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Dive into Philippians chapter 2 with Ashley and Carlie in part 4 of The Keys to Living Happy. In this teaching you will learn life-lessons on esteeming others higher than yourself.

Transcription

Announcer: Why live a normal life when you could be living the abundant life? Welcome to the Abundant Life Program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.

Ashley: Hello, and welcome to Abundant Life. We’re so glad you joined us. My name is Ashley Terradez, and this is my awesome wife, Carlie. Say hello.

Carlie: Hello.

Ashley: We’re so glad you joined us in [inaudible]. We’ve got a great show for you today. We’ve got a great program lined up, praise God. We were in the middle of Philippians. We’re actually looking at some life lessons in Philippians. And this is going to help you live the abundant life. So these are just real life tips on how to live the abundant life, praise God. And we’ve already looked at three verses from Philippians chapter one. And now we’re in Philippians chapter two, praise God. And today we’re going to be looking at esteeming others more highly, praise God. This is a great lesson. I’m so glad you joined us. And then if you want to see the other lessons, we did three already, so this is lesson number four-

Carlie: This is four.

Ashley: … in this series-

Carlie: Series.

Ashley: … praise God. So before we do that though I have to tell you some housekeeping real quickly. You can get our website, it’s Terradezministries.com, terradez.com. We’d love you to go there. If you go there, you can get a copy of Carlie’s confession card, free of charge. We will send this to you, praise God. Just go there, it’s right in the home screen. This confession card will show you who you are in Christ, all the verses about who you are in Christ. This is powerful, praise God. So we’d really encourage you go there. Check that out, check our website out. There’s all sorts of things there. You can contact us through the website. You can also find out where we’re going to be traveling. There’s an events page there. You can click on there and see where we’re going to be traveling, and things like that.

Carlie: Yep, lots of good on there.

Ashley: Praise God. Lots of good stuff. So the verse today is … have you got your Bibles? It’s Philippians chapter two, verse three. And Philippians chapter two verse three says, it says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” In verse four it says, “Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” So this is a great lesson. At face value you think, “Oh no, what’s this? You’re talking about just like not thinking about my own needs and all this.” This is the way, one of the keys to live the abundant life. It’s amazing. Jesus talks about those who find their life, lose it, but those who lose their life, lose their life for the sake of the gospel to actually find it. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today, praise God.

Carlie: Amen. And Jesus is our example. It says he’s the greatest leader-

Ashley: Amen.

Carlie: … but yet he’s the servant of all. He came to serve. The first will be last, the last shall be first. So this is about esteeming others more highly than ourselves. But what does that really mean?

Ashley: I’ll you it’s powerful, because you know what? It takes faith to do this. And it really does take faith to be able to esteem others higher than yourself. Because the world, here’s the thing. A lot of the world’s ways of doing things, or the flesh way of doing things, are opposite to the gospel, opposite the kingdom of God.

Carlie: They seem backwards to the natural world.

Ashley: It’s complete opposite. It’s backward. In Colossians 1:13, I believe, it says he was translated from the kingdom of darkness, and now you’ve been translated to the kingdom of light, to the kingdom of the son of his love, I believe it says in one translation. So that means you’ve been translated. You’re in a different kingdom now. And in this new kingdom, in God’s kingdom, things work differently, praise God. Things work opposite in the world’s way of doing things.

Some examples. If you want to get ahead financially, you know what the world would say? Just get all the money you can and keep hold of it and save it. My friend says, what is it? “Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can.” But the kingdom of God works opposite. Proverbs 11:24 says, “As one who gives, he increases more.” If you have an enemy, the kingdom of God says, “You know what? Love your enemy.” If you have someone who wrongs you, the kingdom of God says, “Forgive them.” If you want to be first, the kingdom of God says, “Be last.” If you want to be the leader of all, be the servant of all. And that’s what we’re going to be looking at today. Esteeming others more highly than yourself is the key to real contentment, and it’s the key to living the abundant life.

Carlie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). And that’s challenging to our flesh, isn’t it?

Ashley: Amen. It’s a flesh burner. We call it a flesh burner.

