October 31, 2025 • 39 mins
We explore gratitude as the key to overcoming entitlement. Embracing thankfulness for every situation, we recognize all blessings come from above. We delve into how acknowledging divine grace leads to a life of abundance and humility.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Church Talk. It's Friday, and today's episode
is entitled Ending Entitlement. So please like, share, comment,
(00:25):
subscribe, do all the things that help us with the
algorithms. Yes, algorithm thingies save.
Me. They do like the likes, the
subscribes. We're on YouTube, we're on Apple
Podcasts, we're on Spotify. So go everywhere and subscribe
on YouTube. We'd love to see subscriptions
(00:45):
there on YouTube. So go ahead and get on there,
comment on our videos, comments on the reels, it'll all help us.
Leave a review on Spotify, ApplePodcasts, Wherever you consume.
Share us on. Instagram.
Please share us on Instagram. Listen your story and we'd love
that. That would be awesome and.
(01:07):
Except where they were making fun of me the other day about
telling the truth. I didn't appreciate that.
Well, I mean, the don't give that to me.
The the first, the first one of the first reels that we
published from this podcast was a video of me touching my
(01:30):
microphone and you clowns clip that and that was the first
thing y'all decided to produce, so I don't.
Know who our creative's team is?You are the creative.
I am but. And then you brought up, you
brought on some help and they they got you back.
They got me back. So what goeth around cometh
(01:56):
around as. They used to say.
Used to say it like that a long time ago.
We've got to get into, we got toget into the content.
So we are talking about entitlement today, and
entitlement is what I would calla quiet killer.
(02:21):
Yeah. It is the killer of gratitude,
it is the killer of humility, and it is the the killer of
personal growth. But not just personal growth.
It it it can affect churches, itcan affect families, it can
(02:44):
affect you in your workplace. So knowing that entitlement is
devastating to every area of life, we need to have an
understanding of what it is and how to combat the spirit of
(03:08):
entitlement. Entitlement is the belief that
I'm owed something simply because of who I am or how long
I've been here or what I've done.
But in God's Kingdom, the groundis level at the foot of the
(03:31):
cross, yes. That's good.
And so there there is no, there is no entitlement in the no room
for entitlement in God's Kingdom.
So let's let's look at some. I'd hate to bring the Bible into
this, but let's let's look at First Corinthians 4 in chapter,
(03:54):
chapter 4 and verse #7. Says For Who maketh thee to
differ from another? And what hast thou thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why does thou glory as if thou has not received it well?
So everything we have, our gifts, yeah, our talents, our
(04:19):
breath, our opportunities, they are received things.
They are things that we have received either from someone
before us or someone above us. They're either something that we
receive from someone we are close to or from our God.
(04:45):
And still in knowing that everything that we have, knowing
that I cannot take one breath onmy own, that my talents are not,
they do not belong to me. They were given to me.
Knowing all of this, pride stillsomehow tends to whisper in our
(05:12):
ears, You've earned it, you deserve it.
And so that's how that's how entitlement begins When we
forget entitlement begins when we forget the giver.
Oh, that's good. That's good.
(05:34):
When we forget who the giver is,we start demanding gifts.
That's why he would say every good and perfect gift.
Comes from a from. Above from the Father of Lights.
In whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning. So we we compare, we complain
(05:55):
and eventually we believe God owes us something or people owe
us something because we forget who gave us everything we have
in the 1st place. That's.
Good. So really, entitlement is just
pride wearing a different a different suit.
(06:19):
It's that's really the root of it, a pride.
Pride is masquerading as entitlement, as as a feeling of
self aggrandizement or self deserving.
(06:41):
And pride separates us both fromGod and from people.
Yeah, it does. So, Romans 12 and 3.
Let's look at this verse real quick.
So Romans 12/3 as Paul says, ForI say through the grace given
unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of
(07:04):
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly, according as God has dealt ever to every man, the
measure of faith. So Paul's not saying to have no
interest mention, right, not to think of yourself at all, but to
(07:24):
find out through prayer, throughthe wisdom of God, through the
word of God, how to strike the balance of taking interest in
yourself but not allowing it to go beyond the point of.
(07:45):
Right. Yeah.
Pride and arrogance. And I think a great, you know,
way of talking about this, I wasreading a book this week called
More Than Enough by Pastor Mark Copeland.
You need to read that if you haven't read that if.
You hadn't read the Bishop's book?
Actually, I got a copy of it right here, conveniently.
(08:11):
More than enough. More than enough.
Find it on Amazon, it is an outstanding book.
Yes, but he talks about the difference between selfishness
and self-interest in that and people seem to think that you
cannot look at self in any way, shape or form.
If I do anything for me, that's selfish.
(08:34):
Well, there are some things we do for us that is self-interest.
Selfish. So Paul's not telling us to not
think about ourselves at all. Yeah, well, because you know, if
you don't, if you don't take anytime on yourself, then you let
yourself go and you're no good to anybody else.
But it when you become completely self absorbed, right,
(08:58):
There's an issue, right? If you see a man who's who has
no pupils, who has no retina, that means his eyeballs have
turned inward and there's a major problem.
(09:19):
That's an issue. That is a major issue.
All you can see is yourself. You're headed for destruction.
And so our eyes are designed to focus outward, not inward.
