 So you're going to bookmark Luke chapter 14 and we're going to come back to it in just a few minutes. So this morning, I want to talk about a very specific subject this morning. We'll look at Luke chapter 14, keep your place there. We'll go to some other places but put a bookmark or a pen or something or a ribbon in Luke chapter 14 and we'll come back to it. But this morning I want to talk about a very specific topic that you'll hear a lot about today especially if you have kids and you're trying to raise kids properly which everyone is trying to do that. So this morning, we're going to talk about the subject of self-esteem. So even if you're feeling a little bit down today, maybe I'll make you feel better or maybe worse but we'll see how it goes, okay? Alright, so we're going to talk about self-esteem this morning. If you've ever read any child-rearing book or you've ever read any advice or psychology on early children or early childhood, things like this, you're going to hear this word come up again and again and again this phrase or this topic of self-esteem. So what is self-esteem? Self-esteem is actually defined as confidence in one's own worth or abilities or just self-respect is another way to say the word self-esteem, self-respect. Everybody today, if you'd go out on the street and you would ask people, do you want your kids to have good self-esteem, high self-esteem? Just about everybody would say yes to this question, alright? I mean there's all kinds of, you wouldn't believe how many websites and books and just different parenting tips and advice are out there just focusing on this one topic. So I figured we'd just do a little bit of Bible study this morning and see what does the Bible say about self-esteem? This topic that is deemed so important today, what does the Bible say about it? The funny thing is, is that esteem, the word esteem is actually in the Bible, okay? It's in the Bible just a handful of times. Let's just look at those times. You're going to keep your place in Luke chapter 14 and we're just going to go and look at a few of these places in the Bible where the word esteem is used. So esteem meaning respect, you know, respect, right? Self-esteem meaning you have self-respect. Respect yourself. Turn to Psalm chapter 119. Psalm chapter 119. I'll read for you. As you turn to places, I'll read for you other verses. But Job 3619 has the word esteem and here's what the Bible says there. Job 36 says in verse number 19, it says, Will he esteem thy riches? No, not gold, nor the forces of strength. So this, you know, this use of the word esteem is talking about, you know, will God esteem riches and gold and all these types of things? And the Bible here is saying that no, you know, God will not respect those things, all these material possessions. Look at Psalm 119 verse 128. Psalm 119 verse 128. So in Job 36, we're talking about respect towards riches and gold and silver and all these types of things. Look at Psalm 119 verse 128 where the Bible says, Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way. So of course, Psalm 119 is just this long chapter, the longest chapter in the Bible, and just talking about the love for God's word, the love for God's law. And this, the Psalmist says, actually, I esteem or I respect God's word. He's talking about having respect towards the Bible, towards what God has said. Turn to Philippians 2. Turn to Philippians 2. So we see that God will not esteem riches. We see that we should esteem, you know, the Bible, God's word. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 13. You're going to Philippians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 13 says, And to esteem them very highly in love for their worksake and be at peace among yourselves. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 13 in the verse 12, he's talking about esteeming those who are over you and the Lord. You know, esteeming those who admonish you. He's talking about pastors and teachers saying you should have respect for pastors. You should have respect for your spiritual leaders in your life. So we see that. We see respect for God's law. We see respect for spiritual leaders. Look at Philippians 2 and verse number 3. Philippians 2 and verse number 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. So what is this esteem? This esteem is talking about having respect, regard towards your brothers and sisters, the people that are around you in Christ. All right, in Isaiah 53 verse 4, I'll read for you. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Talking here about how Jesus Christ was not respected in the right way. Jesus Christ was afflicted. He was stricken and he was smitten of God. Of course, that was his purpose on this earth. But everybody was looking for the Messiah. We're going to talk about that on Sunday evenings. Of course, everybody was looking for this great person that was respected by men. That was this big, powerful king that was going to be this physical conqueror that was going to have respect or esteem in the way we view it as men, right? So this is basically, I just read for you, every single verse that says the word esteem in the Bible, and we see that God's word should be esteemed. We see that Jesus should have been esteemed. We see that we should esteem our brothers and sisters around us. We see that our riches, our wealth, our things, our job, whatever that we have on this earth is not going to be esteemed. This is pretty much esteem. Did anyone hear self-esteem in there? Did we hear self-esteem in the Bible? Here's the thing, such a valuable thing that is talked about so much, and this is the point of this sermon this morning, it's not in the Bible. Did the Bible miss something? Did