 Wow, wow, wow. Good afternoon, a rise shine conference. How you feeling? Come on, how many are glad that you came to a rise shine? Come on, haven't this been good? Did you have a good lunch? Do you like the person you're sitting next to? If you don't, you still got time. You can change your seat. I'll give you a moment. Of course you do. Hey, I am a red bull excited and really express so elated to be here. I'm serious at a rise shine. I am from the great country of Texas and my flight today, true story, my flight left at 5 o'clock this morning, departed at 5 o'clock, a rise shine. And I'm beyond as kind of walked in like Lord, who helped me today, but I'm telling you, I want to echo what Pastor Lee said, in this place today and being able to worship with you. And just since in the presence of God, I'm telling you, I feel like preaching in here today. This is just incredible. Isn't it awesome just to worship and not have to worry about mics and lights and a run sheet and just go back to youth camp you and ugly face cry. It just feels good. If you haven't done that yet, you need to do that. Just cut off your phone, pretend like you're not a pastor and just let the Lord do something awesome in your life and I don't believe he's going to do it. I'm excited to be here in Kalamazoo. Pastor Lee and I, man, we go back. We go way back, like five minutes ago. We just met for the first time, but man, I love his heart. I love your spirit. I love what God is doing in this church and just you and your wise faithfulness. And I think we ought to always celebrate the incredible leaders that create spaces for us to come and receive. Come on, y'all can do better than that. To put this conference on, can we thank this incredible church? And man, I'm just, I'm glad to have my chocolate face in the place. We're going to have fun. We're going to have fun in here today. I am married, I'm married to the finest woman on the planet, Taylor Madue. And she is so kind to let me travel in this season of our lives because we have three little humans and four, three and one. And I'll be that dad, put my babies on the screen. Do y'all have that picture of my little ones? I'll show you what I'm working with. The best thing that I ever did. Do y'all have that picture? Maybe? Maybe not. If not, check it out on the gram. But my kids are really, really cute. And no, okay. But no, I'm excited to share God's word with you and I really believe what I'm going to share is going to encourage you. I don't think it's my assignment to really preach. I've learned that leadership conferences don't preach to preachers because come on, if you preach a point they didn't realize, then they're going to take your stuff. And then if you preach a point that, you know, if you preach a point that they've preached and you know it wasn't their little flavor, like, oh, you know, he really didn't get the revelation and the text. I just want to share something that I have to preach to myself all the time and I really believe it's going to encourage you. And so I just want to frame our thoughts around Hebrews chapter 12. If we can, Hebrews 12 verses one and two and then first Samuel 18 verses five through nine. Hebrews 12, one and two, and then we'll look at first Samuel 18, five through nine. While you're looking for it, how many of you have never heard me preach or speak before? Can I see your hair? Oh, come on. It's a lot of you. Okay, quick disclaimer. There are so many different communication styles in the body of Christ. There are some communicators who are very calm and quiet and stoic and sedate as they stand behind a pulpit to softly pontificate the processes of philosophy, eschatology, and soteriology. And it was considered uncanny and boisterous for you to say anything while they're sharing what the Lord has deposited in the deep recesses of their heart, soul, mind, and spirit. I ain't one of those preachers, okay? I'm a hollow back preacher. So if anything I say, if anything I say over the next six and a half hours that we have together. If it resonates with you, you can say, man, you can say preach that. You can say, mm, that was good. You could grunt. You could stand up in the middle and go, ooh, that was for me. You could also stand up in the middle and go, ooh, that was for you. For real, you needed that. Anyone knows the word. Just help a brother out today. Hebrews chapter 12. Let's look at verse number one. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. What an awesome thought to consider that God has set a race before each and every one of us, and we are required to run that race. How do we do it? The writer of Hebrews tells us we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Can you say amen? And then first Samuel 18. I love this narrative, especially in the message translation. It says, whatever Saul gave David to do, he did it and did it well. So well that Saul put him in charge of his military operations. Everybody, both the people in general and Saul's servants, approved of and admired David's leadership. As they returned home after David had killed the Philistines, the women poured out of all of the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. I'm not really sure what a lute is, but I'm assuming it's like a flute without the F. And profound, I know. And it's as in playful frolic, in playful frolic, that made me laugh. Because you know it's a party when people are taking the time to actually frolic. In playful frolic, the women saying, listen to what they're saying, Saul kills by the thousand, David by the ten thousand. Ooh, this maid Saul angry. Very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, huh, they credit David with ten thousands, but me with only