Skip to content Denying Self - Zenzo Matoga May 23 · 34 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 I'm gonna be speaking on a message this morning from a book I just wrote, and the title of the book is no more idols. Somebody shout no more idols.0:12 How many people believe it's time in America to destroy our idols and put Jesus back on the throne again? Come on. I think so. I think so.0:24 And, the book is gonna be available for you guys in the lobby today if you're interested, but I'm talking about breaking idols. And today, I wanna talk about breaking and0:35 destroying the idol of self. Whoo. Destroying the idol of self. Say this with me. Destroying Destroying the0:47 idol of self. Hey. By the way, I wanna show you my family. I have an incredible family, and and the picture's gonna go on the screen. There we go. That's my family. That's0:59 somebody say wow. Say wow backwards. I am so blessed. That's that's my wife, Michelle. She's Italian. You know? She knows how to1:11 break kneecaps. I'm thankful I still have my kneecaps intact, and that's our Zenzo. We have our Sarah, Joshua, and Anaya, and I think I'm blessed. Amen? Amen. Awesome.1:23 Well, let's go back to destroying idols. We're gonna destroy the idol of self. In this season of my life, I am so dedicated to making disciples.1:36 We have to make disciples. We have to raise up a generation of Christians in America who are true disciples of Jesus Christ. And this message I'm about to1:48 preach today is the message of Jesus. I'm gonna read a scripture here that Jesus himself said, and he was teaching his disciples. If you wanna be my disciples, deny2:00 yourself. This is what it means to be a true disciple. I wanna start off by asking you this. How many people remember back in the days when we had no cell phones and you could not take your own2:11 selfie? Anybody remembers back in those days? Yeah. Once in a while, my wife tells me, I just I wish you could go back in the days when we had no cell phones since that's when I'm on my phone a little too much, and2:23 and and any any man can testify. Y'all gonna leave me hang? Okay. Just me? Just okay. But back in those days, if you wanted to take a picture, you would have2:35 to hire a photographer to come to your house. Anybody remembers that. And the photographer would take your pictures, or you would have to go to the mall somewhere and take pictures there.2:47 We didn't have the ability to take our own selfies. How many people remember back when there was no cell phones and you only had the home phone? Come on, somebody. Anybody remembers the answering2:59 machine? People would get very creative with their answering machines. I used to love calling Christian homes because the answering machine always had a a beautiful worship3:11 song. Shout to the lord of the earth, and they'll they'll just lower it down on queue. Welcome to the Johnson residence. We love Jesus and we hope you do too. It was so incredible. There was no3:23 cell phones. You couldn't take your own selfie. And then I remember the first time when somebody told me about taking a selfie. Anybody remembers the first time when you heard that you could take your own picture?3:35 At first, I thought it was a little weird because back in those days, you never saw anybody with a Canon camera turning that big thing around and taking their own picture. On, somebody. Anybody remembers the days3:47 with the yellow Kodak cameras? Right? You had a few of those disposable cameras. No. You never saw anybody taking a yellow Koda camera,3:59 turning it around, and taking their own picture. That would be weird. And I'll never forget when somebody told me, you do you know you can take your own have you heard of a selfie? And I was like,4:11 what's that? They said, you you can take your own picture. And I was like, this is this is so cool. Anybody in here can be honest. You like taking selfies? Wave at me. Oh, alright. What a4:23 church. I'm gonna have to lay hands on some people today and pray. But there are several types of selfies. Some people take a little too many selfies, but there's a selfie where people4:35 do the lip thing. You guys know the lip thing? First time I saw that, I thought that is the weirdest thing ever. But now it seems to be normal. If a4:47 lot of people do that. And it's have you ever seen somebody take a selfie and, and they're taking their selfie, but they're looking away photographer, like somebody's taking their picture. Like, we know you took that4:58 picture yourself. Like and then there are certain people that they take a selfie. They stand on that camera. No smile. It just looks creepy. Like, if you're gonna take5:09 a selfie, show us your show us your mouth, show us your teeth. We wanna we wanna see your smile. But what's interesting is that back in those days, we did not take5:20 selfies. Now it's become very normal to take a selfie. Would you say that? It's acceptable in society. It's acceptable in our