the Bible make a mistake? Did the Bible have like a hole somewhere? I want to show you this morning what the Bible teaches in place of self-esteem. We talked about this Wednesday night, but you see what the world will do that the world doesn't know the Bible, the world doesn't believe the Bible, the world today, people in the world have no idea what the Bible says, so what they will do is they will replace the word of God with some philosophy, which is man's replacement of the word of God. So the point is now go back to Luke chapter 14. Let's look at self-esteem in the Bible. Let's look at self-esteem, self-respect. The phrase self-esteem, the idea of self-esteem, the word self-esteem, it is not found in the Bible. But it is talked about in the Bible, and it's in Luke chapter 14. It's in Luke chapter 14. Let's look at somebody that had some pretty high self-esteem in Luke chapter 14, and let's see what the Bible teaches about self-esteem and why the phrase self-esteem or esteem towards yourself is not in the Bible. Look at verse number 7 of Luke chapter 14. Let's explore what the Bible says this morning, because we know as Bible-believing Christians, we know that the Bible has missed nothing. We know that the Bible has everything that we possibly need in our lives. Look at Luke chapter 14, look at verse number 7. Let's look at self-esteem or this idea of it today and compare it with what the Bible says. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms, saying unto them, Thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than Thou be bidden of him. And he that bade thee, he that invited you, and him come and say to thee, so this is a guy that goes and he goes to a wedding, and he sees the head table there and he's like, that's the best seat in the house, and he goes and he sits down at the head table. And then the guy that invites you in verse number 9, he says, and the day that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But this is like the guy that goes to a baseball game, and he's got a ticket for the nosebleed section, but he sees some open seats down in the lower part right off first base. And he's like, hey, let's go down there. And then they go down there and they take the two open seats that are right by first base and they're really enjoying the first 15 minutes of this game. And then one of the security guards comes up to him and says, I'm sorry, sir, can I see your ticket? And the guy's like, and then you just lower your head and you walk out. This has never happened to me, okay? But I'm just saying, this is what it's talking about. It's talking about something that goes to a wedding, takes the best spot, and then they get kicked out saying, hey, this spot's not for you. This is for important people or whatever, people that deserve to be here. And look, it's a shameful thing. You hang your head and you're going to leave that highest chair. Look at verse number 10. So Jesus says, Jesus is explaining this. He says, but when thou art bidden, if you want to avoid this shame, he's like, go and sit down in the lowest room. That when he that beteth thee come, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher, then shall thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee. For whosoever in verse number 11 kind of sums it up, for whosoever exalted himself shall be abased, but he that humbled with himself shall be exalted. You see, the man here in verse number eight and verse number nine was a man that had very high self-esteem. He was a man that thought very highly of himself to come into a wedding and say, you know what? That's a really good seat and I deserve to sit there. And he went and he sat there and what happens? He ends up in shame because of that. So it sounds like we have a problem with this philosophy of self-esteem versus what Jesus is teaching here. All right, now look, here's a word that you'll find in the Bible. Dozens and dozens and dozens of times, probably a hundred or more, shame. You will find that word all over the Bible. And you know what shame is? Shame is the opposite of self-esteem. Shame is the opposite of having high regard for yourself because when you're put in a situation where you are shamed, you're embarrassed for yourself. You're ashamed of what has happened. You don't want people to look at you. You don't want people to see what's happening. You know, that's one of those want to get away moments when you're in shame. All right, but he ended up in shame because of his self-esteem. Think about that. When you think about this idea of self-esteem being such a great thing today, but here's the point, folks, here's what I'm trying to get at. The world's philosophy is pointing us all towards self-esteem and pointing at our children that you must raise children with self-esteem. But here's the thing, the world philosophy does not match reality because here's the thing, folks, it doesn't matter what you think of yourself. That's what the Bible is teaching here. It matters not what you think of you. That's what the Bible is teaching. You want to reduce, you know, the Bible here, that's why the world philosophy, by the way, is trying to reduce shame. They're trying to promote self-esteem and also they're trying to make shame go away. But if you read the Bible, folks, shame is very real. And guess what? Shame doesn't have to be taught. Shame comes with your conscience. It comes with that package that God gave you in Romans chapter two and verse number 13. I mean, dress standards are an example. You look at what young ladies wear today. You look at what you'll see young ladies wear, whether it be a beach or just anywhere. And then you would take a virtuous young lady and ask her to wear what normal