1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,720 Hello and welcome back to the PHSA podcast. 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:11,720 My name is David Bigford. 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,580 I'm the pastor here at SalmonArm. 4 00:00:13,580 --> 00:00:17,760 This is a very special podcast series where I'm going to be sharing with you messages 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,280 from our most recent conference in Prescott, Arizona, the Beyond Limits Conference with 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:30,600 a theme of to preach the gospel in the regions beyond from 2 Corinthians 10-16. 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:37,000 I'm going to share all of the sermons from this conference series to include Greg Mitchell, 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:44,600 our head pastor, Joe Campbell, Richard Ruby, Tom Payne, and many, many others during this 9 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:45,600 series. 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:49,920 So I'll be sharing these with you over the next couple of weeks, and I hope you really 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:51,040 enjoy these messages. 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:58,000 If you'd like to see these messages in a video format, you can go to PrescottPottersHouse.com 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,360 where all of these will be available for you to view in a video format. 14 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:08,680 So without further ado, I'm going to pass, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the messages 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,160 and I hope you enjoy them. 16 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:11,160 God bless. 17 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:21,800 Thank you, Carlos. 18 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,240 Hey, Pastor Martinez, you left your sweat rag. 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:27,240 Come on. 20 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:28,240 Come on, man. 21 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:29,240 Come on. 22 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:41,000 So, I just want to express my appreciation and gratitude for the invitation from Pastor 23 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,480 Mitchell to preach here. 24 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:45,480 Definitely counted a privilege. 25 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,520 I want to thank my pastor, Pastor Campbell. 26 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:54,280 Everything I am, much of what I am is because of your investment, and I recognize I'm here 27 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,880 because of that investment. 28 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,640 And so I'm going to get deep here, if you don't mind. 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:06,340 Hey, you know, the truth of it is Pastor Martinez is deeper than you think. 30 00:02:06,340 --> 00:02:11,720 If you're hearing him, you recognize he's a lot deeper than he puts on. 31 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,600 But I was going to say he's deep in the right stuff, as he mentioned, discipleship and church 32 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:16,600 planning. 33 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:17,600 Can you say amen? 34 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:18,600 That's why we need to be deep. 35 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:19,600 Can you say amen? 36 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:26,200 If you have your Bibles this morning, John chapter 5, I want them to put a picture up 37 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:28,440 and I'll explain it. 38 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,260 This is a young lady. 39 00:02:30,260 --> 00:02:33,280 Her name is Caitlin Clark. 40 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:40,600 And we're basketball fans around here, but she is she was the top college basketball 41 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:41,600 player recently. 42 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:46,720 She was the number one pick in what's called the WNBA, which is our male version of our 43 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,920 excuse me, female version of our NBA. 44 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:55,800 And what's up there is what you're looking at is the contract that she got. 45 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:03,640 These four years amounts to three hundred and forty three hundred thirty eight, three 46 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:04,640 hundred forty thousand dollars. 47 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:11,320 And what caught my attention is this became an outrage to a lot of people, particularly 48 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,640 a lot of feminists. 49 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:19,000 And the feminists begin to use Caitlin Clark to tell their story and to tell their narrative 50 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,840 that women are being exploited. 51 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:29,280 But since the male NBA players are making millions of dollars, then this is clearly 52 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,520 sexist. 53 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:38,480 Now for context this morning, the WNBA was founded in April of 1997, played its first 54 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,400 game a little bit later that summer. 55 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:46,400 But this is a league that has been around for 28 years. 56 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:58,120 And in the nearly 30 years of existence, this is a league that has never once turned a profit. 57 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:04,960 And yet we have people complaining about someone coming out of college, getting their first 58 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:13,360 job and being paid close to eighty five thousand dollars per year for playing 30 to 40 basketball 59 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,280 games during the summer. 60 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:20,960 Listen I came out of college from the University of Missouri in 1999. 61 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:26,360 My first job was for seven dollars and fifty cents an hour. 62 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,180 And no one felt sorry for me. 63 00:04:30,180 --> 00:04:31,480 I didn't feel sorry for myself. 64 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,320 In fact, I felt grateful that someone gave me a job. 65 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,120 It's unbelievable. 66 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,840 I was determined to make the most of it to turn that seven fifty into eight fifty, the 67 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:48,840 eight fifty into eleven dollars, twelve dollars an hour and on from there. 68 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:55,280 My question here this morning is how do we get to a place where someone coming out of 69 00:04:55,280 --> 00:05:02,960 college 21, 22 years of age, making nearly six figures to play a game for a third of 70 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:08,440 a calendar year is somehow seen as being mistreated. 71 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,320 I'll tell you how we got there. 72 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:21,720 One word victimhood victimology victimology is the possession of an outlook that glorifies 73 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,120 and exalts the state of being a victim. 74 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:30,640 Church my fear this morning is that we are living in a world of victims. 75 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,240 Playing the victim is quickly becoming the curse of our generation. 76 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:41,480 It's like it's become the new currency in our world where it literally pays to be a 77 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:42,480 victim. 78 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:49,320 Thinking of the theme of our conference beyond limits, I dare say this morning there is nothing 79 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,880 on planet Earth more limiting than having a victim mentality. 80 00:05:53,880 --> 00:06:01,000 I want to preach a sermon I've entitled I am not a victim and neither are you. 81 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,240 John chapter five verse one after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up 82 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:06,840 to Jerusalem. 