Carlie: Especially in a world that says you got to progress up the ladder of success. Promotion, you got to work hard. And then based on your work and your efforts, you’re going to be promoted. Where in the scripture it says it’s the Lord that promotes. Sometimes that might mean letting opportunities pass us by because we’re putting somebody else ahead of ourselves.

Ashley: Amen. That’s true. And you know what? It’s like I said, it takes faith to do that. You have to really believe that promotion comes from the Lord. It doesn’t come from the east or the west, north or the south. Promotion comes from the Lord, praise God. And he knows exactly where you’re at and he will promote you. And the greatest example of this is Jesus. As Carlie said, Jesus was the greatest servant. He put other people’s needs ahead of his own. Just the fact that you came down to Earth and actually was born on earth, limited himself to a human’s body, and lived out on Earth, showed you that he was esteeming others more highly than himself, praise God. And its powerful. So when we esteem others more highly than ourselves, I’ll tell you, it can be amazing. It can be a flesh burner though, as Carlie said.

You know what? Your flesh is not going to want to do this. Your flesh, remember you are spirit, soul, and flesh. You are a spirit. The real you is a spirit. If you’re born again today, the real you is a spirit. You are one spirit of the lord and you are a spirit. And then you possess a soul. You have a mind, will, and emotions. You possess a soul. And you live in a flesh. And it should be in that order. You should let your spirit reign. And then your mind, will, and emotions, your soul. And then your flesh should follow. Unfortunately, sometimes we listen to our flesh and we let our flesh lead. And let me tell you, your flesh is selfish. Your flesh is like a toddler, it’s like a two year old toddler. Your flesh wants its own way. Your flesh wants to be fed when it wants to be fed, it wants to do what he wants to do. It wants to act [inaudible]. You know what it’s like to let your flesh lead. I’ve been there. There’s been times where I’ve let my flesh lead.

Carlie: No.

Ashley: Yes. Shockingly enough.

Carlie: Shocked, I’m shocked.

Ashley: And my flesh is pretty ugly. I get mad quickly. I get … What’d you call it? Hangry.

Carlie: Hangry. Hungry and angry. It’s a bad combination.

Ashley: When I’m hungry and angry. You know what? It can make you hangry. And if you let your flesh lead, I’m telling you, your flesh does not want to put other people first. Your flesh is selfish by nature, and it will always want to put you first. But let me tell you, if you’re all wrapped up in yourself, you make a very small package. When you are really just all about you and you’re putting your own needs first, I’m telling you what. It is not a good way to live. In fact, that’s the way to live a miserable life. And that’s why people who … sometimes people have all this so-called fame and riches and everything else, but they’re sorry. In fact, some people end up to the point of committing suicide and stuff, even though on the world’s terms they had everything. They had all these things and they’ve all this stuff, but it’s because they were all wrapped up in themselves, they were putting their own needs first beyond our people.

And then you have some people who are so content and so happy, and all they do is serve other people. And this is the word of God in action, praise God. There are some people out there that serve other people and they are happy. And I’m telling you what, it’s amazing. So we take mission trips. We’ve been privileged enough to lead quite a lot of mission trips. And on mission trips this is where a lot of this type of stuff comes out.

Carlie: Yeah, mission trips are a flesh burner. When you take people out of their comfort zones and you put them in foreign soil, out of their routine, man, all of the flesh rises to the top. It’s amazing, when people are under a little bit of pressure, a little bit of discomfort, what happens. And I have to say, us from living in the Western culture, we are babies.

Ashley: Call the wambulance.

Carlie: We are grown up babies when it comes to these things.

Ashley: Call the wambulance.

Carlie: We just, “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re in a different country, you can’t get the cuisine that you’re used to. Or maybe on the airplane you had someone sitting next to you that took up a little extra space and you weren’t quite comfortable enough. Or you didn’t quite get to do things the way you wanted to do.” I mean the airplane, I mean goodness’ sake, if you ever see flesh it’s going to be in an airport. When people travel, oh my goodness.

Ashley: They get, “I’ve got my rights. I need to know this, that, and the other.” Yeah, people get really … I mean, they can get seriously fleshy.

Carlie: Believers getting bent out of shape is ugly.

Ashley: Yeah, even believers.

Carlie: Even believers.