young ladies wear today and she would never do it. Because why? Because she would be ashamed. She would be ashamed. Well, you're like, how could that otherworldly young lady wear those things and the way that she could do that is because she has scarred that part of her conscience. She's been taught to shut off that shame. Look, you can override your conscience. If you do it enough times, you could desensitize yourself to these things. And look, I mean, men, same thing. That's just one example. Shame is real and it comes along with the law that God wrote in our hearts. But look, what matters, folks, in Luke chapter 14, what matters, it's not self-esteem. What matters is how others esteem you. That's what made that man have to leave the chair in verse number, in Luke chapter 14, was what others thought of him. Not what he thought of himself. What you think of yourself matters not, according to the Bible. You see in Luke chapter 14, self-esteem was actually the problem. So you see, we have a problem here. We have quite a difference between what the Bible says and what the world is teaching regarding self-esteem. Self-esteem actually brought this man to shame. It's actually, if you wanna dig into it deeper, the self-esteem wasn't the only thing. It was really the difference between what he thought of himself and what other people thought of him. Was what got him into trouble, which what brought him to shame. It's the esteem others had for him and his self-esteem did not match reality, basically. His self-esteem did not match what was real. This is like, this is drugs and alcohol right here. Right? I mean, think about this. Think about this. Drugs and alcohol, something that like you're weak, but it makes you strong. I mean, I'm strong now. How many times do you see somebody walking across the freeway? Superman. They got a cape on. They got a blanket to run it down the street because they're a superhero. And then people get what? I mean, it literally leads them to be physically wounded. People getting hit by trains. People getting hit by cars. I knew a guy that drove a train one time. He's like, we're hitting people on drugs all the time. Because they think, I'm gonna get out and yell at a train and get run over. Because they think that their view of themselves at that moment, I get it, it's drugs, it's alcohol. Even Proverbs 23 says, you're gonna end up wounded. If you do these things, you will end up wounded because it creates this false reality of what you think of yourself versus what's real. I mean, being high on meth doesn't make you as strong as a train, it just makes you think you are. So, but look, you don't have to be on drugs and alcohol. This is an extreme example. But the point is, it's the difference between what we think of ourselves and what is actually real that will drive us to shame. So we see these two things. We see self-esteem and we see reality, folks. So the Bible, turn to James chapter one. The Bible doesn't really talk about what we call self-esteem today. Because the Bible is completely focused on the reality part. The Bible is trying to show us over and over and over reality. Reality, it's trying to stop the Christian that has esteem for the word of God. It's trying to stop the Christian that believes the word of God from having this delta, this difference between what they think of themselves and what's real. That's the whole point of the Bible. Other than our salvation, it's trying to show us who we are. Look at verse number 22 of James chapter one. The Bible is completely focused on showing us the reality. Look at the Bible, verse 22 of James chapter one. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. I mean, the man that sat down in the highest seat, he was, who was he fooling? Was he fooling anybody in the wedding? He was only fooling himself, thinking that he was great and deserved to sit there. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is liken unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgeteth what manner of man he was. So the Bible here is saying, the Bible is gonna show you who you really are. The Bible is gonna show you what's reality. It's gonna put you, the Bible is gonna erase that difference. Even when what you think of yourself and what's real, what other people, because what other people see of you is real. Is the reality, okay? The Bible is focused on reality and it warns against this difference. Because the higher you think of yourself and the lower others think of you, the lower reality actually is, will lead to actually destruction. You know what this difference is actually called in the Bible? It's called pride. This difference between what you think of yourself and your self-esteem and what's actually real. If you have a great difference there, you have great pride is what the Bible says. And the Bible says that that will bring you low. The Bible says that pride will lead you to destruction. The Bible says pride, a big difference in what you think of yourself and what others think of you is an abomination actually to the Lord. The Bible says that the more, the Bible says that if you have a huge difference, which is pride, that there's no hope for you. That's depressing. But the world says self-esteem is vital. The world says you must focus on how good you are, how great you are, no matter what. You must focus, look it's folly, to focus on self-esteem alone. Because guess what, folks, some people don't deserve esteem. Some people deserve no esteem at all. But the world will not teach you that. That's why these secular organizations in the world, they're against testing. We don't wanna test anybody, because that makes certain the people that do bad, that makes the people that do