83 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:12,120 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda 84 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:17,320 having five porches and these lay a great multitude of sick people blind laying paralyzed 85 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,680 waiting for the movement of the water for an angel went down at a certain time into 86 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,880 the pool stirred up the water and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the 87 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,680 water was made well of whatever disease he had. 88 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:34,120 There was a certain man who was there who had an infirmity 38 years and when Jesus saw 89 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,960 him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition for a long time he 90 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,400 said to him do you want to be made well? 91 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,520 Sick man answered him sir I have no man to put me into the pool but when the water stirred 92 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,720 up while I am coming another steps down before me. 93 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:55,280 Jesus said to him rise take up your bed and walk and immediately the man was made well 94 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,680 took up his bed and walked. 95 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:03,520 God we come this morning by the blood of Jesus we thank you God for this assembly this morning. 96 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:09,360 God stir us as we are preparing to go back to our city God and encountering God a victim 97 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:14,600 generation God I pray give us your mind give us your heart God I pray that we might reach 98 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:20,600 you souls God for your kingdom I thank you for all you are doing in Jesus name and all 99 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,280 God's people said amen. 100 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:24,880 I am not a victim and neither are you. 101 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:30,840 Let's consider firstly this morning the victim's story our text this morning is a very familiar 102 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:37,600 story it chronicles the life of a man who has been sick for 38 years and we are not 103 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:43,760 told this morning what type of disease he has or sickness but evidently he is not lame 104 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:51,840 he is not blind and he is not paralyzed because our text names these conditions specifically 105 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:59,000 that others at the pool would have had and so more than likely based off verse 4 this 106 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:04,040 man's sickness is some sort of disease but the truth is this morning that is neither 107 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,720 here nor there what is important is that we understand that this man's sickness has been 108 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,880 going on for 38 years. 109 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:18,920 I don't know about you but there's been times I've had the flu for just like a week and 110 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,640 I feel like I'm about to kill somebody or die can you say amen. 111 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:28,760 It's not so much that this man is sick we've all been sick it's not even that this man 112 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:36,960 has a disease but it is precisely 38 years that makes his condition grab our attention 113 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:44,080 and when you first read of somebody you know having an infirmity for 38 years almost everyone's 114 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:50,920 immediate response is sympathy right you hear this morning if I told you somebody has been 115 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:58,960 suffering from some condition for 38 years you would probably feel pretty bad for them 116 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:05,560 no doubt your heart would go out to such a one but in our text verse 6 Jesus comes on 117 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:10,960 the scene and he immediately asked this man a question he says do you want to be made 118 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:18,720 well of course we all preach he would you would think he would respond yes absolutely 119 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:23,520 I would do anything to be better at the very least you would expect some sort of positive 120 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,800 response from him. 121 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:34,060 This man's heart did not leap with anticipation of being healed instead he just told a hard 122 00:09:34,060 --> 00:09:36,480 luck story. 123 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,520 Sick man answered him verse 7 sir I have no man to put me in the pool when the water stirred 124 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:44,920 up while I am coming another steps down before me. 125 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,880 Now look Jesus didn't ask this man how did you end up like this he didn't ask him you 126 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:57,200 know why have you been like this for so long Jesus asked him do you want to be made well 127 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:04,640 do you want help out of your condition and this man goes into this story I got no man 128 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:10,440 it's like almost when I get read somebody steps in before me and I just bit he goes 129 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:16,920 into this story and when you read it it's almost like he had it ready like this wasn't 130 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:22,880 the first time he had told this story he's been at this pool for 38 years in the picture 131 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,160 here it's the same old story. 132 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:33,000 Let me tell you something every victim has a story. 133 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:39,200 True victims always have a story and usually they've told it so many times they've told 134 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,640 it to themselves they've told it to they've told it to just about anybody who care to 135 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:49,800 listen and the difficulty this morning is you could be trying to help them just like 136 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,720 Jesus but they're just stuck on their story. 137 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:59,480 See here we learned something about the victim mentality and that is the victim mentality 138 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:06,000 isn't really looking for a solution to its problem but only sympathy for the perceived 139 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,520 injustice. 140 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:13,760 In our text as this man tells his story there's three distinct elements that I believe highlight 141 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:19,000 the victim mentality number one is I can't. 142 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,120 This man actually believes that since he's been this way for so long there's no hope 143 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:28,800 for him all hope is lost and so mark it down this morning eventually every victim comes 144 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:34,360 to a place where they embrace the philosophy of I can't. 145 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,520 I can't achieve. 146 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,360 Can't succeed. 147 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:39,360 I can't win. 148 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:40,360 I can't overcome. 149 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:41,360 I can't do this. 150 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:43,360 I just I just can't. 151 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:49,800 And so people with this mentality has literally surrendered their power to change. 152 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:54,800 It's always what can't be done or what you don't have. 153 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,360 Take America for example this is truly the land of opportunity. 154 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:05,000 If you don't believe me just check our borders. 155 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,000 Vivek Ramaswamy he has a book called the Nation of Victims I want to quote from his book listen 156 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:15,880 to what he says he says today almost all Americans live far easier and more luxurious lives than 157 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:17,560 our forefathers did. 158 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:21,800 The lifespan of the average American has doubled since 1776. 