And so we can see ourself enoughto to dress ourselves and we
(09:39):
have mirrors to fix our hair andmake ourselves presentable.
But when we if we if we spend all of our time in front of the
mirror, we will render ourselvescompletely ineffective in the
rest of the world. We've got to get outside of
(10:00):
ourselves, not think of ourselves more than we all and
and tend to the things of others.
You know, the most the most effective people in history are
people who who gave themselves for the lives of others, right?
(10:22):
You know, you think about the great missionaries like George
Mueller and the Tecla Marians and I could go on and on and on
with this. But you know, just I think about
even modern day missionaries whotheir, their stories and their
(10:46):
self sacrifice is so inspirational.
People like brother Ryan Thompson in Brazil, who, you
know, left the states as just a teenage boy to go to a, a, a
foreign country to give his life, to bring the gospel to
that nation and what he has allowed God to use him to
(11:10):
accomplish because he wasn't he,he, he wasn't focused on.
I mean, this was a man who had, I mean, he went to a lot of
people don't know this, but he went to basketball camps with
Larry Bird. Wow.
He's an extremely talented ball player and just turned away from
(11:32):
all that and gave his self to tothe Kingdom of God and now has
built quite an organization built over 100 churches because
he was focused on the things of others.
(11:54):
A sober mind remembers that I amblessed.
Yes. I'm not entitled my what I have
is a gift. I'm not entitled to it.
In fact, nothing I have I deserve.
It is a absolute blessing and gift from God that I have
(12:17):
anything that I have. And so let's let's take a a few
minutes here and, and look at Jesus words on this this
subject. Matthew 20 in verse #10 We'll
read a few verses here. He says, But when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more, and
(12:40):
they likewise received every mana penny.
When they had received it, they murmured against the good man of
the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and
thou has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden
of the heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong.
(13:03):
Did you not agree with me for a penny?
Yeah, take what is yours, and gothy way.
I will give unto this last, evenas unto thee.
Yeah. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am
good? Well, so, yeah, this is a
(13:25):
perfect example of spirit of entitlement.
Yeah, Jesus is telling the what we call the parable of the
workers, and he hires some in the morning, some in the middle
of the day, some in the evening,but they all hired on for the
(13:45):
same reward. They agreed the same.
And then the guys that were hired on in the morning and
worked all day, when it came time to pay up, all of a sudden
what they agreed on and, and andagreed was a good price for a
day's wages at the beginning of the day.
(14:05):
Because these guys that didn't work as long as them felt like
they were entitled to more, eventhough it they had, they got
what they agreed to. And the the owner said, look,
(14:26):
are you challenging me? Because I've I've decided to be
generous with my own money. So the issue wasn't injustice.
The issue wasn't that the owner had went back on his agreement.
(14:52):
He didn't gyp anybody. No, no.
The issue was comparison, yes. Comparing one amongst another.
Yeah, and, and a lot of a lot ofthe sense of entitlement comes
when you start comparing yourself.
We start comparing ourselves among ourselves.
Well, I don't have what they have and I don't.
(15:14):
Well, nobody said God was fair, right?
Right. He's not.
A socialist. He's not.
You can't read the parable of the talents and come up with
that idea. You know, we don't.
That is that is one of the things about, you know, church
(15:35):
growth and all. You know, I was just talking to
a pastor friend about that this week.
We don't all start on the same at at the same place.
And Jesus, God is more concernedabout percentages than he is
amounts. And so I, I was, you know, I'm
(16:00):
very thankful for all the growththat God has given us here in
Ocala. But you know, I was telling a
guy that has gone from 5 to 60 in in three years time and I was
like, man, you've grown more than me.
Yeah. It's staggering.
(16:20):
I mean, that's that's over 10X where I went to school, you
know, and you know, God's blessed us to triple or more,
but by percentages, the numbers,the amount might be more, but
(16:41):
the percentages on his side is far outweighs what what has
happened here. And so it's like a woman with
the, with the two mites, Jesus said she gave more than
everybody, not not amounts, but by percentage, because she gave
everything. And so it's a, it's a, it is a
(17:03):
trick of the devil to, to start playing the the comparison game
because then we lose sight of how much God has blessed us.
Right. You know, it's, it's hard to be
grateful when you're focused on everybody else's blessings.
(17:26):
Yeah. It's when you it causes you to
forget that what they have came from the same place that what
you have came from. Yeah, it's not.
It's not mine. Yes.
And it's if we again lose sight of the giver and we just start
to think my hard work has earnedme more than their hard work
(17:47):
has. Yeah, they're doing the same
work as I am, but I work longer so I just deserve more.
Yeah, so, you know, entitlement.Entitlement breeds jealousy.
It it convinces us that someone else's blessings is somehow our
(18:13):
loss. Yeah.
You know, it, it's, it's again, it goes back to the, the
socialist. What is, how do you say it?
The the poverty mentality of if somebody else has, then I can't
have and that is not the way God's Kingdom works.
(18:36):
He, he owns everything. Your blessing doesn't take away
from what I'm able to do your, your favor with God does not
mean that he don't have the sameamount of favor to pour out of
out on me. And so, you know, in, in the
church, we start saying things like, well, I've been, I've been
(18:58):
faithful longer than they have. And look what God's doing for
them. I, I've served harder, you know,
I, I've done more for the church.