bad feel bad. We want everyone to feel good. We don't wanna have tests because that would mean some people are better and some people are worse and everybody should be good. This is where this attitude of everybody gets a trophy. Everybody wins. Everybody gets a trophy. What's not keep score? Everybody wins no matter what. You know what this leads to? You're like, you know, you're kinda nitpicking here, Pastor. But you know what this leads to? This leads to all behaviors, all lifestyles, all attitudes, all perversions, all whatever is okay. That's what it leads to. It's all these small little things because guess what? As long as you feel good about yourself, everything's okay. This is the philosophy that is being taught about self-esteem today. But here's the problem. It's just not true. That's the problem. You will create children, people following along these lines of self-esteem only. They will create children that would have a major difference in what they actually think about their abilities, their character, their choices, their actions, their life really, and what reality actually is. What a disaster. If you create, if you raise children that way and you create adults that think that. Look, it's a recipe for destruction. It's a recipe for destruction. So how should we feel about ourselves? Should we all just be depressed and think we're terrible? You're like, what's the Bible's answer? Turn to Genesis chapter one. Let's look at what the Bible says about what the replacement for this ideology is, or what this ideology tried to replace. But here's the thing. If you don't have what we're about to learn, you gotta come up with this stupid stuff. You gotta come up with these secular philosophies to try to fill the gap. How should we feel about ourselves? How should we feel about ourselves? First of all, this is why the Bible emphasizes, and you'll see that over and over and over going through the sermon this morning. Maybe it's not all about you. Maybe it's not all about me, our individual selves. Look at Genesis chapter one, verse 27. Genesis chapter one, verse number 27. The Bible says, so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them, and God blessed them, and God sent them to them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and follow the air over every little living thing that move it upon the earth. So man, we understand that man was created in the image of God and woman came out of the man, but the point is, is that when God created the first man, it was in his image. Not some image of, it's not my image, I'm created in God's image, which completely reflects what my purpose is in my life. Isaiah 43 says, I'm living this life, I exist here for God's glory. Not my glory, not anything to do with myself. So what does, I mean, self esteem turned to Micah chapter six. Micah chapter six. God is telling you, even in Genesis chapter one, starting out, he's like, hey, recognize God, what he did for you, he created you. First of all, he created you in his own image and your purpose. Micah chapter six, look at verse number eight. Your purpose, you're here for God's glory. Look at Micah chapter six, you know, Daniel. Daniel was such a great prophet and one of the reasons that Daniel was such a great prophet is because every miraculous thing that Daniel did, whether it was a interpretation of a dream or a Bible end times prophecy or whatever it was, whatever revelation that God gave to Daniel, Daniel was quick to just give credit to God right away. And we read that, we read that and we're like, man, Daniel was a really humble guy, that's true. That's true. But you know why Daniel was able to do that? Daniel was able to do that because he just realized that he was there for God's glory, not his. And oh, if we could all only realize that in our lives. This idea of self-esteem would just go out the window. Look at Micah chapter six, verse number eight. He hath showed thee, oh man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee. Sounds like we should listen to this, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. We should have humility. Look, we've already lost most people at this point in the world. I mean, how many people are saved out there? I mean, the vast majority of people are unsaved. But at least as saved people, we can understand that we are here to humbly walk with God for his glory, not ours. We're created in his own image, in his image. This doctrine of self-esteem, this philosophy is just, it's a replacement for God. It's a replacement for God to a bunch of Godless people that are taught that there is no God. They weren't created in any image. They evolved from whatever. You know, I mean, this secular humanism. We talked about the Stoics and the Epicureans on Wednesday night, just this secular philosophy, trying to replace what God says. Look at the front of your bulletin in Romans 828. Everybody loves Romans 828. They put it on their bumper stickers and on their refrigerators because they interpret that to mean that, hey, anything bad that happens to anybody, you know, God's just gonna turn into a good thing. That's not what it says. Look at Romans 828. The Bible says we know that all things work together for everybody. It says all things work together for good to them that love God. Them that love God would be somebody that is saved that is actually, and is actually doing what God says. If you love me, keep my commandments. Just because you're saved doesn't mean you're walking and you're loving God in your life. If you're saved, that means God loved you. That means God sealed you. That means you trusted on Jesus and God fulfilled his promise to you. It doesn't mean that you are showing love towards God. It says we