159 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,920 GDP per capita has multiplied by over 40 percent. 160 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:32,080 He said an analysis by the Heritage Foundation points out that even poor Americans have things 161 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,120 their ancestors wouldn't have even dreamed of. 162 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:40,320 According to the government's own data the average American family or single person identified 163 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:46,560 as poor by the Census Bureau lives in an air condition centrally heated house or apartment 164 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:49,280 that is in good repair and not overcrowded. 165 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,720 They have a car or truck. 166 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:56,900 Indeed 42 percent of poor families own two or more cars. 167 00:12:56,900 --> 00:13:02,480 The home has at least one wide screen TV connected to cable satellite or streaming service a 168 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,800 computer or tablet with internet connection and a smartphone. 169 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:13,200 Some 82 percent again of poor families have more than two smartphones. 170 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,880 By their own report the average poor family had enough food to eat throughout the prior 171 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:17,880 year. 172 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:22,840 No family member went hungry for even a single day due to a lack of money or food. 173 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,280 They had health insurance either public or private. 174 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,440 They were able to get all the medical care and prescriptions when needed. 175 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:33,900 And so to sum it all up it says in absolute terms the average American is doing pretty 176 00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:37,320 well compared to the ones that came before us. 177 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:43,560 As you would expect in the richest most powerful nation in the world he said next to the most 178 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:47,520 of the world we live in the land of milk and honey. 179 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:55,480 And yet more and more Americans have adopted a victim mentality. 180 00:13:55,480 --> 00:14:01,520 You know if this can happen in America the land of blessing it can happen anywhere. 181 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:07,120 And that's my point actually this morning that once you adopt a victim mentality it 182 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:08,380 never stops. 183 00:14:08,380 --> 00:14:09,880 It's never enough. 184 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:16,320 How could it be possible that people living in a place that offers so much adopt a mindset 185 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:21,120 where they become convinced that they have so little. 186 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:28,440 Because when you have a victim mentality even too much is still not enough. 187 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,560 Remember my pastor saying in very early days of my salvation he said victims never have 188 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,560 the victory. 189 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:41,760 Fact I would submit to you this morning that it is in fact our prosperity that now affords 190 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,000 us the luxury of seeing ourselves as victims. 191 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:51,200 See our forebearers in American history like much of the developing world today they had 192 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:56,480 to focus on surviving and building a future for their descendants. 193 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,520 Today we live in a world where people focus on microaggressions. 194 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,760 Our forefathers had to focus on real ones. 195 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:09,560 See I believe one of the dangers we face as a fellowship if we're not careful is we can 196 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:14,960 become a people so obsessed with its flaws that we can no longer recognize our values 197 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,920 and our virtues. 198 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,000 These WNBA players very interesting one of their biggest grievances is that they have 199 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000 to fly commercial. 200 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:32,520 They don't get to go to their games in private charter planes. 201 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:37,460 And so never mind that out of the literally millions and millions of young ladies who 202 00:15:37,460 --> 00:15:43,400 play basketball around the country around the world these women have been chosen as 203 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:50,440 one of only 36 every year they draft 36 players to play professional in the U.S. every year 204 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,000 and they've been chosen they've been handpicked. 205 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:58,280 But see the victim mentality always gets fixated on what it doesn't have or what it doesn't 206 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:04,600 get to do to the point where it becomes blind almost to what it does have. 207 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,900 Second element of the victim mentality that we see in our text is that it's someone else's 208 00:16:08,900 --> 00:16:11,020 fault. 209 00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:15,240 This man says in our text he says sir I have no man. 210 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,480 In other words what he's saying is it's someone else's fault. 211 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:24,920 The reason I am in the condition that I'm in is because of so and so. 212 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:32,120 Pastor Brown minister very aptly on the fatherless generation and I agree about God using the 213 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:40,960 fatherless for revival but having said that if we're not careful we have 40 year old men 214 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:51,480 who are fathers themselves still blaming their father for where they are in life today. 215 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:57,840 Victims always always have to blame other people for where they are in life. 216 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:01,000 Sir I have no man no one to help me. 217 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,680 There's not enough help around here. 218 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:10,760 I want you to think about this because for this man to survive for this long in such 219 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:16,800 a condition no doubt he must have received some sort of help. 220 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:22,740 Surely someone would have moved him to the toilet or brought him food or but he's unwilling 221 00:17:22,740 --> 00:17:27,040 to acknowledge any of that. 222 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:33,440 See when you live as a victim no amount of help is ever enough. 223 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,720 Because no matter what people do when you adopt this mindset your focus will always 224 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:42,040 point its attention to what people haven't done. 225 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:43,440 Other people are always the problem. 226 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,720 It's the government's fault. 227 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,560 It's God's fault. 228 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:49,080 It's the wife you gave me. 229 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,580 It's rich people aren't sharing enough. 230 00:17:51,580 --> 00:17:53,680 It's pastor didn't support me enough. 231 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:55,760 The mother church never sent an impact. 232 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:05,400 It's on and on and on. 233 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:10,860 Third element we see from this man's predicament concerning the victim mentality is that everybody 234 00:18:10,860 --> 00:18:13,760 else has it better than me. 235 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:20,840 Verse seven again he says but while I am coming another steps down before me. 236 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:27,640 What he's saying is I'm trying but they have an advantage. 