I, I deserve recognition for what I've done and these people
are getting recognition. It seems like I'm the Passover
is being observed upon me, you know, but let's let's look at
(19:23):
Jesus said in in Luke 17, Luke 17 and 10.
He says so likewise you, when you shall have done all those
things which are commanded, You say we are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. So we aren't doing God a favor
(19:45):
by obeying him. It's simply our reasonable
service. Romans Romans 12 You know, an
entitlement mentality will get ahold of us if it If it gets a
hold of us, it will cause us to have.
(20:07):
We won't say this, but we'll have an air about us that we're
somehow doing God a favor by coming to church.
We're doing God a favor by serving in the Kingdom.
We're doing God a favor by giving.
We're doing God a favor by whatever it is when it could not
(20:27):
be further from the truth. There's we could not, we could
not do anything in his Kingdom if he didn't give us the ability
to. You know, one chemical imbalance
in my brain and I would be laying here on this floor unable
to take care of myself. It is the gift of God that I'm
(20:48):
able to stand to teach. It's the gift of God that I have
the cognizance of mind to be able to deal with any type of
situation that goes on in the Kingdom, to serve in any
capacity. And so I'm not entitled to this.
God has allowed me and given me the privilege to serve in his
(21:10):
Kingdom in spite of me. And so let's, let's, let's talk
about how how entitlement pampers or hinders personal
(21:34):
growth. When you believe you are owed
something, you cannot grow. You cannot grow with that type
of mentality. So number one is because if you
(21:56):
believe you're owed something, you won't learn, won't push
yourself to better yourself. Entitled people resist
correction. They view feedback as an insult
instead of instruction. Proverbs 16 and 18.
(22:18):
Do you have that verse? I have.
That one, it says pride goes before destruction and a haughty
spirit before the fall. Yeah.
So I'm, I'm, I may, I may not have written it down, but I,
there's a, there's a scripture in Proverbs.
What's the scripture in Proverbsabout a fool resisting
(22:39):
instruction or hating? Instruction.
That one is. There's a few.
Yeah. Fools despise wisdom and
instruction in Proverbs 17. Proverbs 15-A fool despises his
father's instruction. Roverbs 12 Whoso loveth
(23:00):
instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth recruit is
brutish, brutish. Yeah, yeah.
So when we are, when we feel like we're entitled to anything,
to to things, that puts us in a state of mind that that says I
deserve that position without having to go through the
instruction that it takes to give me the character to get
(23:22):
there. Yeah, yeah.
So that is, that is the one way that it hampers your, your
personal growth #2 if you're entitled, you don't, you don't
have any reason to push yourselfto work for anything, right?
2nd Thessalonians 310. Says for even when we were with
(23:46):
you this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither
should he eat. Wow, So this in fly flies in the
face of entitlement programs. Yeah, I I believe that we should
feed those that can't feed themselves, don't have the
(24:06):
ability to all that kind of stuff.
I believe in those kinds of things, feeding the poor, the
needy. But if you have the ability, the
Bible says if you don't work andyou can, you shouldn't be
(24:27):
allowed to eat. Yeah, being hungry does not
entitle you to food. Yes, yes.
Work entitles me to food. Spiritual maturity requires
effort. You know, I, I know that you
(24:48):
could, you could put a sermon together by typing an idea into
AI and say, give me 30 minutes. Well, if you're doing that, you
are just revealing that you feelentitled.
That's. Right to a platform and the
ability to say something. You don't have any right to a
(25:13):
stage, a microphone, or a pulpitthat you hadn't prayed over,
studied over, and had the discipline to get a word from
God because there is no there isshortcuts to getting a sermon
these days. There is no shortcut to getting
the Word from God. Does not have a shortcut.
(25:34):
Entitlement says God should justbless me with fill in the blank.
Growth says Lord, make me faithful.
Give me the ability, give me thewillingness to be faithful in
the long term. If I'll be faithful in few
(25:59):
things, God will make me ruler over many.
If I'll pray in private, he'll reward me openly.
Entitlement. Entitlement mentality flies in
the face of those ideas. It it rejects and resents those
ideas. I shouldn't have to spend any
(26:21):
time in obscurity to get what I want.
Well, Jesus was God on foot and spent 30 years in obscurity and
so and so. Tell me again why you think that
you're entitled to a stage? That's good.
(26:48):
That's good. At 18 years old, when Jesus
didn't have one till he was 30, he had a brief little snippet at
12 and then it's back into obscurity.
It's like Mark Lowry said, good God, God's in the house and
nobody's keeping a journal. But he was giving us an example
(27:13):
that you're not entitled to anything unless you're willing
to put in the time number #3 thething that stops personal
growth. As you stop serving, entitlement
(27:34):
causes you to stop you. You feel, you don't feel the
need that you have to serve to be able to operate in the
Kingdom. That's good.
Philippians 2-3 and four. Says let nothing be done through
strife or Vainglory. Vainglory and glory.
(27:56):
But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look, not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others.
Wow. Well, steam others better than
themselves. When you think everyone exists
(28:19):
to serve you, you'll never know the joy of serving others.
Yes. Man, there is, there is such a
joy that comes when you, when you get the revelation of when
you get the revelation of service to others #4 the way you
(28:47):
stop, the way entitlement stops personal growth is you lose
gratitude. It's impossible to be grateful
when you feel entitled. James 4:00 and 6:00.