Ashley: It’s amazing. I remember taking a flight one time with a good friend of mine. He’s very tall, larger guy. And there was three seats on this airplane, and the person in the aisle seat was also a taller, larger guy. And then there’s me. And I was thinking, “I do not want to sit in that middle seat and be squashed between my friend and this other guy.” I won’t say who it was, but this friend and the other guy. And you know what? He jumped in that middle seat, and he took that middle seat, my friend did. And I realized, you know what? He was esteeming me and the other guy higher than himself. I was like, “Wow, that’s amazing,” how he was my senior. He was my boss at the time actually, and then he chose to sit in that middle seat and give me more space on the outside seat. And I thought things like that really spoke to me. I was like, “Wow, this guy is esteeming other people. He’s a servant. Even though he’s a leader, he’s serving.” And so many times [crosstalk].

Carlie: So even though he might’ve been tired and hungry and just wanted to get home, that wasn’t an excuse to throw that scripture out the window.

Ashley: That’s right.

Carlie: And I think sometimes we’re a little bit guilty of that. Well, we kind of reason. We justify our bad behavior. But you know what? If we want to live a life that mirrors Christ, if we want to love people like Jesus loved people, man, there is no exception to the rule, to the scriptures. These apply to us despite how we might feel about them. And that’s really where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? Where we start challenging ourselves like, “Are we really mirroring Christ in our actions? Are we really putting other people before us without coming up with all the excuses?” “Well, I deserve it. I’m justified. Well, I was hungry. Well, I was angry.” Whatever it is, “Well, I’m tired, therefore I’m justified in being a little bit snippy with people.”

Ashley: Right. And I’ve seen Christian potlucks and things like that. You got to be careful. I mean, it can violent.

Carlie: The fight over the last meatball.

Ashley: It can be violent. I’ve seen Christians trying to do a shared lunch or something. And before you know it they get like … it gets pretty nasty out there. People pushing out the way [crosstalk].

Carlie: They’re bringing shares where’s there’s more eating than sharing.

Ashley: They’re bringing shares. It’s more like taking. Yeah. It’s more like taking and having than bringing and sharing. But anyway, that’s what can happen. But you know what? We are called to serve. We are called to put other people first. And that really is a true sign of leadership, servant leadership. Jesus did it. He was the greatest servant and the greatest leader. In fact, this is a John 13 verse 12 I want to read you here. This is a great account of Jesus serving other people and putting other people, esteeming others more highly than themselves. This is John chapter 13 verse 12. It says, “So when he had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I’ve done for you?'” So this is the account where Jesus actually washed the disciples’ feet. He actually knelt down at their feet and washed their feet. They wore sandals in them days.

Carlie: It would’ve been cheesy.

Ashley: Jesus creepers, we used to call them. The sandals [crosstalk].

Carlie: They would’ve been nasty, gnarly looking toes. They didn’t have a pedicure.

Ashley: I had a pair of those sandals that I used to wear all summer.

Carlie: Aw, they smelled so bad you had to keep them outside. They weren’t allowed in the house. I mean, they were on the back doorstep, seriously. They were not coming in the house.

Ashley: Bad sandals, yeah. So anyway. These disciples, they traveled a lot, and they had dirty feet. And Jesus chose to get on his hands and knees and wash their feet, praise God, with water. And it shows [inaudible]. And he says here in verse 14, he says, “Do you not know what I’ve done for you?” Verse 13 says, “You call me teacher and Lord, and you say well, for I am. If then your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I’ve done for you.” No, this isn’t necessarily talking about literally washing people’s feet. Nowadays we don’t usually need to wash our feet, other than like in the shower and stuff, because we don’t wear open sandals and all this type of thing. And some people take this literally, like, “I’ve got to wash everyone’s feet.” I’ve seen symbolic things done like that. That’s fine.

But what Jesus is saying here, he is saying we need to serve each other, even in the worst [inaudible]. We need to serve each other. And we need to put each other ahead of our own needs. We need to esteem others more highly than ourselves. And that’s what Jesus is saying here.