237 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:37,520 Never mind the fact as I stated that everybody else at the pool is blind lame or paralyzed. 238 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:43,640 Which begs the question this morning how are they stepping down before him. 239 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,480 Evidently they figured it out. 240 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:51,600 Evidently they've worked through their limitations. 241 00:18:51,600 --> 00:19:00,140 Yet still this man in his mind I'm doing the best I can but it's just never good enough. 242 00:19:00,140 --> 00:19:03,520 Someone else gets promoted it's favoritism. 243 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,720 Or they must not see your true potential. 244 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:11,240 See the victim mentality constantly feels as though it's gotten the short end of the 245 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,000 stick. 246 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:19,440 It magnifies the harm that is done to us but minimize minimizes our own errors. 247 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,840 It blinds us to our own weaknesses. 248 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,760 It distorts your perception or your view of reality. 249 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:31,960 When you have this mentality when somebody challenges you or corrects you it's because 250 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,280 they don't understand you. 251 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:36,600 They don't understand your struggle. 252 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:38,500 They're not black enough. 253 00:19:38,500 --> 00:19:40,920 They're not white enough. 254 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:41,920 They're from Chandler. 255 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:42,920 You're from Tucson. 256 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:43,920 You're a man. 257 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:44,920 You're a woman. 258 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,560 And so you just convince yourself that they don't understand you and they never will. 259 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:54,800 And if you're not careful then you begin to use that as an excuse for just cutting that 260 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,440 relationship off completely. 261 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,620 Let's look then secondly at incentivizing victimhood. 262 00:20:02,620 --> 00:20:06,540 Because when the men in our text when he said while I am coming someone else steps down 263 00:20:06,540 --> 00:20:14,240 before me what he is implying is I deserve better than this. 264 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,440 Made me think of these WNBA players. 265 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:23,280 You know something very interesting is that many of the complaints that were coming up 266 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:30,360 centered around them not getting what either they or people close to them felt like they 267 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:31,360 deserved. 268 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:37,440 I have a tweet from Russell Wilson he's a quarterback in the NBA excuse me the NFL. 269 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:38,440 Listen to this. 270 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:48,240 It's a two he says these ladies deserve so much more praying for the day. 271 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,920 Listen she's making plenty of money for playing basketball. 272 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,880 Folks she won't be curing cancer. 273 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,080 Oh but let's pray. 274 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,200 It's a tragedy. 275 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,080 These women need more support. 276 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:09,040 I can feel some of you that's why I'm going here. 277 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:10,840 Let's pray. 278 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:16,120 Listen of all the things we could pray for in this nation I confess to you women's professional 279 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:22,000 basketball salaries is not one of them. 280 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:26,140 It's nowhere on my list. 281 00:21:26,140 --> 00:21:31,880 They're playing basketball and they're only making eighty five thousand dollars per year. 282 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:32,880 That's insane. 283 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:38,600 As Rick Martinez shut up. 284 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:45,200 Hannah Nicole Jones she's just you know it's funny where they get these people from anyway 285 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:50,800 she says honestly y'all should be embarrassed for even posting this salary. 286 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,800 Women deserve better. 287 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:58,000 In church we're talking about a basketball player but see it's all wrapped up in the 288 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,840 language of victimhood and entitlement. 289 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,000 These women deserve that is the language of entitlement. 290 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,520 I deserve better. 291 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,640 I deserve more. 292 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:14,800 Never mind that the real tragedy in this global system that we've created is that we pay people 293 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:19,680 millions and millions of dollars for playing games. 294 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,520 That's the real problem. 295 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,840 This society is upside down. 296 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:30,100 There are people actually doing important work who have got who are getting a fraction 297 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:39,680 of this truth be told these WMB players as I said they're actually overpaid. 298 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:44,720 I mean what business that has never turned a profit pays entry level employees eighty 299 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:49,440 five thousand dollars a year as well as their top employer two hundred and fifty thousand 300 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:50,440 dollars. 301 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,400 Who does that? 302 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,200 But that's what happens when you buy into victim ology. 303 00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:59,880 People become entitled to. 304 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:05,680 Oh you're underpaid you did somebody owes you some you've been mistreated. 305 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,420 Listen let me say it clearly this morning. 306 00:23:07,420 --> 00:23:10,240 You're not a victim. 307 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:15,880 You don't got to believe every lie told on Twitter or told on college campuses. 308 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:24,960 Listen you're not a victim and neither am I. 309 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:30,840 We see our culture listen tries to at every hand to affect people or people groups with 310 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:32,320 this sense of entitlement. 311 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,280 I have another quote. 312 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,400 This guy was Arthur walking. 313 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,880 He's complaining about Caitlin. 314 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,040 He said this. 315 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,320 She's making a teacher salary. 316 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,320 They need to pay these ladies. 317 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,720 He's actually suggesting that a basketball player is more valuable than a teacher. 318 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:55,080 Talk about tone deaf. 319 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,540 What world are we living in. 320 00:23:58,540 --> 00:24:01,320 He should be arguing just the opposite. 321 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,680 He should be saying hey she's making more than a teacher. 322 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:04,680 That's a crime. 323 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,960 And in the middle we're like why are kids not being educated. 324 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:09,960 Hello. 