Says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he sayeth, God
resisteth the proud, giveth grace unto the humble.
(29:12):
Well, so gratitude fuels joy, fuels our joy, entitlement
drains our joy entitlement, entitlement halts our progress.
(29:38):
It it traps you waiting for whatyou think you're owed instead of
working toward what God has called you to become.
Yeah. Oh yeah, that's good.
So let's, let's bring it a little a little closer to home
(30:02):
here. Entitlement in our everyday life
at work, entitlement will say things like I've been here the
longest, I should get the promotion.
Yet the Bible tells us in Psalm 75 that promotion belongs to the
(30:25):
Lord. Yes.
Yes, in our relationships, we our entitlement, start saying
things like I deserve better treatment from my spouse.
Yeah, but love doesn't keep score.
It serves. This is not a Family Matters
(30:49):
episode, but we'll we'll throw it in there.
But if, if you are, if you are keeping score in your
relationship with your spouse, that is why one of it is, it is
(31:09):
one of the main components of why you're having trouble in
your relationship. We don't give 5050.
It's, it's 100%. And I, I don't, I don't serve my
wife at the level that she serves me.
(31:30):
I serve her with all of my heart, regardless of what comes
in return without keeping score.Men, love your wives as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it.
There's no way that if Jesus treated our relation, his
(31:51):
relationship with the church, the way we treat our
relationship with our spouses sometimes, that we would have a
chance at salvation. Because there's no way that we
can be 5050 with Jesus. No, there's no way.
All we can do is give him everything.
We don't deserve anything. That's the incredible thing is
(32:15):
because God works on percentageseven in that he says you give me
everything and I'll give you everything.
Yeah, even though his everything's a lot more than our
everything more. Yeah, that's awesome.
So yeah, love. Love doesn't keep score it it
serves in ministry. Why don't they pick me?
(32:36):
Why don't they ask me to teach? Why don't they ask me to preach?
The same God that calls you seesyou even if you feel like
pastors don't. That's good.
That's. Good.
You don't have to go to churchesand camp meetings and
(32:57):
conferences and pass out your business cards to get places to
preach. If you will pray and you're
called, doors will open. You know, I, I'm just, I'm a
little bit old school. I don't believe in I, I never, I
(33:17):
never did calendars. I never did schedules, anything
like that. When I evangelize, I prayed and
I never made one phone call. I never asked a pastor to let me
preach for them. God opened every door because
that was my calling. When it came time for me to
(33:40):
pastor, God opened the door and I stepped through it.
If if you feel entitled to it, you'll make a fool out of
yourself by trying to knock doors down, beg for going
around, begging for opportunities instead of
(34:03):
allowing God to bring you through those doors, open those
doors in his time. And there's so much, this is a
this is a great revelation for especially for young preachers
to get is there's so much dignity attached to just letting
God unfold the room. Yes, yes.
(34:23):
You want to lose your dignity real fast.
Just just feel entitled to a pulpit, feel entitled to a
ministry. It it, it's a great way to just
lose all dignity and and become an embarrassment.
(34:43):
So Jesus said in Matthew 23 and 11, Do you have that verse?
Yes, he said. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. Yeah, I guess I should remind us
all at this point that the word minister means servant.
So when you say I want a ministry, that means you want to
(35:05):
serve others. So in every arena in life, we
have got to model grateful stewardship, not entitlement.
Gratitude for every opportunity that God brings into our life
because we don't deserve any of it.
(35:27):
In fact, gratitude is the antidote for entitlement.
Yes. If you want to end entitlement,
be grateful for every situation that you're in.
You need to say often to yourself, Lord, everything I
(35:47):
have, I've received. Yes, yes, I didn't do it.
It wasn't by my power, wasn't bymy might, it was by your spirit,
saith the Lord, that that littleconfession alone silences the
voice of pride that feeds entitlement.
It invites peace and gives contentment in your life.
(36:13):
So when you live with humility, you'll always keep learning,
you'll always keep working, you'll always keep pushing
forward. Because the humble heart is a
teachable heart. Yeah, right.
People who are not entitled are OK with their pastors correction
(36:37):
they're OK with their parents correction, they're OK with any
leaders correction because they.Instead of I didn't deserve that
it's I probably deserved. That yes, I deserved a lot
worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Paul said.
(36:57):
In whatever state I find myself in, I'm content.
Content. I've learned how to be a base
and I've learned how to abound. Well, how do I do that?
I can't do that if I'm entitled.That's right.
That's. Right.
I'm, I am not entitled to anything in life.
(37:23):
I deserve eternal judgment. Yeah, I am a Sinner and all, all
sinners deserve hell. They deserve the grave.
But by the grace of God, I'm saved.
By the grace of God, I'm blessed.
(37:45):
By the grace of God, I am livingan abundant life.
So again, we'll go back to the beginning here and we'll wrap up
with this, but First Corinthiansfour and seven, let let's read
that one more time, First Corinthians 4/7.
Says For who maketh thee to differ from another?
(38:07):
What hast thou that thou did notreceive?
Or now, if thou did receive it, why do you glory as if you had
not received it? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? I don't have anything that I
didn't receive. And so everything I have is by
(38:29):
the grace of God like I mentioned earlier.