Carlie: Yeah. And it’s interesting because it’s not based on whether that person deserves it or not. I mean, someone needs to hear this. Us being called to serve others is not based on somebody else’s behavior. And so sometimes I think we find ourselves justifying, “Well, they didn’t deserve it. Well, they didn’t deserve to be treated like a first class passenger. They didn’t deserve the extra special treatment.” The fact is, we should all be treating others like they’re VIPs. Regardless. I believe that’s the heart of Jesus. And also, if we’re called to be leaders and examples to the world around us, we shouldn’t be asking people to do something for us that we wouldn’t be prepared to do for them. I mean, Jesus washed somebody’s feet, and he was setting an example for the rest of the people around him, of serving. Serving means sometimes getting your hands dirty.

Ashley: Right. Actually helping out. Yeah.

Carlie: Yeah. Coming down to do something that’s technically beneath you.

Ashley: Right. Amen.

Carlie: That’s humility.

Ashley: And there’s opportunities everywhere. You can ask God, he will show you opportunities. There’s opportunities. It might be a family member. It might be your kids, it might be your parents, it might be a friend, it might be a work colleague or someone you know, it might be a neighbor. It might be a stranger on the street. God will show you. It can be as simple as giving up your seat when you’re on a bus. It could be as simple as letting someone else in line. Now here’s the thing, we’re not talking about being walked over. People get confused here and they think, “Well, if I serve people, people are just going to walk over me. I’m going to give up my rights and anything else.” We’re not talking about that. In fact, I say this sometimes. I say I love to serve until people treat me like a servant. And then when people actually start treating you like a servant, you know what? That’s when the things change.

You know what? You don’t have to give up your rights and be manipulated. In fact, you shouldn’t be manipulated into serving. There’re some people in situations where it could even be family members or friends, and they’re making them feel guilty, and there’s the codependency going on there and things like that. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about you serving them as Jesus. We’re talking about you coming to them and serving them with the right heart and the right attitude. And you know what? If there’s manipulation there and they’re trying to get something from you, then you can say no. We’re not saying you’re a doormat. You not meant to be doormats. Jesus was not a doormat. There was times when Jesus said no. There was times when Jesus came against, especially the religious people, the Pharisees and things like that, he came against them.

But I’ll tell you what, when there’s a chance to genuinely serve people, to genuinely put other people first, then take that opportunity because it is a key to living the Christian life. It’s a key to living the abundant life. And it’s amazing what happens. It takes faith. But it’s amazing. When you serve other people and you put other people first, it’s amazing. The world would say you have to push everyone down, trample on everyone to get to the top. In the kingdom of God it’s the opposite. You get underneath people and lift them up, and you help other people get promotions. You help other people do a good job. You serve other people. I’ll telling you what. You’re the one who’s going to come out on top, because God’s [inaudible] promote you and make you that.

I’ve seen this happen in my own life. We’ve seen this happen. This works. This is the word of God in action. It works. A great example of this is Joseph. Now this is in Genesis 40. I love the story of Joseph. You know what? His whole story is so cool. Rags to riches, to riches to rags. I just love it. The thing is with Joseph was, he really knew God was with him. He understood his relationship with God. He understood who he was in God, praise God. And everywhere he went, it didn’t matter if it was down a pit, didn’t matter whether it was at Potiphar’s house, it didn’t matter where he was. Everywhere he was, he rose to the top, because of his attitude. Your attitude will determine your altitude. And I’m telling you what, if you have a good attitude, if you serve God wherever you are and don’t make excuses, I’m telling you, God will make you rise to the top. God will get you to where you need to go, praise God.

And who would have thought that Joseph would go from prison to the palace and be the second most powerful man in the world overnight, basically? So here in Genesis 40, this is Genesis chapter 40 verse four. Joseph’s put in prison. It says here, “The captain of the guard, the captain of the prison, charged Joseph with them. And Joseph served them; so they were in his custody for a while.” So Joseph went to prison. And the prison guard, if you like, the head of the prison, saw how God was with Joseph, and he gave him all over the prison. He made him like a leader in the prison. And Joseph served the prisoners. He didn’t have to serve the prisoners, but Joseph served the prisoners.

Carlie: And it’s worth noticing that Joseph didn’t deserve to be in prison. He wasn’t there, he was there under false accusation. There was nothing that he did that made him deserve to be there. And yet he still had a good attitude. That’s really crucial.