325 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:17,800 If all of this surprises you it shouldn't because this is exactly where victimhood takes 326 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:18,800 us. 327 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:24,000 You know one of the great fallouts when victimhood is incentivized is that it makes even the 328 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,160 most privileged people victims. 329 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,360 Consider the case of Jesse Smollett. 330 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:34,460 Some of you recognize that name. 331 00:24:34,460 --> 00:24:43,540 In January of 2019, Jesse Smollett a well known actor who is black and gay. 332 00:24:43,540 --> 00:24:48,160 He filed a police report with the Chicago Police Department claiming that he had been 333 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,920 the victim of a very heinous hate crime. 334 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:58,400 He said he had been attacked by two ski masks, MAGA wearing men who savagely beat him, wrapped 335 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,320 a noose around his neck, poured chemicals on him. 336 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:06,440 He said they were shouting racist and homophobic epithets and declaring their allegiance to 337 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:11,320 Trump and he claimed all the while he said his attackers were white. 338 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,320 He was hospitalized for a day, received treatment. 339 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,000 All types of support poured in. 340 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,920 Put the first picture up if you will. 341 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:24,280 Black queer lives matter, justice for Jesse, etc. etc. 342 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,240 His co-star on his TV show Empire said at the time this despicable act only shamefully 343 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:35,560 reveals how deeply the disease of hatred, inequality, racism, and discrimination continue 344 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,560 to course through our country's veins. 345 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:41,680 Comedian Steve Harvey said this is about coming to the aid of another brother that has tasted 346 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,560 the brutality of hatred, racism, and bigotry. 347 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:50,160 The list of politicians and celebrities who came out in support of him, it reads like 348 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,800 a who's who's list of luminaries. 349 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:58,880 Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Ellen DeGeneres, Al Sharpton, AOC, 350 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:03,320 Bernie Sanders, I could go on and on and on. 351 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,040 Couple days later after the attack, police investigators they asked for his phone, they 352 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:14,300 wanted to confirm some of the details, the MAGA references he had made, he refused to 353 00:26:14,300 --> 00:26:18,640 turn his phone over and a day later the police they stopped asking for the phone, they said 354 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:23,760 he is a victim and we don't want to treat him like a criminal. 355 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:29,520 And then finally after a lot of political wrangling, the Obamas got involved, the trial 356 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:36,600 took place, and during that trial two of Smollett's friends testified in great detail how Smollett 357 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:44,080 had paid them $3,500 a piece to stage the attack. 358 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:51,140 Both of them were black and one of them was involved in an intimate homosexual relationship 359 00:26:51,140 --> 00:26:52,140 with Smollett. 360 00:26:52,140 --> 00:26:59,120 Nevertheless, get this now, Smollett still insisted that the attack was motivated by 361 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,980 homophobia. 362 00:27:01,980 --> 00:27:06,220 You can't make this stuff up man. 363 00:27:06,220 --> 00:27:11,760 He was eventually convicted with one black juror saying that the smoking gun for him 364 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:18,120 was when Smollett's own testimony said that after the attack he returned home and placed 365 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,720 a noose around his neck again, put that picture up, so that when the police who came in to 366 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,240 interview him they could see it. 367 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:32,880 He went home, put a noose around his neck. 368 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:38,520 Prosecutors and the judge concluded that Smollett had staged his own abduction because he figured, 369 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:44,520 get this now, that if people saw him as a victim it would serve to further his acting 370 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:45,520 career. 371 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:53,000 Now I asked you this morning, how did we get to a place where being a victim is seen as 372 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:58,980 such a successful method of promotion and upward mobility that a man who's already a 373 00:27:58,980 --> 00:28:05,920 successful Hollywood actor would literally stage his own robbery, his own victim scene? 374 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:11,240 How did we get to a place where victimhood became a status symbol, a fashion statement 375 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:17,920 and nearly a get out of jail free card? 376 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,840 How did this identity become so prized in our culture? 377 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:29,000 Listen, even our former president, Donald Trump, challenging the election results because 378 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,640 he felt like he was cheating. 379 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:35,480 Oh don't get quiet on me now. 380 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:40,840 And I get it, but I said even back then, I said listen you better be careful because 381 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,840 whether it's true or not might not be the biggest issue. 382 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:51,440 But when you get stuck in this, it's not fair, the system is against me, I'm a victim. 383 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,540 Listen, be very, very, that's a very slippery slope. 384 00:28:55,540 --> 00:28:58,760 Not to mention a very dangerous one at that. 385 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:03,720 It can become unending because victimhood knows no limits, it knows no boundaries. 386 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:09,080 Again think of, if wealthy Hollywood stars, professional basketball players and even an 387 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:16,760 American president can all be victims, then tell me who can. 388 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,440 No one is off limits. 389 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:27,200 When it comes to playing victim, once it is incentivized and rewarded within a culture. 390 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:33,280 So the question then is what about us? 391 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:40,360 Because as Christians, we are without question the most privileged people on planet earth. 392 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:41,360 Can you say amen? 393 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:47,560 And if we're not careful though, we too can play the victim card. 394 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:52,480 We too can walk around with a sense of entitlement that we're old something, that we've been 395 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,880 grossly mistreated and that life is somehow not fair. 396 00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:02,880 See entitlement, I'm against it because it's such an anti-pioneer spirit. 397 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:08,440 Because it's so pervasive in our society, we can live completely this way and all the 398 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:14,600 while we can see victimhood in everyone else, but we can totally miss it in ourselves. 399 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:20,320 Listen, playing the victim is nothing new, which is to say that it's not unique to our 400 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,320 current culture. 401 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,000 Bibles filled with people play the victim card. 402 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,640 Think about the worker who buried his talents. 