And when you when you remember that you'll stop demanding more
and start becoming more musicians come.
Welcome to Church Talk. It's Friday, and today's episode
is entitled Ending Entitlement. So please like, share, comment,
(00:25):
subscribe, do all the things that help us with the
algorithms. Yes, algorithm thingies save.
Me. They do like the likes, the
subscribes. We're on YouTube, we're on Apple
Podcasts, we're on Spotify. So go everywhere and subscribe
on YouTube. We'd love to see subscriptions
(00:45):
there on YouTube. So go ahead and get on there,
comment on our videos, comments on the reels, it'll all help us.
Leave a review on Spotify, ApplePodcasts, Wherever you consume.
Share us on. Instagram.
Please share us on Instagram. Listen your story and we'd love
that. That would be awesome and.
(01:07):
Except where they were making fun of me the other day about
telling the truth. I didn't appreciate that.
Well, I mean, the don't give that to me.
The the first, the first one of the first reels that we
published from this podcast was a video of me touching my
(01:30):
microphone and you clowns clip that and that was the first
thing y'all decided to produce, so I don't.
Know who our creative's team is?You are the creative.
I am but. And then you brought up, you
brought on some help and they they got you back.
They got me back. So what goeth around cometh
(01:56):
around as. They used to say.
Used to say it like that a long time ago.
We've got to get into, we got toget into the content.
So we are talking about entitlement today, and
entitlement is what I would calla quiet killer.
(02:21):
Yeah. It is the killer of gratitude,
it is the killer of humility, and it is the the killer of
personal growth. But not just personal growth.
It it it can affect churches, itcan affect families, it can
(02:44):
affect you in your workplace. So knowing that entitlement is
devastating to every area of life, we need to have an
understanding of what it is and how to combat the spirit of
(03:08):
entitlement. Entitlement is the belief that
I'm owed something simply because of who I am or how long
I've been here or what I've done.
But in God's Kingdom, the groundis level at the foot of the
(03:31):
cross, yes. That's good.
And so there there is no, there is no entitlement in the no room
for entitlement in God's Kingdom.
So let's let's look at some. I'd hate to bring the Bible into
this, but let's let's look at First Corinthians 4 in chapter,
(03:54):
chapter 4 and verse #7. Says For Who maketh thee to
differ from another? And what hast thou thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why does thou glory as if thou has not received it well?
So everything we have, our gifts, yeah, our talents, our
(04:19):
breath, our opportunities, they are received things.
They are things that we have received either from someone
before us or someone above us. They're either something that we
receive from someone we are close to or from our God.
(04:45):
And still in knowing that everything that we have, knowing
that I cannot take one breath onmy own, that my talents are not,
they do not belong to me. They were given to me.
Knowing all of this, pride stillsomehow tends to whisper in our
(05:12):
ears, You've earned it, you deserve it.
And so that's how that's how entitlement begins When we
forget entitlement begins when we forget the giver.
Oh, that's good. That's good.
(05:34):
When we forget who the giver is,we start demanding gifts.
That's why he would say every good and perfect gift.
Comes from a from. Above from the Father of Lights.
In whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning. So we we compare, we complain
(05:55):
and eventually we believe God owes us something or people owe
us something because we forget who gave us everything we have
in the 1st place. That's.
Good. So really, entitlement is just
pride wearing a different a different suit.
(06:19):
It's that's really the root of it, a pride.
Pride is masquerading as entitlement, as as a feeling of
self aggrandizement or self deserving.
(06:41):
And pride separates us both fromGod and from people.
Yeah, it does. So, Romans 12 and 3.
Let's look at this verse real quick.
So Romans 12/3 as Paul says, ForI say through the grace given
unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of
(07:04):
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly, according as God has dealt ever to every man, the
measure of faith. So Paul's not saying to have no
interest mention, right, not to think of yourself at all, but to
(07:24):
find out through prayer, throughthe wisdom of God, through the
word of God, how to strike the balance of taking interest in
yourself but not allowing it to go beyond the point of.
(07:45):
Right. Yeah.
Pride and arrogance. And I think a great, you know,
way of talking about this, I wasreading a book this week called
More Than Enough by Pastor Mark Copeland.
You need to read that if you haven't read that if.
You hadn't read the Bishop's book?
Actually, I got a copy of it right here, conveniently.
(08:11):
More than enough. More than enough.
Find it on Amazon, it is an outstanding book.
Yes, but he talks about the difference between selfishness
and self-interest in that and people seem to think that you
cannot look at self in any way, shape or form.
If I do anything for me, that's selfish.
(08:34):
Well, there are some things we do for us that is self-interest.
Selfish. So Paul's not telling us to not
think about ourselves at all. Yeah, well, because you know, if
you don't, if you don't take anytime on yourself, then you let
yourself go and you're no good to anybody else.
But it when you become completely self absorbed, right,
(08:58):
There's an issue, right? If you see a man who's who has
no pupils, who has no retina, that means his eyeballs have
turned inward and there's a major problem.
(09:19):
That's an issue. That is a major issue.
All you can see is yourself. You're headed for destruction.
And so our eyes are designed to focus outward, not inward.
And so we can see ourself enoughto to dress ourselves and we
(09:39):
have mirrors to fix our hair andmake ourselves presentable.