thousands, before you know it, they'll be giving him the kingdom. And from that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David. Ooh, I don't want to preach before I preach. But I do want us just for a moment as leaders to look at these two passages of Scripture in parallel. Because here we have the writer of Hebrews who says, hey, there's a race you've been given and you run the race simply by keeping your eyes on whom? Jesus. But here we have Saul because of a comparison that these ladies made through Saul. Not only, he's no longer focused on his race or his assignment, but comparison was so strong. It calls Saul to focus all of his attention, all of his energy on David. I want to title these moments we have today on their mark. If you're a note taker, that's my title. On their mark. I realize when you're running a race, they say get on your mark. But I'm finding many people in the body of Christ cannot run the race God has set before them simply because they have their eyes on the people in the lanes beside them. So instead of being on your mark, you're on, this is going to be good in here today. Come on, let's pray before we go on to this. This is going to be a long prayer. So just bear with me. Put you by your heads. God, you are awesome. Speak to us today. Amen. On their mark. A quick little sermonic survey about how many would just say by a shong of hands that you like to work out, you enjoy exercise. Can I see your hand if you'd like to work out? Wow, that is a lot of hands. Got some healthy leaders in here today. Okay, you can put it down. How many would say by a shong of hands that you do not like to work out, you don't enjoy exercise? Let me see your hand. Come on, don't lie in church. Awesome, you can put it down. Those of you who lifted up your hands the first time, saying that you like to work out that you actually enjoy exercise, you are officially dismissed from this conference. No for real, you can leave as a matter of fact, run home. Okay? Because I have now found some camaraderie with some commonality with the second group of people. Y'all are my people, okay? I will lift up both hands, both feet, tell the truth and shame the devil, okay? I do not like to work out, do not like to work out. There's absolutely nothing in me that finds enjoyment or pleasure in going to the gym. As a matter of fact, I am theologically and physiologically persuaded that having to work out makes me a man. Oh yes, I'm very serious, people. There were no gyms in Genesis, okay? There were no ellipticals in the Garden of Eden, all right? You cannot have pilates and have paradise. God in His infinite wisdom and His omnipotent power created all of us originally as perfectly perfect humans. Perfectly perfect. Guys, that means Adam had biceps. He didn't have a one-pack, he had a six-pack. Ladies, ladies, Eve had zero percent body fat. Zero percent. Somebody's like, uh-uh, Robert, what's your scripture for that? I'll give you scripture, I'll give you scripture. The Bible says, the Bible says that they were both naked and unashamed. Come on, somebody. You only walk around naked if you got it going on. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. It was not until they took of the forbidden fruit that sin and calories entered into the world. So, I don't like to work out. I don't like to work out, but I do work out. I do work out. In fact, I'm an orange-theory fitness kick right now. I do work out. And the reason I do what I hate is because of what I love, which is to eat. I love to eat. I'm a much better eater than I am a faster. No hate on me, that's my spiritual gift. And when I go to the gym, I actually enjoy lifting weights. I like to lift weights. There's something manly about putting on old spice and lifting iron, okay? I like to lift. But how many of you know, lifting doesn't really burn the calories. It doesn't. You got to do cardio, which means you have to engage in an evil three-letter word called run. I'm telling you, Roshan, I hate to run. I cannot stand running. I despise running. I cannot articulate to you how much I hate to run. I hate that run runs with fun, because there's nothing fun to me, to me about running, okay? Whenever I do run, whenever I do run, I convince my mind I have asthma just so I can stop running, okay? So, for me to get on the treadmill is a big deal. I got to have a lot of motivation to just do a t-shirt, motivational music. I got the eye of a tiger. I need all that just to get on the treadmill. When I get on, I'll start at a good glacial pace and I'll be going and I'm like, oh this is easy. This is awesome. I've been running for like, feels like 30 minutes. Then I'll look at the screen. It's like three minutes. I'm like, my asthma, I can't do this. I'm going to die today. So, I've developed this move and I'm letting out my secrets today. I've developed this move as a mechanism for motivation to keep running on the treadmill. True story. As I'm running on the treadmill, just wanting to quit and throw in the towel, I will first always look to the right and then I will look to the left and I will just peruse the aisle of other people who are running on their treadmills and what I am doing is I'm looking for somebody, anybody, a much older than me body and once I found that random person, I will lock my eye in on that person and I will say something to them. Not out loud, but in my mind, real loud, I will say to them pshh, you don't want none. Now, let me explain what just happened when I said pshh, you don't want none. When I said that, unbeknownst to that person, we just entered into a race. I'm the only one that does this. When I said that, this workout just got real. As soon as I made that declaration, the entire