403 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,120 He was literally given the master's goods. 404 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:41,480 Most believe it was a sum of money, but when it came to give an account, guess who he blamed? 405 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:46,600 The master, the one who had given him the money. 406 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,400 I knew you'd be a hard man. 407 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,440 In other words, you're unreasonable. 408 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,580 And on top of that, it's not fair. 409 00:30:54,580 --> 00:30:57,760 You gave him five, you gave him, and I only got one. 410 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:03,480 How come I get the short end of the stick? 411 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:04,480 Favoritism. 412 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,800 How come he got that church? 413 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:14,280 Oh, I know it's because I'm a minority, isn't it? 414 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:15,280 I knew it. 415 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,200 It's rigged from the beginning. 416 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,800 There's no way I can possibly succeed. 417 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,600 One talent, are you kidding me? 418 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,000 Besides, you read where you haven't even sewn. 419 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,640 Look at you. 420 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:29,640 I knew where you come from. 421 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:33,680 You haven't even sewn. 422 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,240 Can you hear the victim speaking? 423 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,760 What about the first hour workers? 424 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:41,760 It's amazing. 425 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,360 The master, hey, nobody's got any work. 426 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:45,360 Hey, man, you know what? 427 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:46,360 Let me hire you. 428 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,360 You're standing around doing nothing. 429 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:48,360 You're looking for somewhere, okay. 430 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:49,360 You're an absent champion. 431 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,200 I'm going to help you out. 432 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:54,200 Comes in. 433 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,400 He's got his workers, and man, you know the story. 434 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,680 They work, and the master sees some more. 435 00:31:58,680 --> 00:31:59,680 You need some work? 436 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,980 At the end of the day, he decides to pay. 437 00:32:01,980 --> 00:32:03,120 He brings the last end. 438 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,480 He pays them an amount, and on and on and on. 439 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,280 And those first hour workers, man, they're sitting around, hey, if they got that, I can't 440 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:15,240 wait to see what I'm up in here all day. 441 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,960 Then he goes to pay them. 442 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:23,840 You gave me the same that you gave them? 443 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:24,840 I've been here all day. 444 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,200 Wait, wait, wait, wait. 445 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:35,440 Did I not give you what we agreed to? 446 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,600 Are you upset because it's your heart? 447 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,880 Are you upset because my heart is good? 448 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:46,320 It's not fair. 449 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,220 We're victims. 450 00:32:49,220 --> 00:32:51,680 The elder brother. 451 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,080 You know the story, the prodigal comes back, he pulls his dad. 452 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:56,920 Dad has to come outside, look for him. 453 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:02,560 He's pouting, he's upset, and he has the audacity to say, I never disobeyed. 454 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:11,080 Remember, I told you that the victim mentality literally blinds us to our own errors. 455 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,000 Distorts our perception of reality. 456 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:18,660 We only see what we've done right and what everybody else is doing wrong. 457 00:33:18,660 --> 00:33:21,520 You never gave me. 458 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:28,000 Everybody's saying is, I deserve better than what I'm getting. 459 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:32,120 Adam and Eve, when God, it's the wife you gave me. 460 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,920 It's the serpent's fault. 461 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:38,200 Listen, people have been playing the victim from the very beginning. 462 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:44,760 Again, our text, I have no man. 463 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:50,440 So let's close then and look at confronting the victim mentality. 464 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,960 I want to just state for the record that I'm not preaching this to diminish the struggle 465 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,560 of real victims. 466 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,080 Bibles filled with people who were actually victimized. 467 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:08,200 Joseph, the apostle Paul, Tamar, who was raped by her half brother Amnon, and on and on it 468 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:09,200 goes. 469 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:14,160 And so I'm saying that because there are people here this morning, no doubt, you have been 470 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:19,640 victims of abuse, you have been victims of crimes, and we fully acknowledge that. 471 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:24,440 And I am in no way attempting to undermine those very valid experiences. 472 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:33,160 But we have to ask, why are there people who have indeed been legit victims and yet you 473 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:40,720 find them later in life living a great life, a life free of bondage? 474 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:48,640 I would submit to you because somewhere they either never adopted, refused to accept, or 475 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:54,320 they got delivered of a victim mindset. 476 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,160 Think about Joseph. 477 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:57,160 Yeah. 478 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:03,880 All that Joseph went through, in fact it might be better stated, all that Joseph was put 479 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:12,120 through, betrayal by his own brothers, falsely accused by the very people he was given his 480 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:20,440 life to serve, then confined to prison and forgotten by the one person he had helped 481 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:21,440 set free. 482 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:26,840 Am I ministering to anybody who's involved in any ministry? 483 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,680 I mentioned earlier how every victim has a story. 484 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:35,520 How many know right here if Joseph wanted to, man, he could have written an autobiography 485 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,720 on victimhood. 486 00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:45,560 And in many respects, he would have been completely justified in doing so, particularly by today's 487 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:46,560 standards. 488 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:52,360 But yet later down the road when his brothers are standing there before him and they don't 489 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:58,200 know it's him but he knows it's them, and in Genesis 45 tells us that as he makes himself 490 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,200 known he says to them, you know, come closer. 491 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:02,200 Listen to it. 492 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,120 And Joseph said to his brothers, brothers come near to me. 493 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:11,760 So they came near, then he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 494 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:19,520 But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. 