But when we if we if we spend all of our time in front of the
mirror, we will render ourselvescompletely ineffective in the
rest of the world. We've got to get outside of
(10:00):
ourselves, not think of ourselves more than we all and
and tend to the things of others.
You know, the most the most effective people in history are
people who who gave themselves for the lives of others, right?
(10:22):
You know, you think about the great missionaries like George
Mueller and the Tecla Marians and I could go on and on and on
with this. But you know, just I think about
even modern day missionaries whotheir, their stories and their
(10:46):
self sacrifice is so inspirational.
People like brother Ryan Thompson in Brazil, who, you
know, left the states as just a teenage boy to go to a, a, a
foreign country to give his life, to bring the gospel to
that nation and what he has allowed God to use him to
(11:10):
accomplish because he wasn't he,he, he wasn't focused on.
I mean, this was a man who had, I mean, he went to a lot of
people don't know this, but he went to basketball camps with
Larry Bird. Wow.
He's an extremely talented ball player and just turned away from
(11:32):
all that and gave his self to tothe Kingdom of God and now has
built quite an organization built over 100 churches because
he was focused on the things of others.
(11:54):
A sober mind remembers that I amblessed.
Yes. I'm not entitled my what I have
is a gift. I'm not entitled to it.
In fact, nothing I have I deserve.
It is a absolute blessing and gift from God that I have
(12:17):
anything that I have. And so let's let's take a a few
minutes here and, and look at Jesus words on this this
subject. Matthew 20 in verse #10 We'll
read a few verses here. He says, But when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more, and
(12:40):
they likewise received every mana penny.
When they had received it, they murmured against the good man of
the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and
thou has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden
of the heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong.
(13:03):
Did you not agree with me for a penny?
Yeah, take what is yours, and gothy way.
I will give unto this last, evenas unto thee.
Yeah. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am
good? Well, so, yeah, this is a
(13:25):
perfect example of spirit of entitlement.
Yeah, Jesus is telling the what we call the parable of the
workers, and he hires some in the morning, some in the middle
of the day, some in the evening,but they all hired on for the
(13:45):
same reward. They agreed the same.
And then the guys that were hired on in the morning and
worked all day, when it came time to pay up, all of a sudden
what they agreed on and, and andagreed was a good price for a
day's wages at the beginning of the day.
(14:05):
Because these guys that didn't work as long as them felt like
they were entitled to more, eventhough it they had, they got
what they agreed to. And the the owner said, look,
(14:26):
are you challenging me? Because I've I've decided to be
generous with my own money. So the issue wasn't injustice.
The issue wasn't that the owner had went back on his agreement.
(14:52):
He didn't gyp anybody. No, no.
The issue was comparison, yes. Comparing one amongst another.
Yeah, and, and a lot of a lot ofthe sense of entitlement comes
when you start comparing yourself.
We start comparing ourselves among ourselves.
Well, I don't have what they have and I don't.
(15:14):
Well, nobody said God was fair, right?
Right. He's not.
A socialist. He's not.
You can't read the parable of the talents and come up with
that idea. You know, we don't.
That is that is one of the things about, you know, church
(15:35):
growth and all. You know, I was just talking to
a pastor friend about that this week.
We don't all start on the same at at the same place.
And Jesus, God is more concernedabout percentages than he is
amounts. And so I, I was, you know, I'm
(16:00):
very thankful for all the growththat God has given us here in
Ocala. But you know, I was telling a
guy that has gone from 5 to 60 in in three years time and I was
like, man, you've grown more than me.
Yeah. It's staggering.
(16:20):
I mean, that's that's over 10X where I went to school, you
know, and you know, God's blessed us to triple or more,
but by percentages, the numbers,the amount might be more, but
(16:41):
the percentages on his side is far outweighs what what has
happened here. And so it's like a woman with
the, with the two mites, Jesus said she gave more than
everybody, not not amounts, but by percentage, because she gave
everything. And so it's a, it's a, it is a
(17:03):
trick of the devil to, to start playing the the comparison game
because then we lose sight of how much God has blessed us.
Right. You know, it's, it's hard to be
grateful when you're focused on everybody else's blessings.
(17:26):
Yeah. It's when you it causes you to
forget that what they have came from the same place that what
you have came from. Yeah, it's not.
It's not mine. Yes.
And it's if we again lose sight of the giver and we just start
to think my hard work has earnedme more than their hard work
(17:47):
has. Yeah, they're doing the same
work as I am, but I work longer so I just deserve more.
Yeah, so, you know, entitlement.Entitlement breeds jealousy.
It it convinces us that someone else's blessings is somehow our
(18:13):
loss. Yeah.
You know, it, it's, it's again, it goes back to the, the
socialist. What is, how do you say it?
The the poverty mentality of if somebody else has, then I can't
have and that is not the way God's Kingdom works.
(18:36):
He, he owns everything. Your blessing doesn't take away
from what I'm able to do your, your favor with God does not
mean that he don't have the sameamount of favor to pour out of
out on me. And so, you know, in, in the
church, we start saying things like, well, I've been, I've been
(18:58):
faithful longer than they have. And look what God's doing for
them. I, I've served harder, you know,
I, I've done more for the church.
I, I deserve recognition for what I've done and these people
are getting recognition. It seems like I'm the Passover
is being observed upon me, you know, but let's let's look at
(19:23):
Jesus said in in Luke 17, Luke 17 and 10.