culture. Here's my big takeaway5:32 today. Even though it's okay to take a selfie every now and then, it's not okay to live in a selfie mode all the time. Let me say that again. Even though it's5:44 okay to take a selfie every now and then, it's not okay to live in a selfie mode all all the time. We're living in a generation that is self focused. We're5:56 living in a generation where it's become acceptable to focus on yourself. We're living in a generation where you hear a lot of people saying, I want this and I don't want that. And if you're gonna relate with them,6:08 it's only based on what they want and nobody else. And I just believe that the church needs to change that because true discipleship is not just about what you receive. True6:20 discipleship is more about what you give to other people and bless other people more than just what you receive. And I'm praying. Yes. Come on. Come on. Hallelujah.6:32 And I'm praying that God's gonna raise a generation in America America that's not selfish. A generation that's willing to give unto the lord and serve and send missionaries to Guatemala and6:44 do great things for the lord. This is the generation that's gonna reintroduce true discipleship again. If you believe that, somebody shout hallelujah. Hallelujah. 1 more time. Somebody shout6:55 hallelujah. Hallelujah. Here's what the dictionary says about a selfie, the definition of a selfie, an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera, especially7:07 for posting about oneself on social networks. Wow. How many times do you see oneself? People focusing on themselves? Yes. It's okay to take a7:19 selfie every now and then, but it's not okay to live in a selfie mode all the time. I've been in ministry a long time, and I'll tell you this. I've been pastoring for a little while, but I've been in7:31 ministry for a long time helping my parents. Some of the most miserable people I know are people who focus on themselves all the time. And there's not a thing you can do7:43 about them. There's not a thing you can do for them because they focus on themselves. They come to church and they say, pastor, Sunday, the the it was too warm in there. We need more AC, and we give them more7:55 AC. And they come back, pastor, the parking lots were too busy. We need to get some cones in the parking lot. We get the cones, and they come back. Pastor, the music was too loud, and they come back. Pastor, I8:07 didn't like what you preached, and they come back. Pastor, and it's all about them, and you can do everything that they want, and they are never satisfied. Yeah. They live in a selfie mode8:19 all the time. We have to destroy this idol. It's an idol where you focus on yourself so much, and that's the recipe for misery. It is the recipe for8:30 misery. I heard a story, wow, of a family that was swimming on a Saturday and having a good time in the lake, and all of a sudden, the water current began to rise, and8:42 they were stuck in the water. They waved at somebody to rescue them, a family of 5 people. And this man came and pulled them out of the water and and rescued them, and all8:54 5 of them left and left this man in the water. And he passed away in the water after he rescued those people. That's the generation we are living in, but we are changing that in Jesus'9:06 name. I heard another story of an EMT on a Saturday. He was having lunch, and it was a break day for him. He wasn't working that day. And there was a pregnant lady who really9:18 needed some help, and he refused to attend to this lady because it was his off day from work. And that lady, that pregnant woman, passed away. This is the generation9:29 we're living in. I heard a story during quarantine of a man who cracked a wine bottle on another man's head because they were fighting for tissue paper, toilet paper9:42 at Walmart. This is the generation we're living in. Hey. I'm African, by the way. Let me just tell you this. You can survive a long time without toilet paper. I thought I might just add that9:54 in there. But what a life what a life where we focus on ourselves all the time. The bible says in second Timothy 3 verse 1 and 2, but mark this, there will be terrible10:05 times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, obedient to their parent disobedient, rather,10:17 to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy. Believe we are living in a generation where people are self focused. Yes. We it's okay to take a10:29 selfie, but let's not live in a selfie mode. It says ungrateful and unholy. There's something about ungratefulness that causes you to just focus on yourself, and10:41 there's something about gratefulness, something about thankfulness that removes the focus on yourself and begin to put the focus on Jesus. I don't know about you, But if you survive 2010:52 20, if you survive COVID, there's nothing else to live for than to praise God. You may not be where you wanna be right now, but you're not where you used to be. Come