gymnasium has now been transformed to the 2019 Olympics and the first person to get off the treadmill is going home with the silver and the one that stays on the longest is going home with the gold and I'm going to get the gold because I'm a child of God plus I'm American. All we do is win, win, win, no matter what. Come on, can I get a witness up in here today? True story, true story and it really helps me, it really helps me when the person is right next to me because then I can see their screen and see exactly how fast they're going so it's even you know what I'm saying. So if they're on level 6 I'm on level 6. Point 1. If they speed up, I'm going to speed up. If they go on an incline, I'm going to go on an incline. If they stop and take a break I'm going to stop and take a break. Oh yes, I'm not going to keep running while they stop and take a break. That's cheating. You can't cheat in the Olympics. This is a global event so whatever they do I'll do and then I'll wait for it and as soon as they press stop and get off I'll speed mine up to the fastest level because you got to sprint to the finish line then I'll press stop, jump off, grab my towel and shout I've got the gold and rejoice in my sweet victory. I wish I was lying but I'm being so real with y'all today. In fact I beat a guy the other day at Orange Theory and beat him bad too and I saw him like in the hallway afterwards and I said hey man how are you? He said I'm good how are you? I said I'm great. In fact I'm a golden loser. It was awesome. You laugh this afternoon because it's funny it's comical when you talk about comparing yourself to other people in the gym comparing yourself to other people when you're doing exercise but how many of you know it's not so funny when you talk about comparing yourself to other people in life? Ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters what I'm afraid this message mandates is that you introspectively ask the critical question who are you racing? Who are you racing? I'm just wondering who in your life have you perhaps set your eye on and you are running your race according to their pace instead of just doing the thing that God has called you to do instead of focusing on the purpose and the assignment and the destiny that God has placed on your life I just came to warn you today that the comparison game is a dangerous game to play. I don't know whether you noticed or not when you're running on a treadmill which is another reason why I hate running have you noticed on a treadmill you're doing a whole lot of moving whole lot of breathing whole lot of sweat but you ain't going anywhere you're in the exact same position the entire time what a beautiful metaphor for comparing yourself to other people because whenever you compare yourself to somebody else all you end up doing is exerting a lot of psychological emotional and spiritual energy trying to keep up and compete with somebody you were never called or created to be and at the end of all of it you realize I'm in the exact same position I was when I first got started I'm preaching better than y'all are talking in here today as a matter of fact I'm just exercising something a great mentor, Pastor Sam actually told me that I'll never forget he said Robert, whenever you preach just preach from your weakness because you'll never lack the material to preach that's good I am preaching from my weakness today because I found in my own life in my own life as I'm running the race God has said before me I have this inner proclivity and tendency to start staring at the people in the lanes beside me hear me I'm convinced that comparison comparison is the number one destroyer of destiny I'm convinced that the enemy's number one weapon of mass destruction and mass destruction is to get you to compare yourself to somebody else it's his number one weapon overall that's what got him kicked out of heaven Satan Lucifer, you know he used to be on the praise and worship team of heaven it all started with comparison he was created to be a conduit to be an expression of God's glory but he starts comparing himself to God and said I will exalt my throne above the most high and that's what got him fired and dismissed and now his job is to kill steal and destroy from you and I and that's exactly what comparison will do to kill your joy it will steal your peace it will suffocate your sanity comparison is the thief of joy comparison is like cancer to contentment you cannot be content when you are comparing yourself to somebody else I love the Apostle Paul the artist formerly known as Saul and it's funny to me I just love when he starts bringing order and structure to the church of Corinth because he feels the need to warn them emphatically about the danger of comparison look what it says in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12 Paul says this he says for we dare not we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise Paul says you are stupid you are foolish if you are playing the comparison game do you know what comparison is not wise please hear my heart today because comparison will consistently cloud the clarity of God's call on your life that was so nice I'm going to say it twice comparison will consistently cloud the clarity of God's call on your life meaning if you ever want to be confused about what God has called you to do then just start comparing yourself to what other people have been called to do first of all let's just establish today that there has been a unique call that has been placed on your life oh come on I hope you know that at a rise shot come on I hope you know this is a call that is on your life that's the only way you can withstand all the hell that comes against you is