Ashley: Yep. So many times, if something happens to us and we think it’s unfair, or I’ve been there where things have happened, and you know what? I’ve been through all sorts of situations where it’s not fair, it wasn’t right. And you know what? We can easily get woe is me. Or this isn’t fair, this isn’t right. You know what?

Carlie: Meditating on the injustice.

Ashley: Meditate on the injustice. You know what? You need to let that go. You know what? You need to be positive wherever you are. God can get you wherever you need to go, wherever you are. As long as you’re putting him first. As long as you know what? You’re not gravitating towards the negative and just woe is me. You’re not going to get anywhere if you just keep rehearsing the bad, and say, “This was wrong, that was wrong. I was unfairly treated.” And some people, you know what? This is a tough word, but you know what? Have I become your enemy because I speak the truth? You know what? God loves you, and he loves you too much to leave you where you’re at.

If you’re the type of person who is sat there today and thinking, “Well, it’s because of my parents, it’s because of the town I grew up in, it’s because of my boss, it’s because of my education, it’s because of my school teachers, it’s because of whatever,” and you’re making excuses. And you’re basically saying, “I can’t get where I need to go.” Or, “God can’t use me as much as He wants because all these things,” they’re excuses. Let the past go. And I think we’re going to cover this in a future lesson where it’s let’s forget about the past. Paul talks about forgetting about the past. Press forwards towards the prize, praise God. Let them things go, praise God. Don’t use an excuse. You can serve people around you. There’s opportunities for you to serve. But a little bit off track. But basically, Joseph had a good attitude.

Carlie: He did.

Ashley: Even when he went to prison unrightfully. He didn’t deserve it. He was in prison, this is Genesis 40 verse six. It says here, “And Joseph came to them.” Said, “Joseph came to the prisoners.” We’re in Genesis 40 verse six. “Joseph came to the prisoners.” And it says here, “in the morning he looked at them, and saw that they were sad.” So first of all Joseph took the time to go to the prisoners and look to them. He didn’t just throw them their food or whatever he was doing and that’s it. He looked them and he noticed they were sad. So the prisoners under Joseph’s watch were happy, first of all, because he noticed they were sad today. Usually they weren’t sad.

Carlie: That was unusual.

Ashley: That was unusual. He looked at them and they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh’s officers who was with him in the custody of the Lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?” Joseph served these prisoners, praise God. He served these prisoners. And just like he served in Potiphar’s house, he served these prisoners. And guess what happened? He got to serve Pharaoh and become the second most influential man in the world, or the prime minister to the biggest kingdom in the world at the time. And so often people say, “Well, how come this person’s got here?” Or, “How come’s this person got to do that?” It because they gave, they served first.

Carlie: When no one was looking, usually.

Ashley: Amen. I’m telling you, this is powerful. This is powerful. For instance, if you don’t know what to do in ministry, if you haven’t got a clear direction from God, find someone else and serve them. Serve at your local church, serve wherever you can, serve in another man’s ministry. Jesus talks about [inaudible] with another man’s, who’s going to give you our own? So when you serve someone else, genuinely serve them. You’re not serving them to get ahead. You’re not serving them basically because, “I’m going to serve you so that next year I can have my own ministry.” No, we’re talking about genuinely serving them. Genuinely going out and actually helping them fulfill their vision. That’s powerful.

Carlie: Right. This is being a cheerful giver.

Ashley: Amen. It’s powerful [crosstalk].

Carlie: Giving of your time, of your passions, of your energies.

Ashley: Amen. It’s powerful when you do that. So go out and serve, praise God, serve people. Put other people ahead of your own needs. Praise God. And you’ll be satisfied. I’m telling you. This is one way you get … That’s why people who are the great servants are often the most contented people, praise God. And the people that … Paul, he was in prison, enchained in prison with Silas. And he was singing, so happy. The chains fell off. He didn’t even leave. He was just like having a great time in prison, because he was putting other people first. He said, “You know what? I really want to just go home to be with Jesus. But because the churches have need of me, because these people have need of me, I’m going to stay around and suffer some of these things because I know I’ve got a purpose on Earth.”

