of my wife with a little bit of performance anxiety why was i devastated because we live in a results-based society that we live in a world today in a culture today that says performance equals promotion that i think how i perform is how somebody's going to think about me i think how i perform how i do in front of someone else is going to give me the opportunities to be loved more to be seen more to be promoted more and in that moment i was devastated because all of my high school stories of how good i was all got washed down the drain and one slow pitch softball at bad and when it comes to our relationship with jesus we have to understand this simple fact that god doesn't love you because of what you do for him it's only because of who you are to him god does not love you because of what you do he loves you for who you are and the truth is a lot of us here you're working really hard already at being something that you were never intended to be and that's the temptation at your age that's the temptation when you walk into college not just highlands college but any college around the country is that you start working very hard on something you were never intended to be some of you in your first semester already are working so hard at building a reputation others of you here in your third and fourth semester you're working really hard at protecting a reputation that you've built the first couple semesters here some of you are working really hard at significance and in your serve you're worried about your achievements and you're worried about making sure that you're the person that gets shared a win about at the next huddle or you're the person that's brought up at the highlands college meeting and you're working so hard building your significance around your performance some of you are working so hard in your relationships and you're working so hard in this first semester second semester to get into the right circle here at hc while trying to maintain friendships back home and you're gassed by it you're exhausted by it some of you are working so hard at righteousness because you're at highlands college you're at a ministry school and you don't want anyone to know what you're actually really thinking or what you did last week i mean i'm in ministry school i can't make those type of mistakes and the danger we live in in our lives is when we have a performance mindset a works based mindset is that we feel like we have to be in control of every moment every situation every relationship and every outcome in order to succeed that when we have a performance-based works based mindset we have to be in control because if i'm not in control then i can't control how i perform and if i if i build my work on how i perform then i need to be in control so that if somebody sees what i'm doing i can be acknowledged and i can be seen and some of us been told our whole lives that we're the best some of us have been told our whole lives that you're an incredible student you're one of the smartest kids that i've ever taught you have the best voice i've ever heard for someone some for someone so young you're the most talented young person i've ever seen and others of us you got some other things said to you before you came to highlands college that you got the things said like you'll never make the grades to stay in hc maybe you got things said to you really need to get better on your instrument if you expect to be a worship pastor you aren't very patient with kids and you want to be a kid's director and either of these two mindsets can be dangerous as you build a case in your head and in your heart that says in order in order to succeed i must perform at a high level in order to have success in ministry then it's all about my performance and who sees my performance so i have to stay in control in order to succeed so today i want to talk to you about a simple thing it's a simple statement in your series today that i hope really challenges you in a life-giving way and motivates you that now in highlands college before you ever go work a job in ministry that you always remember that it is jesus over works it's jesus over works and the culture we live in it says performance equals promotion that performance equals success that how you do is all that matters but i want to convince you today as those that are called to be in ministry that it is jesus over works this is something in the bible that honestly like the hall of fame people dealt with like some of the men and women in the bible that are people that we talk about that we preach about that we study about they dealt with the same thing so if you have your bible turn to matthew chapter 11 because that's where we're going to land for the remainder of our time matthew chapter 11 and we're going to talk about john the baptist because john had a little bit of this performance anxiety in his life as well and john the baptist finds himself in prison where we're going to pick up the story in matthew 11 verse one and six months before he was thrown into prison john had the biggest ministry in the world john had more people following him than anybody else had following them on planet earth and john finds himself now in prison everyone was following john and then jesus started showing up on the scenes and you guys know the bible that all of a sudden some of john's disciples and followers stopped following john and went and followed jesus and now we find john sitting in prison and i think we're going to answer some questions today on how to keep jesus over words look at matthew chapter 11 verse 1 it says jesus finished teaching his 12 disciples and then he went on to teach and preach in the towns of