495 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:24,520 For God sent me before you to preserve life. 496 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,800 For God. 497 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,800 But God. 498 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:35,760 If you're here this morning and you're suffering through a situation where you've been victimized, 499 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,480 oh beloved, listen to me this morning. 500 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,720 God is here to help you. 501 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:45,680 You've got to be able this morning to get a glimpse of God. 502 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:49,320 And it says he saw God in the midst of it. 503 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:53,320 In our text, think about it, Jesus comes to this man. 504 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,380 This man in our text, he was not crying out for Jesus. 505 00:36:56,380 --> 00:37:00,240 This man was not looking for Jesus, but Jesus came looking. 506 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:04,600 What a picture of the grace of God. 507 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,720 Whatever you've been through, whatever you may be currently going through, I want to 508 00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:14,480 tell you, listen, God sees where you're at and you've got to trust this morning that 509 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:19,400 the grace of God will eventually find you. 510 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:25,400 In our text, I said it at the beginning, but it's remarkable how Jesus deals with this 511 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,260 man's victim mindset. 512 00:37:28,260 --> 00:37:33,640 Because he doesn't coddle him, he doesn't feed into it. 513 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,920 Can be argued that he doesn't show one ounce of what we would call compassion towards this 514 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:38,920 man. 515 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:45,880 It's like, as this man is telling his victim story, I got nobody, when I try to go, somebody 516 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:46,880 else jumps in for me. 517 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:47,880 Jesus says, get up. 518 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:48,880 Huh? 519 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:49,880 Wait, you didn't hear what I said? 520 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:52,880 I said I've been laying here for 30. 521 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:53,880 Get up. 522 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:55,720 Get up. 523 00:37:55,720 --> 00:38:00,160 Rise up, take up your bed and walk. 524 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:08,960 Oh wait, you're not going to pray for me? 525 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:09,960 Uh-uh. 526 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:17,360 People have been praying for you for 38 years and you're still here. 527 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:25,720 Not going to rebuke this infirmity? 528 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:32,760 He simply challenged him to stop being a victim. 529 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,660 Stop it, man. 530 00:38:34,660 --> 00:38:35,660 Stop it. 531 00:38:35,660 --> 00:38:43,160 I was sitting with Sean Gunkel, Pastor Sean Gunkel yesterday and he reminded me of Ben 532 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:50,120 Carson's mother and her name's Sonia Carson and many of you read the book, Gifted Hands 533 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:57,480 and Various Things, but she grew up in a foster home and received only a third grade education. 534 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:02,500 Now her son Ben Carson, of course, went on to be one of the greatest neurosurgeons. 535 00:39:02,500 --> 00:39:04,080 He graduated from Yale. 536 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:11,080 He had another brother named Carson or I believe Carson who, Curtis was his name. 537 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:16,580 He became an aeronautical engineer and on and on, but his mother grew up in a foster 538 00:39:16,580 --> 00:39:24,920 home and she got married when she was 13 years old to a man named Robert Carson and he was 539 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,720 28 years old. 540 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:35,880 And long story short, he was a minister, but sooner or later she realized that he was married 541 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,880 to another woman and had a whole other family. 542 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,980 Kind of what Pastor Martinez was just saying. 543 00:39:40,980 --> 00:39:46,640 He had another family and so she had to take her two boys, move to Boston with her and 544 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:51,080 live with her sister for a while and then later in life she comes back, she moves back 545 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:55,120 to Detroit and she's working three jobs. 546 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:59,480 She said she would leave in the morning, hardly never see her boys, come back home at night, 547 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:05,040 never really see them, but one day Ben got an unsatisfactory report card. 548 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:11,840 He was in the fifth grade and his mom being, having some Christian background, she said 549 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:17,840 she laid a whole, he actually said that she laid a hold of God and God laid on her heart 550 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:23,000 that her boys, as Pastor Warner mentioned, needed to become readers. 551 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,360 So that's what she set out to do. 552 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,160 She got, she took them to the public library. 553 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:34,000 She had them read two books a day or two books a week and every week and at the end of the 554 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:39,760 week she required them to write a book report on one of those books and she would grade 555 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:44,720 the book report, she would highlight her notes on the book report and very interesting, a 556 00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:48,760 little bit later in life Ben and his brother realized that mom didn't really grade any 557 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,640 of those reports because mom couldn't even read. 558 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:57,920 Remember she had a third grade education. 559 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:04,680 Here she raised these two boys, neurosurgeon, engineer and in an interview they asked Ben 560 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:10,520 Carson, they said how did your mom succeed despite all the obstacles she was faced with? 561 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,480 And he said this, he said her formula was simple and here it is. 562 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:22,600 He said she absolutely refused to be a victim and she raised her boys to do the same. 563 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:31,600 Put the picture up, put the picture up of Sonia Carson. 564 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:36,720 She shared this poem, he shared this poem that she would always read to them when they 565 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,080 wanted to make excuses. 566 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,400 Listen to this, it says if things go bad for you, I think they have the poem, if things 567 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:48,180 go bad for you and make you a bit ashamed, often you will find out that you have yourself 568 00:41:48,180 --> 00:41:49,440 to blame. 569 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,560 Swiftly we ran the mischief and then the bad luck came. 570 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,440 Why do we fault others? 571 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,480 We have ourselves to blame. 572 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:02,560 Whatever happens to us, here's what we say, had it not been for so and so, things wouldn't 573 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:03,560 have gone that way. 574 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:09,400 And if you're short of friends, I'll tell you what to do, make an examination, you'll 575 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,760 find the faults in you. 576 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,480 You are the captain of your ship so agree with the same. 577 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,600 If you travel downward, then you have yourself to blame. 