You know what? Paul chose to serve the people around. Even though he was an apostle he chose to serve the people around him, praise God. And you know what? It’s important when you do that. And you know what? Like I said earlier, you’re not doing it out of trying to get ahead, you’re doing it because you’re genuinely trying to serve these people. And the way you do it, you do it in faith. It takes faith to serve people. As Carlie said, they might not deserve it. But imagine this, this is one way I do it. Imagine you’re serving Jesus. If that person was Jesus stood in front of you, you would serve them no questions asked. You wouldn’t worry about a thank you.

If someone doesn’t thank you. I’ve seen this as well, this has happened to me. I’ve helped someone and I’ve served them. It could be something small. I let them in in traffic, in the line of traffic. Now I’m going to slow my vehicle down and let you in. I’m going to serve you, put you ahead, put your needs ahead of mine. And they don’t say thank you.

Carlie: Then you get mad.

Ashley: I get mad. How dare they? I let them in.

Carlie: Because I was doing a nice deed-

Ashley: In traffic merging.

Carlie: … and they didn’t appreciate it.

Ashley: Didn’t even say thank you. It was terrible.

Carlie: You know what? If you’re really loving someone, you don’t need their approval.

Ashley: Sometimes in England we’re so polite we let somebody in in traffic, and they say thank you with a little wave. And then we say thank you back for saying thank you.

Carlie: The double flash.

Ashley: So basically I’m thanking them for thanking me.

Carlie: For thanking you. Yeah.

Ashley: So anyway.

Carlie: But what happens if they don’t thank you?

Ashley: Then you can get offended.

Carlie: Then you get offended.

Ashley: So that’s what happens. When you serve people, whatever it is, and they don’t thank you or they don’t seem appreciative, don’t be afraid. You’re serving Jesus. Look at it like you’re serving Jesus. This is a faith deal. Because if you try and do this in the flesh, your flesh is going to get offended very quickly. “Well, they’re not treating me right. And this, that, and the other.” You know what? Just give up your rights. You know what? Just imagine yourself a servant of the Lord. In fact, Paul uses the language of slave, a bond servant, a slave of Jesus. If you imagine yourself a servant of Jesus.

Now, the good news is Jesus looks at you as a precious, beloved son. So Jesus looks at you like you’re his beloved son. He loves you. You’re his precious son. And then if we relate to Jesus as a servant and we serve Jesus, you know what? It’s the best of both worlds. It’s a bit like a marriage relationship. Ideally the husband should be taking care of the wife’s needs, serving the wife 100%. That’s his focus. And the wife would be serving her husbands needs 100%. And then praise God, that makes for a good marriage. And serving each other really is a great key to great relationships.

Carlie: And you know what? When you see somebody serving, you’re really seeing a reflection of their relationship with the Lord. I think we had this scripture last time, but it’s in Matthew. It says, “Love the Lord your God with basically everything that’s in you. With all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. And then love your neighbor as you love yourself.” So here we’re talking in esteeming others more highly than yourselves, we talk about loving your neighbor as yourself, loving them first. And we do that out of our relationship with first loving Jesus. In first Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter, it describes love like this, “Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, it’s not puffed up. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own, its own interests. It is not provoked. It thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in inequity, in other words in sin, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.”

If we want to be walking in everything that the Lord has for us, we’re talking about people that are walking in love, that love that never fails. And part of that is talking about our attitude, our attitude towards others. How are we interacting with them? Are we always wanting the best for people? Are we always thinking the best of people? Are we assuming the best of people? This is really important. When we start looking for what is right in others, rather than fault-finding and nitpicking, we’ll find actually that brings a lot more peace to our soul. In Proverbs 10:12 it says that love covers a multitude of sin. This is so important, even just in a marriage relationship, right? If all we did was find fault with one another, we would not be able to look out and esteem each other more highly than ourselves. Because our motivation would not be one that’s of love. It says love does not behave rudely. Love is not puffed up. It is not envy. It is not rude or self seeking.

Ashley: In the Amplified that same verse in the Amplified says, “Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person.” I love that. Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person. And we need to be ever ready to believe the best of every person. [crosstalk].