He says so likewise you, when you shall have done all those
things which are commanded, You say we are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. So we aren't doing God a favor
(19:45):
by obeying him. It's simply our reasonable
service. Romans Romans 12 You know, an
entitlement mentality will get ahold of us if it If it gets a
hold of us, it will cause us to have.
(20:07):
We won't say this, but we'll have an air about us that we're
somehow doing God a favor by coming to church.
We're doing God a favor by serving in the Kingdom.
We're doing God a favor by giving.
We're doing God a favor by whatever it is when it could not
(20:27):
be further from the truth. There's we could not, we could
not do anything in his Kingdom if he didn't give us the ability
to. You know, one chemical imbalance
in my brain and I would be laying here on this floor unable
to take care of myself. It is the gift of God that I'm
(20:48):
able to stand to teach. It's the gift of God that I have
the cognizance of mind to be able to deal with any type of
situation that goes on in the Kingdom, to serve in any
capacity. And so I'm not entitled to this.
God has allowed me and given me the privilege to serve in his
(21:10):
Kingdom in spite of me. And so let's, let's, let's talk
about how how entitlement pampers or hinders personal
(21:34):
growth. When you believe you are owed
something, you cannot grow. You cannot grow with that type
of mentality. So number one is because if you
(21:56):
believe you're owed something, you won't learn, won't push
yourself to better yourself. Entitled people resist
correction. They view feedback as an insult
instead of instruction. Proverbs 16 and 18.
(22:18):
Do you have that verse? I have.
That one, it says pride goes before destruction and a haughty
spirit before the fall. Yeah.
So I'm, I'm, I may, I may not have written it down, but I,
there's a, there's a scripture in Proverbs.
What's the scripture in Proverbsabout a fool resisting
(22:39):
instruction or hating? Instruction.
That one is. There's a few.
Yeah. Fools despise wisdom and
instruction in Proverbs 17. Proverbs 15-A fool despises his
father's instruction. Roverbs 12 Whoso loveth
(23:00):
instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth recruit is
brutish, brutish. Yeah, yeah.
So when we are, when we feel like we're entitled to anything,
to to things, that puts us in a state of mind that that says I
deserve that position without having to go through the
instruction that it takes to give me the character to get
(23:22):
there. Yeah, yeah.
So that is, that is the one way that it hampers your, your
personal growth #2 if you're entitled, you don't, you don't
have any reason to push yourselfto work for anything, right?
2nd Thessalonians 310. Says for even when we were with
(23:46):
you this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither
should he eat. Wow, So this in fly flies in the
face of entitlement programs. Yeah, I I believe that we should
feed those that can't feed themselves, don't have the
(24:06):
ability to all that kind of stuff.
I believe in those kinds of things, feeding the poor, the
needy. But if you have the ability, the
Bible says if you don't work andyou can, you shouldn't be
(24:27):
allowed to eat. Yeah, being hungry does not
entitle you to food. Yes, yes.
Work entitles me to food. Spiritual maturity requires
effort. You know, I, I know that you
(24:48):
could, you could put a sermon together by typing an idea into
AI and say, give me 30 minutes. Well, if you're doing that, you
are just revealing that you feelentitled.
That's. Right to a platform and the
ability to say something. You don't have any right to a
(25:13):
stage, a microphone, or a pulpitthat you hadn't prayed over,
studied over, and had the discipline to get a word from
God because there is no there isshortcuts to getting a sermon
these days. There is no shortcut to getting
the Word from God. Does not have a shortcut.
(25:34):
Entitlement says God should justbless me with fill in the blank.
Growth says Lord, make me faithful.
Give me the ability, give me thewillingness to be faithful in
the long term. If I'll be faithful in few
(25:59):
things, God will make me ruler over many.
If I'll pray in private, he'll reward me openly.
Entitlement. Entitlement mentality flies in
the face of those ideas. It it rejects and resents those
ideas. I shouldn't have to spend any
(26:21):
time in obscurity to get what I want.
Well, Jesus was God on foot and spent 30 years in obscurity and
so and so. Tell me again why you think that
you're entitled to a stage? That's good.
(26:48):
That's good. At 18 years old, when Jesus
didn't have one till he was 30, he had a brief little snippet at
12 and then it's back into obscurity.
It's like Mark Lowry said, good God, God's in the house and
nobody's keeping a journal. But he was giving us an example
(27:13):
that you're not entitled to anything unless you're willing
to put in the time number #3 thething that stops personal
growth. As you stop serving, entitlement
(27:34):
causes you to stop you. You feel, you don't feel the
need that you have to serve to be able to operate in the
Kingdom. That's good.
Philippians 2-3 and four. Says let nothing be done through
strife or Vainglory. Vainglory and glory.
(27:56):
But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look, not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others.
Wow. Well, steam others better than
themselves. When you think everyone exists
(28:19):
to serve you, you'll never know the joy of serving others.
Yes. Man, there is, there is such a
joy that comes when you, when you get the revelation of when
you get the revelation of service to others #4 the way you
(28:47):
stop, the way entitlement stops personal growth is you lose
gratitude. It's impossible to be grateful
when you feel entitled. James 4:00 and 6:00.