know that all things work together for them, for good, to them that love God. Now look at this, to them who are called, that's you by the way, according to what I think, according to his purpose. We're here for his purpose. We're not here for our purpose. We're not even here to feel good about ourselves. You're like, man, this is depressing. No, actually you'll be more depressed if you focus more on yourself. If you walk, the Bible here is saying that if you walk in a certain way, look here, the Bible will tell you over and over again if you walk in a certain way that's not according to God's purpose, no one will have esteem for you, no one. The Bible here is saying that we're not here for ourselves, we're here for God's purpose, but he just doesn't match this philosophy of self-esteem. It's a focus on you philosophy, and that's what's wrong with it. It's a focus on you philosophy, and you know what, it will destroy you and that is what will actually lead you to depression in your life. This idea that I just need to focus on me, that's why it'll lead you to depression. No matter what I do, I should focus on me and I should think good about myself no matter what I do, and then I do all these shameful things and I go out and I do all these things that are causing all kinds of other people pain and suffering and my conscience is just like fighting against all these things that I'm doing, but I'm just supposed to feel good about myself? People need to get over themselves is really what needs to happen and Christians really need to get over themselves if they're gonna listen to the word of God. Not everybody deserves a trophy. Not everybody deserves the best seat in the house. And guess what, you don't decide anyway. You don't decide anyway. It wasn't the guy that sat down in the seat that decided where he sat. You don't decide. You say, well you know what, what about happiness? You say, what about happiness? What about joy? But here's the thing folks, it's not the servant, you know the Bible talks a lot about servant and master in this relationship. You could look at that as boss and employer. You could look at this as rich or poor, but here's what you have to understand in life in general. It's not the servant who is not, doesn't mind being a servant that's unhappy. In the Bible it teaches that there's servants that actually would choose to stay after they paid off their debt to their master, they would choose to stay with their master. The Old Testament talks about this and then they get, the master can put it all through their ear and they can stay and they can continue serving. Look, that servant is very happy. That servant is a very happy person serving a very joyful life. The problem is when there's a difference. The problem is when you have a servant who thinks he should be king, this is an unhappy person. This is someone who's depressed. This is someone who's angry all the time because they're like, I deserve all these things. Does that sound familiar? We're not seeing an entire generation or two generations of people, especially in this country who think that they deserve everything. It's because there's a massive difference. It's because they're being raised with this idea of self-esteem that turns into this difference on how great they are versus what they really are and it equates to pride, the Bible says. And it's a recipe for disaster and that's exactly what will happen because the Bible is true whether you believe it or not. Whether you want it to work this way or not, that's how it's gonna work. And as a saved Bible-believing Christian who knows what God's word says, you can see that happening with people all over. You're just saying, oh man, if they only knew what the Bible said. If they only would listen to what God's word says. See, say, I'm raising kids and I don't want my kids to not have any self-esteem and like, what's the answer? What's the answer for our children? Turn to Ephesians chapter six. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. It's not self-esteem. That's not the answer. What about bullies and other people tearing your kids down and making fun of them and non-Christian kids like beating up on a Christian kid for going to church or talking about Jesus or whatever. What about people that would beat up on a young child that's maybe not strong to handle something like that? Look what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter six in verse number four. The answer is not to just teach them that they are great and teach this philosophy of self-esteem. This is the answer right here. And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but look at this, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It doesn't say teach them that they are great. It says bring them up in nurture. You know what that means? That means to protect them from things. That means that they shouldn't be in a position, you know, when they're a young child where someone's attacking their faith. Father, step in. That's why, you know, that's why we're a big hope schooling church here. We're not gonna put our kids in, like it's not nurturing to put them in an environment where the vast majority of people, they're gonna be attacked for their beliefs, for their faith, for their separation. That's not nurture. That's throwing them to the wolves. That's the opposite of nurture. So it says bring them up in the nurture and what? Admonition, you know what that means? Admonition, we talked about this. The last couple of weeks we talked about this. Admonition means encouragement. Admonition means loving correction. So when they go off the path that you just, admonition, admonition, admonition. According to what? According to what? The