to just shake your head and go who I was called to this right here I hope that you're not getting the ministry and it was a career choice my goodness all the devils that come against your life you do know there's a difference between a career and a calling a career is what you get paid to do a calling is the thing you were made to do it was the thing that God put you on this earth to do it's the thing that when you do it you say who I was born to do this right here there is a call to do what you do and not a random call but a call that is so unique a call that is so specific so idiosyncratic that only you can do the thing that God has called and graced you to do your cousin can't do it your brother can't do it your sister can't do it only you can do the thing that God has called and graced you to do not only that more good news God has already given you everything you need to accomplish your call oh you don't believe it cause that's shouting stuff right there everything you need to do what you he's called you to do is already in you what an awesome thought to consider that everything I need to do what God has called me to do it is already in me everything you need to do what God has called you to do it is already in you you don't have to look outside of anybody you don't have to be jealous of anybody you ain't got a hashtag hate on anybody in your life if you don't have something that means God and his sovereignty and his wisdom knew he would need that to do what he's called you to do oh come on that means if you were supposed to be taller guess what he would have made you taller if you were supposed to be faster he would have made you faster if you were supposed to sing he would have given you a voice hello if you were supposed to dance he would have given you some more rhythm if you were supposed to be black he would have made you black if you were supposed to be white he would have made you white if you were supposed to be latino and you got everything you need on the inside of you. Stop complaining to the master about the pieces you didn't get and just start praising him and thanking him that you're a masterpiece. Oh, I feel like preaching this afternoon. You are a masterpiece. You have been carefully created and meticulously made by a God who is obsessed with you. You are a masterpiece. I got to interrupt this regularly scheduled sermon so you can engage in a verbal exercise. Would you just say this? Everybody say this from the front to the back. Would you say this? Say, I am a masterpiece. Oh, say it like you believe that thing. Say, I am a masterpiece. Come on, say it like you got faith and power. Say, I am a masterpiece. I'm telling you, if that got in your heart and not just in your head, that will change the way you leave a rise shine. That will change the way you go back to your church. That will change the way you go back to your city to know that you are a masterpiece created by the greatest artist who is God. As a matter of fact, if you got ridiculous, radical faith when you get back to your church, you'll just take you some velvet rope and put it around you. And when people say, why you got that velvet rope around you? Say, oh, it's to remind me that I am a masterpiece. Picasso can't touch God. Leonardo da Vinci has nothing on the God that formed me. I am his masterpiece. I need to calm down, but this is blessing me. Are y'all recording this? I'm gonna watch it later. You're a masterpiece. You're a masterpiece. Be happy to be who God uniquely called and graced you to be. You're a masterpiece. Now when I say you're a masterpiece, please don't get it twisted. That's not feel good phraseology. That's not cute self-help talk. That's not preacher hype. That's just God's word. You don't believe me. It's just chapter two, verse 10. Come on, you know this. It says, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us. He planned for us long ago. That means God is a strategic God. And He has already marked out a path and a lane for all of us to run in. And all you have to do, watch this, all you gotta do is stay in your lane and keep your eyes on Jesus. All you have to do is stay in your lane and keep your eyes on Jesus. But I have to get a girl track and I have this, no, all you have to do is stay in your lane. But I have a simulation retent. And all you have to do is stay in your lane and keep your eyes on Jesus. I know it's simple, but that's actually my entire message for today. I came all the way from Dallas, Texas to tell you two things. Stay in your lane and keep your eyes on Jesus. That's all I got. That is literally all I got. Matter of fact, I'm done. God bless you. It's been so good being with you today, no. I mean, it sounds so simple and it sounds so elementary and some of you want some deeper things in the Word of God. But I'm beginning to find out that right there is the most difficult thing for people to do. Just to stay in their lane and keep their eyes on Jesus. That is difficult for people to do. Come on, let's just think practically today. How many of you have ever been stuck in traffic? Maybe we're stuck in traffic. Isn't it funny and a phenomenon? Whenever you are stuck in traffic, you always, always feel like the lanes beside you are the ones that are moving faster. And what do you do? You almost wreck your car trying to get as somebody else's lane and you would have been better off just staying in your lane. Oh, hear me, God told me to tell you, don't wreck your life and your ministry trying to get in somebody else's lane. Just stay in your lane and keep your eyes on Jesus. Ooh, your lane, huh, your lane, huh, your lane. Your lane, what an awesome thought to consider that God in His grace and His sovereignty would