galilee john was in prison when he heard what christ was doing he sent his disciples to him then then asked jesus they went and asked jesus these are john's disciples they asked jesus are you the one who was supposed to come or should we look for someone else so john's disciples show up on the scenes and they find jesus like hey jesus john's in prison and we just want to make sure that you're the one that he was supposed to preach about we want to make sure that you're the one that he was supposed to go before because john kind of finds himself in prison and we just want to go back and tell john that you're actually the one i think john's asking a question and it's a simple question he's asking he's saying god did i do what you called me to do god did i do what you asked me to do because see john's not in prison for doing anything illegal he's actually in prison for doing exactly what he was called to do and i don't think john was doubting here i just think john was discouraged i think john was sitting in prison and he was looking for a little encouragement honestly i think he was looking for a little validation and i think john was asking the question that all of us do sometimes when it comes to our serving our leading our sacrificing are doing and he's asking the question did i do a good enough job like i left after motion night and i just want to know if i did a good job in my ministry moment like i just left citigroup i wonder if that seven minute word i shared i wonder if it was good enough did i did anyone notice how hard i worked at this john's sitting in prison like did anybody notice how hard i worked did anybody see how much work i did did anybody does anybody even care ever ask the question when you walked away from your serving you're leading you're sacrificing you're doing does anyone even care and i think john finds himself in prison asking these questions and i think maybe john has slipped into a little bit of works over jesus mentality that he went out and he was the one if anybody could ask jesus the question are you the one that was john he preached boldly about this messiah coming and he sends his disciples he says hey jesus did i do a good enough job are you the one or do we need to go look for someone else do we need to go ask someone else did john do a good enough job because john's in prison and he's a little bit discouraged john's in prison and he's struggling a little bit and we'd love to go back and say john hey man they said you're awesome they said you did an incredible job you did such a great job john i just need you to know me and you are the man so here's a couple things today if you want to write it down on how do you how do you know if you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality how do you know if you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality number one we've become more consumed with our gifts being seen by man than we are with our gifts being used for god how do you know if you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality that you are consumed with your serve you're consumed with your leading you're consumed with your moment on stage and you're more consumed with making sure that someone who has authority or influence sees you in that moment then you are being obsessed with just being used for god and that's how you know you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality if we're being honest this morning we all apprec we all crave approval don't we i mean i do we crave approval we want to know if we did a good enough job we want to know how we did honestly we live for the bro you're incredible bro you did such a great job what an amazing job you did you're such a great leader we live for the girl you crushed it you that event was so incredible you're so talented and we play it off with humility but the truth is it feels good we play it off like oh no it's just all for jesus like it was all for jesus but we walk away sometimes and we're thankful that somebody noticed that we did a good job we're thankful that somebody told us how good of a job we did the great philosopher lecrae said if you leave if you live for people's acceptance you will die from their rejection that if you live for people's acceptance you will die by their rejection and i know that feedback's a huge pizza piece of highlands college culture and i think it's one of the greatest things highlands does you'll never have to wonder or worry about how you did if it fit the culture if if what you said was on point or not because there's a culture here that you're going to get feedback whether you want it or not it's coming but i just want to make sure you know today that that you should want to do your best you should want to nail your moments you should you should be prepared to knock it out of the park but don't confuse feedback with approval don't confuse feedback with approval you have to get to a place that says pleasing god is bigger than pleasing man and i'm going to work my hardest i'm going to do my best when i get that opportunity i'm going to prepare i'm going to be humble about it i'm going to pray my way through it i'm going to walk in with the presence of god on me and i'm going to give it my best and even if the feedback comes back and it wasn't what they were looking for i'm not going to walk away feeling rejected because my approval is in christ jesus my approval is in that i'm a son and daughter of god and i'm going to take the feedback and i'm going to get better but i'm not going to take the feedback and walk away rejected because i'm already accepted they would not give you feedback if you weren't accepted because you're not worth the time