Lord. According to what God says. So you need to keep them from people that would attack their faith as you're raising your children. People that would harm them. Like people that would harm them physically. You need to keep them from situations where they could be harmed, where they could be attacked for what they believe and like actually physically harmed. There's a lot of people out there physically harming children. I hate to break it to you. But we need to keep them from that. We're a family integrated church because that's what the Bible teaches but also because we're nurturing the children here. We're not gonna separate kids here and send them off somewhere with whatever. I mean, plenty of bad things happen in churches too. But no, we will nurture and admonish the children. That's why they're here in the church listening to the word of God. That's the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And then guess what's gonna happen? Guess what's gonna happen? They're gonna grow in confidence in what they believe. As they listen to preaching, as they learn to read, as they read the Bible and then parents, as they get knowledgeable, they're quickly gonna realize when they're like five, six, seven years old that they know more Bible than most human beings if they go to a church like this. And then we gotta bat that pride down. But that's admonishment. That's admonishment. So we just keep admonishing, nurturing and then they grow stronger and they grow stronger. You'll notice that when Paul went on his missionary journey he didn't have a lot of little kids with him. When he was getting beaten, when he was getting stoned, when he was getting chased out of towns, look, that's a man's job. That's an adult's job who is strong in their faith. But we nurture them, we focus on God's word, we do Deuteronomy six, we teach them from morning, we teach them all day, we teach them at night and they're gonna grow stronger and then they're gonna do like Acts chapter 15 says they're gonna wax bold as they get older. You know what that means? They're gonna grow strong and they're gonna be courageous. And then when somebody does push on them they're not gonna move. Somebody's gonna push on them and they're gonna, ah, can't push there. That's why as an adult, somebody attacks you for your faith. If you're an adult and you know what the word of God says all you have to do is say, let's look at the Bible and see what that says and they're like out the door. Because nobody knows. But that is what is going to happen. We're gonna nurture and admonish them and they will grow strong in faith. Not get this self-esteem that just thinks they're great for no reason. That's what the world teaches. That's not what the Bible teaches. You know what, we're gonna teach our kids that no one cares how you feel about yourself. Get over yourself. I mean, this is a spoiled brat. This is a spoiled brat. We got adult spoiled brats going around. A spoiled brat is just like, ah, meh, meh, meh. Spanking, the Bible fixed it right there again. No one cares how you feel about yourself. The Bible only teaches how God wants you to act and feel towards him and his kingdom. That's it. And once they realize that, 1 Corinthians 16, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Self-esteem is the philosophy of the world. Self-esteem is the philosophy of the world, folks. Here is our philosophy. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and here's what's gonna happen. Here's what's gonna happen. I don't care if you're a child being raised in church being raised the right way. I don't care if you're an adult that just got saved yesterday. Here's what's gonna happen. If you study God's word, you realize what your purpose is in life, that it is for God's glory, not your own. Here's what's gonna happen. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Look at verse number 13. This is, I mean, this is the end result right here. This is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, this is the end, I mean, we're talking about Paul here, okay? Somebody that is maybe the boldest, maybe the strongest, maybe the most courageous. We know he went through more than just about anybody in the Bible and he never stopped until the end. And look what he says. He says, watch ye. He says what? Stand fast in the faith. Stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men, what? Be strong. Isn't this what we really want for our children? Isn't this really what we want for our children as you raise them in the nurture and admiration of the Lord? What Paul is saying here is, look, I don't want my kids to think they're great because they're good at baseball. I don't want my kids to think they're great because they can play the piano well. I don't want my kids to think that they're great because of their own skills and their own strength. And that is what the world will teach. Instead, I want my children to be nurtured and admonished in the Lord to the point where they will stand fast in their faith. And that is what the Bible teaches. See, the Bible's like, the Bible's, your life is like a mirror. You are a mirror to reflect God's glory. That's what you are. That's what the Bible teaches. God has glory and he has saved us. Thank God. He has saved us. If you're saved today, you've trusted on Jesus. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit. You're saved. God wants you to be a mirror to reflect his glory. He could really care less how you feel about yourself. And he wants you to be a good mirror, a mirror that when somebody pushes on it, it doesn't just break like that and shatter. When somebody says, why are you doing that? Why do you have to go to church this many times a week? Why do you walk around with the Bible down the street? That's weird. You stand fast and you don't break and you just reflect God's glory. Because guess what? Nobody else is gonna do it. God gave that commission to us. Self-esteem is turning the mirror on yourself. And you're like, oh, look at how great I am. No, reflect God's glory on everybody else so they will have a chance to be saved. So they will have a chance to listen to what the Bible says and fix their families and have their children be saved and raise godly people that will also be for what purpose? Reflections of God's glory on this earth. That's what we need more of. If we had more mirrors, we wouldn't be seeing what we're seeing today. There's no mirrors. And the mirrors that are out there, they break right away. They smash, they crack. They just, they dim out. When people put pressure on them. Paul says, stand fast, be strong. You're here for God's glory. How else are other people going to hear the gospel? You're like, man, maybe I deserved to be saved. God chose me. No, he chose everybody. He wants all men to be saved and it's through us. That is why the self-esteem doctrine is so wicked. That's why it's so bad. Because it gets people to focus on themselves. And what are we seeing today, by the way? An epidemic of depression. An epidemic of medicating yourself. Drugs, alcohol. You know, I always like listening to what other people think of like, I read a lot of foreign news, because I like what people like other perspectives on the United States. And I was reading like, I was reading, I was reading this interview from this guy that we just released this guy. We traded this guy for this like arms dealer for this sodomite. I was like, hey, good deal. But anyway, he gave an interview and I was curious. I read his interview that he gave for like the Russian 60 minutes or whatever. And this guy's a, I don't know if this guy's a good guy or I'm sure he's a bad guy. I don't really care. I was just, I was interested in what his perspective was on the United States. You know what he said? All bunch of drug addicts over there. All bunch of, he comes from a culture that's, you know, there's a lot of problems with his culture too. But he looked into the United States, there's a bunch of drug addicts over there. So here we are, we're all focused on ourselves. We're a bunch of drug addicts. But you know, I mean, we become a gazing stock. And you'll see that more and more and more and more with people that are looking at what's going on in the United States. It's a gazing stock, as the Bible says that Israel became. But here's the point folks, philosophy. Let me just end with this, philosophy. We talked about this on Paul. He's debating with the Greeks. He's debating with the Greeks and Athens and Acts chapter 17. And he's just all these philosophers. They wanna hear some new thing. They wanna create some new thing. And they wanna just think about all these different things. And so they're like, hey, here's Jesus. This guy's talking about this Jesus, who by the way, they recognize he must be a God because he raised himself from the dead. Who else could do that? Of course he is a God. He's God, the God. But Paul's debating with these philosophers. And here's the thing about philosophy. Here's why philosophy to the Christian, to someone that knows what the Bible says, all philosophy is just, you can see the confounding of the wise. Here's why, you know, the Jordan Peterson's and all these philosophers, they just, they sound like fools to the Christian who knows what God's word says. Because philosophy is a replacement for the word of God. I mean, I get it. Look, I get it. If you don't have the word of God, you got a big hole there. You gotta come up with some ideas. You gotta come up with some stuff. This was the enlightenment thinking. This was the enlightenment thinking. We'll take God out. We'll take the word of God. Isn't that important? We'll take the deity of Jesus out of things. And we'll talk about the laws of nature. And we'll talk about these things. I mean, there was some decent ideas there that matched up to the Bible. But the point is, it will all fall apart. When you drill down to the last detail of it, it will all fall apart because you can improve on perfection. If I gave you a machine that was perfect, it was 100% efficient. It was a perpetual motion machine. And I said, hey, improve on this. You're like, what in the world, man? It's a perfect machine. Water. Water's a perfect machine. Water's a perfect machine. Water, I don't want to get scientific, but water has the highest specific heat of any fluid on the planet. Meaning it can hold heat. It can hold energy better than any fluid. Anything that man adds to it makes that ability worse. I mean, it's a picture of the Bible. Here's a machine. It's perfect. Make it better. You're gonna make it worse. I mean, some philosophies are more stupid than others. But the point is, as you see with this philosophy of self-esteem, it's completely backwards. We're here to reflect God's glory, not reflect on ourselves. So be careful. You hear things like this. It sounds good. We should have children that think highly of themselves. We said, no, we should have children that are strong, that are strong reflections that will not crack under pressure. Nurture, admonition, nurture, admonition, correction, pride, correction, admonition, and they'll be strong, they'll stand fast. We will raise strong young men, and we will raise virtuous daughters that will not bend and they will not crack. That's what the Bible teaches. It's a perfect philosophy. It's a perfect answer. Any philosophy breaks it. It's that simple. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.