give me my own lane. Ooh, I got a lane. You got a lane. You understand that a lane is comprised of two lines, right? Two lines make a lane. So one line here, pew, pew, pew. One line here, pew, pew, pew. Sound effects always make preaching better, okay? Especially after lunch. So one line here, pew, pew, pew. And one line here, pew, pew, pew. And you have to stay within the parameters of the two lines. Two lines make a lane. Interestingly enough, every single one of us, we have two destinies. There actually is a duality to your destiny. One destiny is universal. There's a universal destiny for every believer. And that is to become more and more like Jesus every single day. Come on, that is the universal destiny of every believer to become conformed to the image of His dear Son. Come on, what would our churches and cities look like if we could just think like Jesus, love like Jesus, show grace like Jesus, correct like Jesus, lead like Jesus, pray like Jesus, post on Instagram and Facebook. Hello, like Jesus. That is the universal destiny of every believer. So if you're sitting in this room today going, duh, what am I supposed to do with my life? I just told you. Become more and more like Jesus every single day. But there is another destiny that you have and it is not universal, it is unique. And that is you're to become unlike anybody God ever created. Because when God made you, He broke the mold. Everybody else is already taken. You may as well just do you. Do you boo boo, just do you. So watch this. So every morning I wake up. This is how I'm trying to run my race. Every morning I wake up. I'm trying to be more and more like Jesus and unlike anybody God has ever created. More and more like Jesus and unlike anybody God has ever created. More and more like Him and less and less like them. And when I run my race like that with my eyes so fixed on Him, He gives me the strength, the fortitude to finish my race. Ooh, I'm preaching good in here today. Is this helping anybody? This message is so important because the day, the day you as a leader, as a pastor, as a believer start running your race like this. Ooh, the day you start running your race like this. Let me just prophesy to you. There is a crash in your future. Sila. No wonder. No wonder Saul had such a huge crash because comparison caused him to shift all of his attention, all of his energy on David. Now make no doubt about it. There was a season in Saul's life where he was running his race and he was in his own lane. Oh come on, don't get it twisted. Saul was the first king of Israel. He was anointed and appointed by God to be king. I love when the Bible starts talking about Saul because the Bible uses very picturesque language. It says that Saul looked like a king. It says that he stood ahead in shoulders above any other person. In fact, the Bible says, the Bible says that he was good looking. I'm also about it. When the Bible says you're good looking, can't nobody tell you ugly, okay? Nobody. You're just telling them, read the word, you already know. This selfie is for you. So he looked like a king and he talked like a king and Saul had king swag and God just blessed him. God blessed him to be the king. But I found out, even in my own life, you've got to be real careful with the blessing of God because if the brightness of the blessing ever blinds you to the blessing, it is no longer a blessing. It has become a curse. And the brightness of the blessing blinded Saul to the blessing so much so. He was more concerned with being the king than he was with worshiping the king of kings. He was more concerned with keeping his position than he was with chasing after God's presence so God had to remove the kingship away from him. But there was this little young boy out on the outskirts of Jerusalem and all he cared about was being in the presence of God. He didn't care about a title. He didn't care about recognition. He didn't care about likes on Instagram or Facebook or retweets. All he cared about was being in the presence of God. Even after his own family alienated him and ostracized him. He said, man, just go watch the Stanky Sheep. This dude is out there with the Stanky Sheep playing his harp, just worshiping God. Until one day, one day his dad sends him a text message and says, hey, can you go to the battlefield and bring your brother's a ham and cheese sandwich? And when he gets to the battlefield with the ham and cheese sandwich, he sees a giant who is big enough to eat hay and dumb enough to enjoy it. And he says, wait a minute. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Ooh, I love David. He's gangster because that's Christian Cussan right there. That's classic Christian Cussan. He said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine? He said, no, I ain't gonna be quiet. Y'all gonna let him talk about my God in front of everybody. Oh no, I'm about to knock you out. Mama said, knock you out. You gonna get knocked out today. What is my slingshot at, bro? I apologize. That was so selfish because the whole moment wasn't even for you. It was for me because it was so funny to watch your faces go. I have never read this version before my entire life. Let me help some of you today. That is the NIV, okay? Negro International Version. It's a different translation. Zondavin don't know about it. It's not a family Christian bookstore. David said, no, you're not gonna talk about my God in front of me. He said, somebody let me know, what do you get for knocking this giant out? Cause I'm about to knock him out. He said, Dave, you wanna know what you don't get for knocking him out? You're gonna get the king's daughter in marriage and you will never pay taxes again in your life. David said, what? Somebody