Carlie: I believe that’s how the Lord sees us. He sees the potential in us, not necessarily what we’re doing wrong. He’s not nitpicking with us and looking and trying to trip us up and trying to find out, “Well you didn’t do that perfectly or do didn’t quite do that right.” He’s always looking at us with eyes of love that says, “You know what? Yes, you can do this.” Love covers a multitude of sin. It doesn’t ignore the fact that somebody is messed up. It’s not saying that we’re just going to sweep it under the carpet, but it’s saying it’s not focusing on those things. It’s focusing on what is good, what is true, what is noble, what is right.

Ashley: Amen. This is Philippians chapter two verse five. Paul’s speaking again here about Jesus. And the greatest role model we’re talking about. Jesus is servant leader. Jesus esteemed others higher than himself, praise God. All the way through his ministry he did that. And this is a Philippians two, I’ll end with this, Philippians two verse five, says, “Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus.” Paul [inaudible] and said, “This is the type of mind we need. This is the type of thinking we need to have. This is the type of philosophy we need to have.” “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself,” this is verse seven, this is Jesus, “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in lightness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself to obedience and even become obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross.”

“Therefore God exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and Earth.” Do you know what? Jesus humbled himself, took on the form of a bondservant, served the people, served mankind, praise God. That’s amazing. You think about that. That’s our role model. That’s how we need to be thinking. We need to be thinking, “You know what? I’ve come to serve mankind.” Doesn’t matter if you’re in ministry. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a business. How’s your business serving people? If you’re a parent, how are you serving your kids? Whatever you do at work, how are you serving your boss? How are you serving your work colleagues? How are you serving your customers? If you start having this attitude, I’m telling you, the abundant life will start flowing out of you, praise God. Because when you put other people’s needs first, God will put your needs higher on his priorities, praise God.

And I can tell you, every time I’ve exercised this and served other people, praise God, it’s worked out to our advantage. And our needs have been met even better than they could have been met if we looked at them first, praise God.

Carlie: That’s right.

Ashley: So esteem other higher than yourself, take on this mind like Jesus did, praise God, and put others first. And you know what? Ultimately, when you do that, you’re putting God first. And it’s amazing what God can do. God can take care of your needs better than you can take care of your needs. So praise God.

Carlie: Amen.

Ashley: Amen. Isn’t that neat? We’re out of time. I’m going to pray for you before we go.

Praise God. Lord, I thank you for everyone watching this program, everyone listening to this program. And I thank you, Lord, that we’ve got a great role model. And I thank you Jesus. You came down and served us. Praise God. I thank you. You came down and you put our needs ahead of your own. And you gave your life for us, and now you’ve risen again Lord. I thank we can live this out, we can put other people’s needs ahead of us. And I thank you, Lord, you’ve given us the faith to serve people in genuineness, in love, and we can show your love to the world by serving them. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you Lord. Isn’t that neat? Praise God. God’s so good. Well, praise God. We’re so glad you joined us. And until next time, we look forward to the next show. But remember, why live a normal life when you can live the abundant life?

Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching, visit our website, terradez.com.

Carlie: So I’ve got something really fun to show you. This is our confession card. And actually, God downloaded this whole confession card to me after I had an argument with my husband, which I’m sure you’d never do because you’re way more spiritual than I am. But basically I got to moaning and complaining, whining and griping, having my own little pity party, and the Lord said, “Get out a notepad, because I want to tell you how I feel about you.” And so in those few moments he downloaded to me how he thought about me, every good thing that he’d put on the inside of me. And as I started to write those down I realized, “Hang on a second. Every one of these truths is a scripture.” So I wrote them down and I put them in this confession card. And we’ve just made this available for you today. If you would like one you can get your very own copy. Just visit terradez.com and put in your details and we’ll send you one completely free today. So get your copy. Don’t miss out. I know it’s really going to bless you.

Announcer: Coming up next on the Abundant Life Program.

Carlie: Eventually I think we can come to a place where we can look back on our past memories. We haven’t forgotten them, but we’re not looking back with the same level of pain. There may be we’ll have a memory, a recollection of them, but they won’t have the same pain and anguish associated with them that they once did.