Says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he sayeth, God
resisteth the proud, giveth grace unto the humble.
(29:12):
Well, so gratitude fuels joy, fuels our joy, entitlement
drains our joy entitlement, entitlement halts our progress.
(29:38):
It it traps you waiting for whatyou think you're owed instead of
working toward what God has called you to become.
Yeah. Oh yeah, that's good.
So let's, let's bring it a little a little closer to home
(30:02):
here. Entitlement in our everyday life
at work, entitlement will say things like I've been here the
longest, I should get the promotion.
Yet the Bible tells us in Psalm 75 that promotion belongs to the
(30:25):
Lord. Yes.
Yes, in our relationships, we our entitlement, start saying
things like I deserve better treatment from my spouse.
Yeah, but love doesn't keep score.
It serves. This is not a Family Matters
(30:49):
episode, but we'll we'll throw it in there.
But if, if you are, if you are keeping score in your
relationship with your spouse, that is why one of it is, it is
(31:09):
one of the main components of why you're having trouble in
your relationship. We don't give 5050.
It's, it's 100%. And I, I don't, I don't serve my
wife at the level that she serves me.
(31:30):
I serve her with all of my heart, regardless of what comes
in return without keeping score.Men, love your wives as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it.
There's no way that if Jesus treated our relation, his
(31:51):
relationship with the church, the way we treat our
relationship with our spouses sometimes, that we would have a
chance at salvation. Because there's no way that we
can be 5050 with Jesus. No, there's no way.
All we can do is give him everything.
We don't deserve anything. That's the incredible thing is
(32:15):
because God works on percentageseven in that he says you give me
everything and I'll give you everything.
Yeah, even though his everything's a lot more than our
everything more. Yeah, that's awesome.
So yeah, love. Love doesn't keep score it it
serves in ministry. Why don't they pick me?
(32:36):
Why don't they ask me to teach? Why don't they ask me to preach?
The same God that calls you seesyou even if you feel like
pastors don't. That's good.
That's. Good.
You don't have to go to churchesand camp meetings and
(32:57):
conferences and pass out your business cards to get places to
preach. If you will pray and you're
called, doors will open. You know, I, I'm just, I'm a
little bit old school. I don't believe in I, I never, I
(33:17):
never did calendars. I never did schedules, anything
like that. When I evangelize, I prayed and
I never made one phone call. I never asked a pastor to let me
preach for them. God opened every door because
that was my calling. When it came time for me to
(33:40):
pastor, God opened the door and I stepped through it.
If if you feel entitled to it, you'll make a fool out of
yourself by trying to knock doors down, beg for going
around, begging for opportunities instead of
(34:03):
allowing God to bring you through those doors, open those
doors in his time. And there's so much, this is a
this is a great revelation for especially for young preachers
to get is there's so much dignity attached to just letting
God unfold the room. Yes, yes.
(34:23):
You want to lose your dignity real fast.
Just just feel entitled to a pulpit, feel entitled to a
ministry. It it, it's a great way to just
lose all dignity and and become an embarrassment.
(34:43):
So Jesus said in Matthew 23 and 11, Do you have that verse?
Yes, he said. But he that is greatest among
you shall be your servant. Yeah, I guess I should remind us
all at this point that the word minister means servant.
So when you say I want a ministry, that means you want to
(35:05):
serve others. So in every arena in life, we
have got to model grateful stewardship, not entitlement.
Gratitude for every opportunity that God brings into our life
because we don't deserve any of it.
(35:27):
In fact, gratitude is the antidote for entitlement.
Yes. If you want to end entitlement,
be grateful for every situation that you're in.
You need to say often to yourself, Lord, everything I
(35:47):
have, I've received. Yes, yes, I didn't do it.
It wasn't by my power, wasn't bymy might, it was by your spirit,
saith the Lord, that that littleconfession alone silences the
voice of pride that feeds entitlement.
It invites peace and gives contentment in your life.
(36:13):
So when you live with humility, you'll always keep learning,
you'll always keep working, you'll always keep pushing
forward. Because the humble heart is a
teachable heart. Yeah, right.
People who are not entitled are OK with their pastors correction
(36:37):
they're OK with their parents correction, they're OK with any
leaders correction because they.Instead of I didn't deserve that
it's I probably deserved. That yes, I deserved a lot
worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Paul said.
(36:57):
In whatever state I find myself in, I'm content.
Content. I've learned how to be a base
and I've learned how to abound. Well, how do I do that?
I can't do that if I'm entitled.That's right.
That's. Right.
I'm, I am not entitled to anything in life.
(37:23):
I deserve eternal judgment. Yeah, I am a Sinner and all, all
sinners deserve hell. They deserve the grave.
But by the grace of God, I'm saved.
By the grace of God, I'm blessed.
(37:45):
By the grace of God, I am livingan abundant life.
So again, we'll go back to the beginning here and we'll wrap up
with this, but First Corinthiansfour and seven, let let's read
that one more time, First Corinthians 4/7.
Says For who maketh thee to differ from another?
(38:07):
What hast thou that thou did notreceive?
Or now, if thou did receive it, why do you glory as if you had
not received it? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? I don't have anything that I
didn't receive. And so everything I have is by
(38:29):
the grace of God like I mentioned earlier.
And when you when you remember that you'll stop demanding more
and start becoming more musicians come.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.