hold my harp. He said, you come at me with sword and spear, but I come at you in the name of the Lord, the God of these armies whom you have defiled. This day I will cut off your head and feed your flesh to the wild beast of the fields and the birds of the air. And today the world will know there is a God in Israel. I love it. I love it. It's exactly how David sounded by the way. 13 sounds like Darth Vader. Anyway, come on, you're preachers and leaders. You know the story. Leases that rock from a slingshot. His Goliath on the forehead and Goliath comes crashing to the ground. But hear me, the day Goliath hit their ground, David rose up. It was a destiny moment. You do know that all moments in your life are not created equal, but there are some destiny moments where everything shifts, where the trajectory of your life will never be the same again. In fact, I pray that this would be a destiny moment for somebody here at Arashan, that you would not give up and get hope, that your eyes would be open to who God is and what he can do through you. This was a destiny moment for David. Think about this. In a moment, he is catapulted from obscurity into notoriety. In a moment, everybody knew David's name. That's when you've got time to play games and worry about what they wrote on your Facebook wall. Do you know promotion from God can come in a moment? He can put you on a national stage. In one moment, everybody knew David's name. He has now gone viral. They're talking about David, David. He's our man. If he can't do it, nobody can. Kids are rewatching the fight on YouTube. Telling my mama, I gotta get those David sneakers. They drop next week. You know they're gonna be sold out. I mean, this is a big moment for David. He has finally arrived. He's on the cover of every Wheaties box. He's doing interviews on CNN, TBN, ABC, NBC, HIJK, Elemental P. The whole alphabet wants to talk to David now. Come on, he can't go anywhere without paparazzi showing up. Come on, everybody wants a selfie with David now. But you understand, when he defeated Goliath, he became a rock star. Literally. Rocks, I'm just trying to keep you awake. Afternoon session. Come on, this is a big moment for David. He's finally arrived. He defeated the giant. He cut off his head. The wicked witch is dead. The game is over. The buzzard is sounded. And the fat lady is finally sung. The problem is, it's sounding like what the fat lady was singing. When the fat lady, just a group of ladies in. Here's what they sang. Saul has killed his thousands. David, his tens of thousands. And when Saul heard that, he went from running his race like this, fixing his eyes on David. Therefore, Saul is a case study of the downward spiral of what comparison will always do to your life. Because comparison is always the beginning of the end. Okay, all of that, all of that was my introduction. Being honest. Now, quickly, I wanna show you how Saul's speech teaches us as leaders, how comparison will start to creep into your heart. Notice what Saul says after the ladies sing their song. Saul says, you credit David with tens of thousands, but me with only thousands? Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Y'all are gonna credit David. Little old David with tens of thousands, but me with only thousands. You hear it? Hear our comparison starts. Comparison will always start with this phrase, but me. He, but me. He, but me. Saul cannot separate David's life from his life. He can't separate David's success from his success. He immediately connects what's going on with David back to him. He, but me. Have you ever met a but me person? These are the people that see everything in life through the lens of but me. I call them but me people because no matter what's going on with somebody else, they will find a way to connect it back to them because they are, I was fine, I gotta do that again. No matter what's going on with somebody else, they will find a way to connect it back to them because they are always thinking about them. I call these but me people. Come on, you English majors are acutely aware of the fact that but is a conjunction. Conjunction, junction. Somebody watch Schoolhouse Rock. What's your function? Hooking up phrases and clauses and making them sound right. That's what some people do within life. They connect what's going on with other people. Back to the, ah, good for you. What about me, but me, they think about me? See for me, but me, but me, they didn't post about me, but me, they didn't talk about me, but me. The butt keeps getting, okay, you need the visual. These lights are so bright. I'm talking about those leaders and people. That see everything in life through the lens of but me. Now if I fall off the stage today, please don't laugh. Cause I can't see anything right now. I'm completely blinded by but me and hear me pastor, hear me leader. Nothing will blind you to the call of God on your life like a but me attitude because the focus of your life is not supposed to be on you. You're supposed to have your eyes so fixed on him so you can run the race he said before you. Oh God, help us not have any more but me leaders. These are the worst people to tell a success story to. Oh, don't tell a but me person about your praise report. You know why? They can't celebrate what's going on with you without connecting it back to them. You call a but me pastor and be like, oh, God is good. We finally got the building, isn't that great? And they'll go, huh, that's good for you. But me, Lord, we've been setting up and turned on for the last five years. How you gonna give him a building? His theology isn't even right. Oh, come on, but me, it's a trick of the enemy to get you to have so much focus on you here