so when you get feedback you should go man they see something in me and they see where i can get better and i'm accepted and i'm not going to walk away rejected i'm going to walk away getting better at this opportunity but if you've become more consumed with your gifts being seen by man and you're more worried about the acceptance of man or woman and their approval then you're going to walk away feeling rejected a lot and you've got to get to the place where i'm more consumed and obsessed with using my gifts for god than i am about the approval of man colossians chapter 3 verses 22 and 23 says this it says servants do what you're told by your earthly masters and don't just do the minimum that will get you by do your best everybody say do your best work from the heart for your real master for god confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance keep in mind always that the ultimate master you're serving is christ so do your best do your best for your practicum leaders do your best at the campuses you're at under the people you serve at come prepared come have fun come choose joy come pursue excellence but do it for jesus and for nobody else a mindset that says jesus overworks back into the story verse 4 so john's disciples come they ask this question hey like did john do a good job are you the one that we're looking for and in verse 4 jesus replies to him and he says go back to john and report to him what you hear and what you see blind people receive sight disabled people walk those who have skin diseases are being healed deaf people here those who are dead are being raised to life and the good news is being preached to those who are poor go back and tell john that and jesus didn't give the answer to the question they were asking he replied by fulfilling scripture and he said hey go tell john that the message is working don't go back and tell john that i'm the one that he did a good job that he was right go back and tell john that the blind sea and the death here and the dead are being raised and the message is going forward go back and tell john that the second way you can know that you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality is that your win has become more important than him winning that your win your personal win has become more important than him winning i mean if you're anything like me you can sometimes get caught up in your own win can't you what you're responsible for where you're winning where you've done a good job where there's been success in an area that you're leading but if i can encourage you with anything today if you want to write this down we need to be less impressed with what we do and more obsessed with what he calls us to do don't ever get impressed with anything that you're a part of that's growing or succeeding because honestly if i've learned anything in the last 10 years of ministry when i was younger i struggled with this it actually has nothing to do with you one man plants in other waters but only god brings the increase only god brings the harvest so yes your talents and your gifts and your leadership are a part of the process but the growing and the succeeding has nothing to do with you it has everything to do with a humble heart with a servant's heart with a not about me heart and when you take your gifts and your talents and you build a team and you work together in unity yes you plant and yes you water but at the end of the day it's only about god and he's the only one that can bring the increase you need to be less impressed with what you do and more obsessed with what he calls you to do he didn't call you to put on a great event he didn't call you to create a cool graphic he didn't call us to have the most creative video he didn't call us to hit that note in king of kings or make that running champion he didn't call us to have influence on socials to have the biggest small group to have the dopest outfit i don't know if that's a word at chapel he calls us to be teachers and preachers and evangelists and prophets and pastors to take the gospel to those that are hurting and broken and marginalized and blind and deaf he calls you to do he calls you to equip the saints to do the work of ministry not to put on a great event he calls you to go give you the opportunity for the blind to see not just to create a cool graphic he calls you to get people to enter into the presence of god not hit a cool run in a cool part of the song and if you're obsessed with wondering how you did in those moments and less obsessed about people getting to jesus then i think maybe maybe we've slipped into a works over jesus mentality here's a question for you are you more impressed with the fact that you got to lead two of the three songs in the set that you nailed your ministry moment at chapel or motion night that the production team was perfect when you produced that your team was on point on your at your campus on sunday that you are the leader of the biggest city group in your area that numbers were up in your area or are you more obsessed with how many kids said yes at motion night are you more obsessed with how many kids engaged in worship at citigroup this month are you more impressed with how several first-time visitors came by the vip booth saying they had an incredible time and they'll be back are you more obsessed with kids at citigroup opening up about their struggles that people got baptized on first sunday that a child in hk filled out a prayer request are you more obsessed with that or are you more worried about your moment within that and if you are i'd love for you to write this down don't ever be more consumed with the function of your calling than the fruit