on. You deserve to praise11:04 Jesus. Can anybody in this place tell me that Jesus deserves some praise? Can anybody take a moment and just celebrate Jesus for his goodness and the things he's done in your life?11:16 I wanna I wanna see somebody who dares to shout in this place and say that God has been good in my life. If it wasn't for Jesus, I should not be alive today.11:27 Whoo. This African boy is getting excited. Why? Because I've come a long way. I should not be alive today. Can I see a few people in the building who say if it wasn't for Jesus, I should11:39 not be alive today? The reason I am alive is because of the goodness of God. Therefore, I'm not just gonna focus on myself. I'll give him the praise because he deserves the praise11:51 and the glory and the honor, and he is good. Can I get a few people to shout and celebrate Jesus in this place? Oh, hallelujah.12:04 It's human nature to complain all the time. The children of Israel left Egypt. They were crying. They were slaves. God sent Moses to deliver them. Can you see them in the wilderness12:16 complaining? We don't have this. I don't have this. I don't have this. I don't have enough. Just take me back to Egypt. And I'm praying that God's gonna raise up a generation of a people12:28 that know how to lift up their hands and say thank you. I may not have everything I wanna have, but but you deserve the praise and everything may not be fine in my family but you deserve12:40 the praise. I I may not be where I wanna be but but I sure I'm not where I used to be. You deserve the praise. Whatever you want me to do, I'll praise you and I'll serve you. God, I thank you12:52 for my wife. I thank you for my husband. They get on my nerves once in a while, but I thank you for them. Thank you that I have somebody I can share life with. Amen.13:03 Don't take your family for granted. Hey. If you're sitting next to someone who you you're married to, just just look at them and tell them, I love you. You are all that in a bag of chips.13:16 We're gonna take a commercial break here for for the married people. Because maybe some of us haven't appreciated the person that's sitting next to us in a long time. In a long13:28 time. We're living in a generation that focuses on self. This is what the bible says. John chapter 12 verse 23. Jesus replied, now the time has come for the son of man13:40 to enter his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel, unless a seed of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, somebody shout dies, It13:52 remains alone, but its death. Somebody shout death. But its death will produce many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives.14:04 This is the secret to being productive and effective in life. This is the secret to producing a plentiful harvest of new lives is that a seed has to die.14:17 There's a new generation that's preaching a crossless gospel, that's introducing people to a crossless gospel. We have Christianity today because Jesus14:29 went to the cross. There's no any other way for you to Christianity. It's through receiving the finished work of the cross, but you also have to pick up your cross, sacrifice14:41 something, give something. That's the way of Christianity. How many people in this room are serious about becoming true disciples of Jesus? Yeah. You're gonna have to sacrifice something.14:53 There's gonna be some dying to self. You're gonna have to die to the cares of this world. You're gonna have to sacrifice something. The Lord is gonna ask you to remove some friends out of your life.15:04 Talk to me somebody. The Lord is gonna ask you to remove some things that are toxic from your life. The Lord might even ask you to not watch certain TV shows or movies anymore15:16 because they are toxic for your life. The Lord may ask you to begin to serve and to begin to do something you never saw yourself doing before. The Lord may ask you to be on a trip to Guatemala15:28 next time. There's a new generation that's preaching a crossless gospel, and it's not the gospel because without the cross of Jesus, we don't have the gospel.15:40 There's something you're gonna have to sacrifice. There's something you're gonna have to give up. And what you have to do is pray and ask God, God, what are you saying to me? What do you want me to sacrifice? What do15:52 you want me to give up? I wanna take a moment and ask you right now, what's the Lord saying to you in this season of your life? Can you take inventory, the the friends around you, the the people around you,16:04 some of the things that you're doing? What is God asking you to sacrifice? Because discipleship, true discipleship is more about what you give, what you sacrifice more than just what you16:15 receive. I wanna read the scripture, so powerful. Matthew 16 verse 24. This is Jesus himself speaking. I want you to pay attention to this. Then Jesus told his16:27 disciples, if anyone would come after me, how many people would wanna come after Jesus? How many people wanna follow Jesus? How many people wanna be true followers of Jesus?16:39 Here's the recipe. Here's the principle. Let him deny himself. Wow. Deny himself. Let him give up worldly things that he16:51 wants, and let let him let her give up the things that are the cares of this world that he wants, that she wants. Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Take up17:03 his cross. It means you're gonna have to sacrifice something. Something is gonna have to die. You're gonna have to give up something. Take up his cross. And then he says this, and follow me. He17:14 says, for whoever would save his life will lose it. I'm telling you, I know this is a little bit of a tough message today, but I promise you, I came to give you life today. I came to give you hope17:26 today because this is the recipe of true joy. This is the secret of true satisfaction. It says if you lose yourself, if you choose to make life17:38 not just about you and you lose yourself, it says you will find yourself. Let me read that. Says, but whoever loses his life for my sake will17:50 find it. Let me go back. It says, for whoever would save his life will lose it. Wow. Whoever would save his life will lose18:02 it. Whoever's gonna think about self, and it's all about me and just what I want. When God is requiring you to remove something, you resist. It's all about me. I just this is what I want. And I've told you already, some18:14 of the most miserable people I know are people who are just self focused because they lose themselves. And the secret is here. It says, but whoever loses his life for my18:25 sake will find it. This is the secret to true joy. This is the secret to true satisfaction. This is a secret to a life where you're you're you're having joy18:37 every single day of your life. And I'm not saying that you won't go through some hardships. You will. But there's a deep sense of satisfaction and joy because you're not making life about18:49 you. People find themselves frustrated because they set themselves up for failure. They set themselves up for frustration because they just expect everything to be19:01 about them. I wanna tell you a story. I come from Africa, and I went to a funeral 1 day. My father took me to a funeral when I was about 11 years old, somewhere there, 11 or 12.19:13 Now this is not an American funeral. This is an African funeral. Funerals are a little different, in the villages where people are underprivileged. When somebody dies,19:25 they don't take them to the morgue. They just keep them in a house. They lay a mat on the ground, and they put the dead person there. They cover them with blankets, and people come in the room,19:37 and they sing all night. And the next day, they bury the person. So my father took me to this funeral. He was preaching there, and I got in this little living room. So many people were packed19:49 in that living room, and I was surprised that everybody was on 1 side. And on the other side, there was a lady sleeping on the mat. And there was nobody there, and20:01 the rest of the people were on just this 1 side. And at 11 years old, I thought to myself, there's no room in this space. Why is everybody on 1 side? So I decided to sit on the mat next to the lady who20:13 was sleeping on the mat. Somebody already knows where I'm going with this 1. I had no idea what was going on. So I sat right there. I'm thinking, hey. There's space here. There's space on this mat next to the20:25 lady who's taking a nap. I'm I'm a sit right here while all you guys are jam packed over there. And when I some at some point because this was really late. I was I was20:37 so young, and this was really late in the night. People were singing. I fell asleep at some point. There we go. I fell asleep next to the lady who was taking a nap. And20:49 when I woke up, my legs were pushing onto her belly. Whoo. Now now I got up, and I was surprised. And I I remember thinking to myself,21:01 why didn't the lady push my legs away? I I mean, I was pretty stepping into her belly. And and then it dawned on me. I had an moment, and it21:13 dawned on me that the lady was not taking a nap. It dawned on me that I was at the funeral of this lady, and here I was21:24 stepping into her belly. I got so surprised, and I just I got terrified because because we get really scared of dead bodies. I I got so terrified. I was like, I'm stepping21:36 into a dead body right now, and I got up and I just left. But the reason that lady did not push my legs away is because dead people don't feel pain.21:50 Can I tell you something else? Dead people don't feel pride. And this is what the Lord said to me. The Lord said, Zenzo, if you22:02 are upset with everything all the time because I went through a season where I was upset with everything. Upset up my pastor, upset with my church, upset with my family, upset at work. And22:14 if you find yourself upset all the time, chances are you haven't died to self yet because dead people don't feel no22:26 pain, and dead people don't feel no pride. This is the making of true disciples22:38 where we begin to learn to die to self. And I'm telling you, the bible is gonna challenge you. Pastor Tim is gonna preach some things from this pulpit that22:50 will challenge you. Let me say this to you. If your god never disagrees with you, then you're simply worshiping an idealized version of yourself.23:03 If your pastor never says anything that you disagree with, then you don't have a pastor. You just have friends. But the kingdom of23:15 God and the word of God is gonna challenge us. How many people welcome the challenge in this place? Come on somebody. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's it. You know why? Because if you lose23:26 yourself, then you will find yourself. The joy is in the sacrifice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If god says give up these friends and you give them up, there's gonna23:38 be joy. God knows better. He knows better. If god says give up this thing, it's not working out for you and you give it up, true joy and true satisfaction, you will23:50 experience true joy and satisfaction. I wanna read this scripture for you. I love Micah chapter 6 verse 8. It says, he has shown you,24:02 oh, motto, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you? How many people would like to know this morning what the Lord requires of you? 324:14 things. 3 things. And I'm gonna give you these 3 things as we close. This is how we're gonna destroy this selfie mentality. These 3 points. I want you to write them down. Here we go. It says,24:26 act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your24:37 God. I want everybody in this place to shout, act justly. Act justly. 1 more time. Act justly. I want everybody to shout, love mercy.24:49 Love And finally, want everybody to shout, walk humbly. Walk humbly. So what does that mean? Number 1, to act justly is simply this,25:01 do what God wants you to do, not what you wanna do. That's what justice is. Can I tell you this? Justice is a person, and his name is Jesus. And25:12 justice is simply doing what God wants you to do, not what you want to do. Don't focus on you. Focus on what God wants you to do. Years ago, I was invited25:25 to a meeting in California to lead worship. I lead worship. I write songs, and I was invited to this meeting. And I was so honored to be invited at this meeting with all these amazing people and TV25:36 evangelists, and and I I had such low self low self esteem. I wanted to belong, and I remember going there and thinking, god, I want these people to like me. I want them to love me. I want them to25:48 invite me back. And and so I went to this meeting, and I went to the bathroom. And while I was in the bathroom, I overheard 2 men of God that I honor and love. I was in the26:00 bathroom waiting for them so I can get an autograph. And while I was there waiting for them to get an autograph, I overheard these 2 men of God talking about another man of God that I26:12 knew from right here in Boston. And I remember getting so disappointed thinking, I love these guys. I honor them. I've seen them on TV. I couldn't wait to get that autograph.26:24 And in that moment, I felt the lord impressing upon me to not ask for the autograph but to tell them that the person that we're talking about was not guilty like they thought.26:36 And I thought, god, no. I need the autograph, and I need these people to like me. I felt the lord saying, no. Do justice. Don't do what you want. Do what I would wanna do.26:49 And so I waited for them outside the bathroom. And when they came out, I said, I love you guys. I celebrate what you do, but I just wanted you to know this. I overheard what you were talking about.27:01 And I just want you to know that that man you were talking about is a good man. And I know about that story you were talking about, and that's not how it happened. And those 2 men, to my surprise,27:13 repented to me, and they said, we are sorry. And for the rest of the conference, they took me around, and instead of rejecting me, they introduced me to everybody. And from those27:24 connections and those relationships, God has done so much in my life because I didn't choose to preserve myself, I chose to do what Jesus would do. Come on, let's raise up a generation that27:36 acts justly. That's what it means to act justly. And by the way, I just gotta say this. At the end of the conference, I say, can I get some autograph? African boy is gonna27:48 go home with some autographs in this. Come on, somebody. I got me not just 2 autographs. I got me about 10 autographs. Act justly. If you lose27:59 yourself, then you will find yourself. When you find yourself in a situation like that, do you do justice, or do you choose you?28:12 And then it says love mercy. Somebody say love mercy. Love mercy. What does it mean to love mercy? Mercy is to withhold the punishment28:24 that somebody deserves for the mistake they've done. You give up the right to punish them. You give up the right to revenge. 