and they never acknowledge me and they never talk about me, me, me, that you get blinded to running the race he said before you. No wonder you can't see how blessed you already are. You got on the but me glasses. No wonder you can't celebrate the people that have come to your church and lives have been transformed. You can't see it. You got on the but me glasses. Well, I pray this conference, your eyes will be so fixed on him and that's where you find the strength and the grace to run the race he said before you. I'm gonna ask somebody come play softly behind me because soft music behind a preacher makes him sound more spiritual and let you know how I'm landing the plane. But I'm gonna get practical for a moment. How do you know if you've got on the but me glasses? How do you know? I think there's some blues clues. If you have a hard time celebrating the successes of other people, you might have on the but me glasses. If you are stingy with your compliments and you think to compliment or commend somebody else somehow taking something from you, you might have on the but me glasses. If there is anybody in your life, anybody in your life that secretly you would find joy or happiness in their failure as the person you're racing and you got on the but me glasses. It's quiet at a rush on to that. And come on, can we be honest? Isn't it so easy to put them on? Come on, I'm preaching this to you because I had to preach it to me. It is so easy to put on the but me glass especially in our culture today of social media. Social media. So I'm gonna get that tomorrow. You just got so many devices where you can see what everybody has, what everybody's doing and on one thing is good but on another thing it's like, it can cause you to put on the but me glasses. We're inundated with everybody else's life all the time, Facebook, Instagram, Instagram live, Facebook live, Snapchat, everybody else's live. And if you're not careful, it'll make you start to hate yours. Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny how awareness can drive discontentment? Can you imagine how happy you would be with your church if you just didn't know about other people's? You'd just be so happy but you got notifications on your smart device that's making you act stupid. Come on, you know, you know you were so happy when you baptized 50 people. You're like, ooh, revival is coming y'all. We baptized 50 people. Do you got on Instagram and saw the other church baptized 500 people in their 10th service at their eighth location? They just playing and you're like, ah, shut the church down, we ain't doing anything. Instagram or Facebook or Twitter is awesome. We should use it and use it right. It's all good. I'm not saying this sin. I think it's great. I'll be on it after this session. How else will I know if you like the message? I love it. I really do. I just wonder what it's creating. I wonder if the screens on our phones and our computers have now become mirrors by which we constantly check for the reflection to see if we measure up to somebody else. And like a scene stolen from Snow White, we all silently echo the words of the wicked witch who, by the way, checked the mirror every day just to see mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all? Only today it's mirror, mirror on Facebook. Tell me how my life should look. Mirror, mirror on Instagram. Tell me who I really am. We keep checking. Every second, every minute, all day, every day. Eating lunch. I'm friends, preach, Robert. This is a good message. Just wonder what our lives would look like if we reflected more on his word. Maybe then we could get in our lane and run the race, he said before us. I keep preaching this message because I think y'all to sell with your smoke on yourself. You know what I mean? Y'all ain't too religious to. I just mean I can't preach out stuff that hadn't hit me upside the head. I'll give you a minute, send me out. But can I tell you in these last moments that I have how this whole message got started? Got started in the not too distant past. I had this incredible opportunity to preach at this conference in Sydney, Australia. I'll never forget it because I was going to preach to the youth and the young adults of this conference. I was so excited to go to Australia. I was like, ooh, I'm about to go to Australia. I'm about to see some kangaroos and preach Jesus. This is gonna be a really good week. And in conjunction with the youth and young adults having their conference in Australia, there's also, I guess what you could call main stage part of the conference in Australia. And with main stage, some 30,000 people gather in an arena in Sydney, Australia for main stage. And the people that have preaching main stage are people who are really struggling to get their ministries off of the ground. People like Bishop T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer and Rick Warren and I said, this is gonna be awesome. I'm gonna preach to the youth and young adults and then I get to sit in and listen to these great men and women of God preach and there I am sitting at arena, my wife was there with me and my wife and I knew something that the other 30,000 people didn't know yet. And that was just before arriving to Australia to just preach to the youth and young adults. I'd actually received an invitation to preach main stage at that conference the next year. So I'm sitting at arena and I'm looking around, I'm kind of taking everything in all of a sudden they show the promotional video for the next year's conference. And again, it's all these big names, huge, big, Abraham Lincoln was one of the speakers. They were gonna have it at the conference. And then my name comes up on the screen and the