of your calling like don't ever get too obsessed with how good you did get more obsessed with the fruit of what happened in the area that you got to serve don't ever be more consumed with the function of your calling than with the fruit of your calling when we get obsessed with fruit we won't worry about what we're called to do because we're obsessed with what he's called us to do psalm 115 1 not to us lord not to us but to your name be the glory because of your love and your faithfulness everybody say not to us not to us o lord but to your name be the glory the story takes a turn right here and this is one of my favorite parts of the story maybe if you've heard this story or seen this story you've never seen this part i've heard this this story for years and i caught this little angle on it probably about six or seven years ago and it's one of my favorite things about jesus on just jesus's word is that he kind of sends these disciples back off to john he says hey don't tell john he did an awesome job go tell john that it's working the message is working and then he sends his disciples off and jesus starts talking about john to the crowd a little bit here verse seven as john's disciples were leaving jesus began to speak to the crowd about john verse nine then what did you go out and see a prophet yes i tell you and more than a prophet he's the one written about in scripture when it says i will send my messenger ahead of you he will prepare a way for you verse 11. i truly tell you among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than john the baptist since the days of john the baptist the kingdom of heaven has been taking ground with force he turns to this large crowd and he says hey let me tell you about john john's john's done a pretty good job and it had to bless john to hear all this it had to bless john sitting in prison to hear that jesus thought that there was nobody born greater to a woman i don't know how else you're born but i think that makes you the greatest outside of adam and eve i think he might be number three like out he covered all the bases the kingdom of ground has taken it's the kingdom has taken ground with force since john the baptist showed up on the scene and it had to have blessed john to hear that i'm proud of you it had to have blessed john to hear that i love you john you did a good job i validate you i'm so proud of you but did you catch it in the verse in verse 7 it says as john's disciples were leaving jesus turned to the crowd and said these things about john i'm not sure john ever heard any of this i'm not sure john's disciples caught that on their way out and oh there it is let's go tell john all of that no no jesus fulfilled scripture to go back to john but then turned around to the crowd and talked about john jesus said verses 7 through 11 behind john's back and i think if we could ease drop in for just a few minutes to hear what jesus is saying about us behind our back i think we'd be encouraged i think some of you need to be encouraged today so let me flip this message around a little bit from challenge to encouragement and how do you how do you keep a jesus over works mentality a jesus overworks mentality number one you remember that purpose is greater than performance you remember that purpose is greater than performance jesus ministry was moving forward and john's was decreasing because he embraced jesus's ministry that for a moment john was performing he had the biggest following in all of earth and then jesus shows up on the scene and now jesus's ministry is growing and john's is declining and john asked this question about hey how am i doing is he the one because i want to make sure that all the work that i put in that somebody notices it that somebody tells me that it was the right thing to do and john asked this question but jesus didn't answer his question you got to get this in highlands college in your first semester or your last semester before you get out into the church world and into ministry because i'm convinced that jesus didn't tell john what he wanted to hear because he didn't want john to get caught up in how he was performing he wanted him to know that he was fulfilling his purpose that he could have told them hey he could have told them everything he told the crowd john nobody's done more for the kingdom than you men john nobody's been born greater of a woman than you man he said no no go back and tell john that the blind see the death here the dead are being raised that the kingdom is moving forward that the message is working then behind john's back he brags about john he didn't give john what he was looking for what he did in that moment is that he reaffirmed john's purpose because there will be seasons where you perform well and there will be seasons when you don't perform well there will be seasons when you knock it out of the park and there will be seasons when you strike out and if you live based on how you're going to perform there's going to be way too many ups and downs ups and downs but boy when you get caught up in your purpose and the up and the down you keep it all about jesus and jesus sends john back and says no no let me reaffirm your purpose john the message is working john was discouraged wondering if he was good enough if he did enough but jesus wanted him to know john it's not about you bro it's about me and you fulfilled your purpose man john you are enough john you're not rotting in prison you're fulfilling the purpose of god on your life purpose always outweighs performance that's what carries the weight when things don't go well because if you base it on if you're based on performance and acceptance and approval and feedback