578 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:23,240 She said you're going to take responsibility. 579 00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:27,520 You're going to be responsible. 580 00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:35,560 In a world that is birthing victims at an all-time rate, and many of our young people, 581 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:40,720 men and women coming to our churches, listen, they are coming in, they have embraced this 582 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:42,320 victim mentality full on. 583 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:46,200 It's the spirit of our age. 584 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:52,760 But I would say if we're going to turn victims into disciples, we must continue to be willing 585 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:54,640 to confront this spirit. 586 00:42:54,640 --> 00:43:00,240 Listen, pastor, when you get back to your city, you've got to attack this mindset. 587 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:04,160 You've got to have the mindset, man, that I'm not going to coddle this thing. 588 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:06,240 I'm not going to be super sensitive. 589 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:07,600 I know this generation. 590 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:11,040 Listen, we're not here to imitate this generation. 591 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:14,400 We're here to impact it. 592 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:19,600 And I'll just say this to every disciple here. 593 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:26,760 If you're going to go forward and be able to fully apprehend your destiny, you have 594 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:32,740 to be willing to allow this spirit to be confronted in your own life. 595 00:43:32,740 --> 00:43:38,300 Because I say all the time, the simple fact of life is you will never fix what you refuse 596 00:43:38,300 --> 00:43:41,320 to face. 597 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:45,580 Somewhere you have to decide, I am going to break those generational curses. 598 00:43:45,580 --> 00:43:51,720 You have to choose to stop telling yourself them old tired narratives that keep you bound, 599 00:43:51,720 --> 00:43:54,080 keep you mentally tied up. 600 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:59,120 What I'm saying, as a child of God, you must embrace a spirit that overcomes. 601 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:04,140 John 5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. 602 00:44:04,140 --> 00:44:09,040 This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 603 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:14,240 Listen, as Christian this morning, as those who have been born of God, we don't get to 604 00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:17,720 play victims. 605 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:20,840 We don't get to play because we have been given something. 606 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:26,920 God has given us a faith that overcomes, overcomes the obstacles, overcomes all the injustices, 607 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:33,760 all the inn- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 608 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:35,320 I can overcome this. 609 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,500 I can defeat this. 610 00:44:38,500 --> 00:44:42,800 Because how many know as Christians, we don't fight for victory, we fight from it. 611 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,280 We are victims, not- victors, not victims. 612 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,240 We are the head, not the tail. 613 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:50,280 We are above and not beneath. 614 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:55,600 And so as Holy Ghost field, born again believers, we have the choice in our life. 615 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:57,340 We can go one of two ways. 616 00:44:57,340 --> 00:45:04,760 We can either live like the world's against us or we can live like the world needs us. 617 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:09,080 Jesus says, take up your bed and walk. 618 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:21,600 What is so powerful, verse 9 says, immediately, immediately took up his bed and walked. 619 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:29,000 How many people showed him sympathy for 30, 20, 15 years and Jesus said, I know what this 620 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,000 is. 621 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:31,800 I've seen this before. 622 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:32,800 This is nothing new. 623 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:38,640 You've been through- most people, 38 years, Jesus is like, 38 years you still putting 624 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:39,640 this on bro? 625 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:42,640 Ain't you tired man? 626 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:48,800 Close, I tell people I was raised by a single mother. 627 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:54,040 I only met my father on two occasions, once when I was about 12, another time when I was 628 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:55,480 about 19. 629 00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:56,680 He made all kinds of promises. 630 00:45:56,680 --> 00:46:00,560 I had those conversations for about 30 minutes a piece. 631 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:04,600 Never- if I walked- my father could be in here right now and I wouldn't know it. 632 00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:09,120 But you know what, I was raised by a mom, single mom, again worked many- worked three 633 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:10,440 jobs many times. 634 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:14,120 I'm doing all kinds of stuff. 635 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:16,080 We had a car that was like the Flintstones. 636 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:17,920 It literally had a hold in the floor. 637 00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,800 And me and my sister would always joke about who's going to ride in the front and help 638 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:26,120 mom drive the car. 639 00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:30,960 We used to- I remember times where it was so cold in St. Louis, Missouri that we would 640 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:34,360 open the- our electricity was off. 641 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:37,360 So we would open the stove to heat our house. 642 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:39,360 Now you might not know but that's dangerous. 643 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:41,880 Carbon monoxide will kill you. 644 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,520 But we survived. 645 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:50,680 I think about- we grew up in Section 8 homes, you know, just trying to- my mom just trying 646 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,960 to make it- keep her dignity. 647 00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:59,600 But I remember my mom always saying, son, you can be anything you want to be. 648 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:01,440 I don't care what the neighbors are doing. 649 00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,440 They're selling drugs, they're roaching. 650 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:07,800 She said, listen, listen, son, don't look at this neighborhood and think that you've 651 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,520 got to live like you can be better than this. 652 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:17,160 And she always- you don't have to be a victim. 653 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:23,200 I thank God. 654 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:28,760 Don't play a victim, don't be a victim, and don't coddle victims. 655 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:31,800 I am not a victim and neither are you. 656 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:32,800 God bless you. 657 00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:33,800 It is me. 658 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:43,800 Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A. Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. 659 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:48,480 Be sure to follow us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on 660 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:53,200 what we are doing, join the conversation, and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize 661 00:47:53,200 --> 00:48:04,480 your life.