pastor, the leader of the conference, he literally had to qualify after the video. He goes, there's one name you probably did not recognize on the list. He said, is Robert Madu? He said it'll be one of the youngest preachers we've ever had preach main stage. Then he pauses, true story, and goes, and you know what? I think I might let you get a preview of his preaching on this stage in this arena this week. No, no, that would have been cool. That would have been cool if I was not finding out in that moment with the other 30,000 people in the arena. Immediately my heart went down into my foot. I start sweating. I see the pastor afterwards. He goes, mate, did you hear my announcement? I said, yes, I did. He goes, he goes, true story. I promise, he goes, tomorrow, tomorrow, I'm thinking after Bishop T.D. Jakes preaches, you could get up and preach for like 10 minutes as a preview for next year. He goes, what do you think about that? Oh yeah, that would be awesome. Went to the hotel room that night, true story, right, Sean? Fell on the ground in the fetal position. Tears coming down, I can't do it, I can't do it. You ever have one of those moments you're so intimidated, your voice goes, Mickey Mouse range? My wife, she's the best, my wife is my CEO. She is my chief encouragement officer. And she said, baby, it's okay, it's okay, you can do it, you can do it. I said, no, I can't, no. I called my dad up for some support. I called my dad, you know, my dad is from Nigeria. He came to America like Eddie Murphy in the movie and he met my mom. He met my mom who was American. So you know, when your dad's African and your mom's American, that makes you what I am. And I called my Nigerian dad up for some support. I did, I had to. I called him up for some support and he said as only he can say in his Nigerian voice, he immediately, without hesitation, said, son, you can do this. Before the foundation of the earth, God knew you would be there. You can do all things to Christ who strengthens you. Don't be afraid, great as he who is in you, then he who is in you, you can do Wakanda forever. You can do, he didn't do the Wakanda part, not the Wakanda, not the Wakanda. So nervous, so intimidated, so intimidated. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Intimidation can shut down the call of God in your life like nothing else. I walked in that arena and before I got on that stage, I had a conversation that I often have with myself. I paused for a moment, I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. Who opened this door? God did. Who did they ask to speak? Me. I can only be me. So I got up there for 10 minutes, I was me. When I got off the stage and I was studying this text, I felt like the Holy Spirit impressed upon me a critical question. Holy Spirit said, Robert, would you like to know the real reason while you fell on the ground in the fetal position with tears coming down your face? Thought to myself, real reason, no. I know the real reason. There were 30,000 people in the... Holy Spirit said, no, that's actually not the real reason. In fact, the real reason you felt that weight of intimidation is because when you were listening to all those other names preach, you are listening to the word of God. You were comparing how they run their race to the way I've called you to run your race and that's why you felt that weight of intimidation. So let that be the last time that tears come down your face because you're playing the silly comparison game. And why don't you just rest in the fact that I have given you a grace to run your race. There is a grace to run your race. Somebody needs to hear that today. I said, there is a grace for you to run your race. Oh, I got an announcement. I'm glad to make it a rise, Sean. I hope it doesn't stop me from coming back, but can I confess to you? I am a horrible T.D. Jakes. I am the worst Joel Osteen you've ever seen in your life. I'm not a good Craig Groeschel. I'm a terrible Judah Smith. I'm not a good Joyce Meyer. I'm not a good Pastor Lee, but there's one thing I know beyond the shadow of a doubt. I am the best Robert Madue you have ever seen in your entire life. Oh, come on, somebody, I gotta be me and you gotta be you. This is your moment to go back to your church, go back to your city, fix your eyes on Jesus and say no matter what the enemy throws against me, I'm gonna run for somebody. Give God some praise in this place today. Somebody else they're waiting for you to beat you to be. Leave out of here with the strength and the confidence. It's for my race. I'm tired of looking to the left and looking to the right. Am I so fixed on you, Jesus? I do what that old school song says, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. Things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. Just gonna ask every head be bowed, every eye be closed in here today as I pray for you. Father, I thank you for every leader in this room today. I thank you, Lord, for the race that you set before them. Lord, I pray that you would help all of us, all of us, God, me, to keep the main thing, the main thing, just help us to have our eyes so fixed on your beauty, on your grace, on your majesty, on your sufficiency, Jesus. And Lord, let that give us the strength, even in those weary moments, to run the race you set before us. Father, I pray that every time the enemy creeps in with the spirit of comparison, Lord, we will remind yourself what your word says about us. We are wonderfully and fearfully made. We are your masterpiece. So give us the courage. Give us the strength to just run our race and get on our marks in Jesus' name. Everybody loves Jesus said. Amen. Come on, would you give God some praise today? God bless you guys.