you're going to leave a lot of times not feeling so great about who you are but if you base it in my purpose and no matter how i perform god's always going to come out weigh it because i actually have nothing to do with it you can absolutely strike out in a ministry moment and god can still move you can miss a note in king of kings and people still worship i can miss an entire point and people might still get saved you know why because i'm just a vessel i don't change people you don't change people god changes people and you will mess up you will make mistakes you will not perform well sometimes and yes you need to get better and yes you need the feedback and yes you need to do your best but don't you ever walk away with your head down because you're called you're called you wouldn't be here unless you were called and you get confident in that calling you get confident in that purpose and when you mess up you look in the mirror and say i'm going to get better for it i'm going to get better by it i'm going to walk in the next time and i'm going to do my best because purpose outweighs performance how have you slipped into a you've slipped into a works over jesus mentality by worrying too much about your gifts being seen and then used you slipped into it worrying about too much about your win more than him winning how do you stay in a jesus over works mentality you remember that purpose is greater than performance and the second one today if you want to write it down is you stay confident what jesus says about you you stay confident in what jesus says about you because if you can get confident in that you'll never slip over to the work side thinking that you've got to perform your way into love with jesus if we could just get a glimpse of what god really thinks about us if we could ease drop in for just a few minutes to hear what jesus is saying behind our backs i think you'd be encouraged i think you'd be encouraged when we walk around with disappointment and we feel like we're not doing a good job it's because we're basing our worth on our works and not on what god thinks about us i've two kids i have a uh eight-year-old girl kaylee um she's an hk she's she does she does her thing she is a worship leader and she thinks she owns the entire church of columbus building and she thinks like like she will come out like i thank god for a great kids director and a great pre-k director in crystal and ashley because she's never come home and said anything negative about hk as a pastor's kid they can kind of come and say what they want and she's never left that environment saying anything other than it was so amazing it was so fun worship was so great she knows the main point she knows the bible verse she met a new friend a vip person so crystal and ashley i'm so thankful for how you lead in our kids ministry [Applause] anybody in the kids crack today and kids pray look at me there might not be anything more important might not be anything more important the next generation is coming up they got to love jesus they got to choose joy they got to love god they got to know to do their best they got to learn how to worship they got to learn how to open up in a small group even in third grade i love reading the kids worship cards on saturday prayer love it some kids are praying that mom buys milk some are praying that they get the dog [Music] some are praying that my dad's in afghanistan [Music] some are praying that i live with my grandparents because i don't know my parents just might not be a greater thing that you're doing than serving the next generation so kudos to kids prac real quick about eight year old little girl and uh she we were at a basketball game about four or five years ago high school basketball game we walked into the basketball game and this guy walked up there was a teacher at that school and he kind of knelt down and he looked at my little daughter and he knelt down looked her in the eye said he said kaylee you're so pretty now she's probably three and a half ish three and a half years old at this moment and she looks like he looks a kid because you're so pretty and she looks right back at him with total confidence and she goes i know i am of course i'm standing there i'm like well we're not teaching humility [Music] so i just kind of laughed i'm like he's like man you're so smart you're so talented she looked right back at him total confidence and she said i know i am and he just kind of laughed and he looked at her and he said how do you know you are a man with so much confidence she looked at him and she said because my daddy says i am and i just kind of stood in that moment and i thought to myself how many of us are so worried about what other people think of us that we forget about what our father says about us and i just listen let me validate you for a second you're doing a good job you're doing better than you think you are you matter more than you think you do you're valuable you're called six weeks into this thing if you're beating yourself up over a few mistakes you've made you're gonna be okay [Music] if you've already gotten some feedback that was tough for you to handle that's okay receive it get better and remember what your father says about you you're a son you're a daughter there's nobody like you [Music] justin benton where's justin at ain't nobody like you bro nobody has your thumbprint never has nobody does current nobody ever will convince me that two rocks collided and that happen that nobody's ever been like you nobody has your gifts nobody has your talents nobody has your upbringing nobody has your life experiences you are called and you're gifted and you're talented go use it to