1 time, I got a phone call from28:36 a lady, and she had such an attitude. And she said, pastor, I just want you to know that we're scheduling some road races on a Sunday that are gonna go through the school where you guys gather28:48 for worship and that you're not gonna be able to gather for church. I just want you to know that you're not gonna be able to have church. Church is not gonna happen. And I remember thinking, why are you so excited about29:00 church not happening? She had such an attitude. Have you have you ever gotten a phone call or have you ever spoken to somebody and you could just tell they were on a mission to test your29:11 Christianity? Any honest, any honest people in this place are gonna agree with me. I I remember just getting upset, getting upset. I wanted to set my wife loose on her and just release release29:23 that mafia spirit and break some kneecaps. Come on, somebody. Any true Christians in this place? I mean, I was getting upset. The the the lion the African lion29:35 in me was was was going, and this is what I felt impressed upon. I felt the Lord saying, take the biggest seed from the church and give it to her29:47 from your missions fund, and give it towards her organization. Wow. I thought to myself, the devil is a liar. That's not God.30:00 And I called the lady to tell her we have a gift for you, thousands of dollars. She picked up the phone with an attitude. What do you want? And I thought, god, there's my cue. I'm not supposed to give any money to this30:12 lady. The devil is a liar. But I caught her. I said, I have a gift for you. He took everything in me to say, I have a gift for30:24 you, and she went quiet. The next thing I heard were sniffles. I could tell she was crying. Don't you just love God? I love to do it30:36 God's way. I could tell she was crying. And she said, pastor, you have no idea. I'm a single mom. Life has been tough. My son has been acting up,30:48 and my boss told me that if I don't raise money for this race, I don't have a job. And she said, why are you doing this to me? Why are you being nice to me? I haven't31:00 been good to you. Why are you I have been I have been this to you. She used another word I can't use from the stage. How do you know the word I'm talking about? We're gonna have to pray for31:11 some church people up in here. She said, I've been bad to you. Why are you being nice to me? And here's 1 thing she said. She said the31:23 amount of money oh, I'm getting ready to get excited in this place. I love how God works. She said the amount of money you've told me that you're giving me is the same amount of money I needed to31:35 raise for this race to happen. Come on, somebody celebrate Jesus.31:47 And I said, can I pray for you? I pray for you. And I prayed for her, and I spoke a blessing over her son. That is to love mercy. I had every31:59 right. Some of the things she was saying, I wanted to sue her for defamation of our organization. I had every right. But I said, no, we're gonna sow a seed.32:11 Act justly. What would Jesus do? What would God do? Love mercy. And finally, walk humbly. Somebody say walk humbly.32:25 1 time I was invited to a meeting. This is when I I was doing a lot of music and people knew me in the area. And when I went there, I expected the usher32:37 to welcome me and walk me to the front and there were all these leaders seated on the on the platform. I expected that they would welcome me, bring me to the front, and the32:49 usher that welcomed me that day was new to church, newly saved, had no idea who's who, and he just said, hey. Welcome. And and brought me way to the back,33:01 sat me behind this big camera thing, and look. Nothing to those people sitting behind the big camera back there. That's a good seat because I experienced the presence of God. And I was33:13 upset the whole night. I went back to my hotel just upset. And I felt the Lord saying, Zenzel, you've made this about you.33:24 It's not about you. I'm the 1 who's given you the gift of music. I'm the 1 who's given you opportunities, but don't ever forget that it's not about you. Don't ever forget to take the33:36 back seat. When you go into a room, don't expect the seat at the high table. Walk humbly. Give that seat to somebody else.33:48 There's somebody who needs more Jesus than you do. Give it to them. And so now when I walk into rooms, I don't expect the high seat. If you give me the high seat, I'll say thank you. And I'll34:00 confidently sit in that seat because of the Jesus in me. But if you don't give me the seat, I won't be worried. I won't stay up in the night because I don't expect it anyway.34:11 Praise will not come this way. Praise is going that way. Praise goes to Jesus. This is about Jesus. This is not about me. This is about Jesus. This34:23 is about Jesus.
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