change people's lives where's brianna tonte at from columbus georgia where's b where's subp nobody like you nobody has your thumbprint nobody ever has nobody does nobody ever will uniquely and perfectly made wonderfully made nothing wrong with you nobody has your upbringing nobody has your life experience nobody has your gifts and your personality all mixed into one person called to take the kingdom of god forward you use it you be confident take the feedback get better but don't seek approval stay in your purpose nobody like you man nobody ever ever in the history of the world has ever been like you god took his time it said he knit you together in your mouth like there's no knitting is like a tedious process by the way you ever watched your grandma like knit something it's fascinating it takes so much time and effort and detail and nobody like you nobody with your upbringing nobody with your gifts nobody with your personality type nobody with your thumb print nobody with your life experiences you stay confident that god took so much time creating you that he wouldn't have taken the time to be so uniquely made that he wouldn't have taken the time to make you so different than everybody else you stay confident in that you take the feedback you take all that and don't use it for approval and acceptance get caught up in your purpose and get better and stay humble but go use it nobody like you ever never will be never has been god loves you so much that he made you so different than everybody else nobody nobody has your gifts nobody has your talents nobody has your thought processes nobody has your life experience nobody's been through your pain nobody's worked through the issues that you've worked through and if you'll use it for god and just know that hey i'm gonna get better i'm gonna take the feedback i'm not gonna get caught up in performance just in my purpose i'm gonna use it watch what god does through you remember what your father says about you the next time you get caught up and worrying about how you perform the next time you get called up and wondering if you did a good enough job you just remember a few things in this place today that you might not think you're talented enough but your father says you are you might not think you're a good enough leader but your father says you are and you might not think you're valuable but your father says you are and you might feel like you're not pretty enough smart enough strong enough popular enough or equipped enough but your father says you are and you might not think you're the best student leader or the best kids leader or the best worship leader or the best student or the best administrator or the best events person but your father says you are that you're fully equipped in jesus name to do what anything that he's called you to do that it's inside of you and you don't need to get caught up in your performance you don't need to get called up and being accepted you need to get called up and the purpose of god in your life knowing that you're good enough and your father loves you so if you need performance broken off of your life today if you need a workspace mentality broken off your life today if you need the fear of being accepted broken off of your life today lift your hands towards heaven and i'm believing the chains are going to fall and that the fear of acceptance is going to break and that the fear of performance is going to break off of your life in jesus name to god we worship you and we love you and we ask that you change everything in this place today god that you would heal lives and that hope would be found god and that the chains of up performances jesus name [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] day [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] seek your face [Music] anybody in the rooms they need it broken off anybody like you you are called up already in week six of performance and worrying about what people think about you you walk around on sunday morning wondering if somebody's watching oh it's okay be honest today i've been there i still even do it sometimes even here at church you need performance broken off of you some of you need to be very clear on what your father says about you right now if you've had some things spoken over your life that's already affecting you here at highlands college slip your hand up real high well let's pray that it's broken off today in jesus name we're gonna go back into that song chains fall fear bell and i'm asking you not to worship like it's just another chapel just another worship experience i'm asking you to have the spirit of god come over you and have it broken off in the first semester because if you can get it broken off in the first semester you'll walk through highlands college differently if you're in your fourth semester get it broken off before you get into the work field that you would never walk around wondering what people think about my performance that yes i'm gonna do my best yes i'm gonna give it my all but i'm still a son and daughter of god so jesus right now i pray that it's broken off of every hand that's lifted now that works has broken [Music] they would know they're off enough that they would know they have every gift and every talent so break it off with them in jesus name break every chain and change everything about every person in here humility in every heart in jesus name [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] holy [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Highlands College

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Id: qwaM5duTsT4

Length: 46min 1sec (2761 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021