"Don't sweat the crowd"

We have been given something that has been the catalyst for many levels of insecurities, many levels of frustration and many levels of comparison, it is an evil we have all taken part of and some of us find it hard to put it in its proper place, it’s called social media and now we have a view into the lives of others, we have a front row seat into the lives of the rich and famous, we have a view into the lives of the anomalies who achieve things we never will but because they make it look desirable and easy we try to step outside of our assignment to chase after a lifestyle not realizing you only have grace to complete YOUR assignment, tell somebody go after your own assignment, and because of this social media age we have found ourselves dealing with a heightened pursuit of validation, validation is the act of accepting after evaluating something true value, we must be careful with trying to be validated, I understand everyone wants to be like but to be validated can cost you more than you can afford to pay. We will drop our morals to be validated, we will change our hair to be validated, we will buy a certain car just to be validated, we will live above our means just to be validated, we will miss out on divine connections thinking our validation comes from a certain group of people, we will disregard the warnings of our leaders just to be validated, we will stay at a ministry too long in hopes of some day feeling validated, we will stay in a relationship too long because the validation is worth the abuse, we will lose ourselves to gain the approval of others and what they are validated isn’t even the real you, but you have recreated yourself to look like what they want you to look like, and nothing is worse than being validated based off of a lie.

Human validation requires compromise...

The Golden Calf

The Children of Israel are getting impatient because Moses has been on the mount talking to God and Aaron is left in charge of course, and because we were created to worship but worship must be connected or directed at an object, they demand Aaron to created to created Gods that they can worship, and because Aaron dealt with the insecurities of being the mouth piece and no the mouth itself, he used the pressure and need of the people to do something thinking it would bring him validation but it only lead to the death of the people he was leading. He says bring me all of your gold jewelry and he makes a Golden Calf out of the gold and the Children of Israel say “this is your God, O Israel that has brought you out of the land of Egypt, So there need for worship has been sufficed and now they have been driven into orgies, drinking and partying and when Moses comes down from the presence of God and sees what is going on and he drops the original Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, and he tells Moses step aside because I’m ready to destroy all of the but Moses pleads with God and saves the people for a moment but we now get to point 2 which is

Human validation is temporary

Moses confronts Aaron and in the moment he should have been a leader and took responsibility for what just happened his validation was spoiled by confrontation and now he blames the people, you must be careful when you sell yourself for the sake of validation that you are bold enough to handle to consequences of your compromise, you started smoking. You started dressing like that to get validation. And not that the validation has come we gotta work with you at the altar every week to get the smell of Saturday off you, you started entertaining certain things and now we have to pray you through to get you back t the place you were with God and that’s what we are here for but if i can help you eliminate some of your heart ache I have to tell you that your search for human validation has become your biggest hindrance in life and if you don’t learn how to validate yourself and receive God’s validation you will always find yourself giving out 100 percent only to receive 30 percent in return on a good day. It’s like going to the hospital and getting your parking ticket and the only way you can leave the garage is. If your ticket is validated and that where some of us have found ourselves dealing with individuals who make us believe we can never get out of a situation unless they approve, we cant walk into our purpose unless we meet their requirements but unfortunately before you try to disqualify me God has already qualified me and before the enemy tries to put his two cents tell him devil its too late, this was established before i took my first breath so i can’t nothing about it, tell your neighbor its established!

And this is why we must be careful that we don't seek human validation because point 3 is

Human Validation breeds unrealistic expectations

Samuel goes to the house of Jesse to anoint the next King of Israel and he already has set in his mind what this King should look, he was expecting a strong and handsome man that he can anoint but somehow none of his expectations were met because he has to ask for David who looks nothing like a King based on their expectations. Your may not have the look they want, the voice they want, the style they want or the cologne they like but one thing is for sure I may not be your choice but the oil won’t be released until i get in place and this why you must make sure you don’t peoples expectation keep you in the field when you have been anointed for the palace tell somebody don’t sweat them. This is where our text slips in because through out the years the Jewish people have been under attack some self-afflicted and some God ordained but they have been in constant warfare but one thing that has kept them throughout the years is the promise that a young virgin shall bring forth a son and he shall be the Messiah the anointed one who will bring deliverance to the people of God and this is what they have been telling each other through the years that no matter how bad their circumstance, the messiah is coming, no matter what kind of warfare they find themselves in the messiah is coming, no matter how long the famine lasts I'm ok because sooner or later the messiah is coming and thats why your warfare can’t take you out because when the enemy comes in to invade your life, like a flood God will step in your warfare and fight for you, tell somebody he fights for me, stand still and see God fighting for you, you don't have to worry the attack because vengeance is mine says the Lord, He tells Jehoshaphat all you have to do is praise me and ill handle your enemy, all you have to do is praise me and ill take care of your problem, I don’t all your business and you may be dealing with an issue right now so can we take 10 seconds and open your mouth how tell God how great he is, don't tell him about your problem tell your problem about him.

So in the midst of their constant trouble they believe this Messiah is coming and he is going to lead out an all out revolt against the powers that be and so when this is why when Jesus comes in riding on this donkey who was found himself just sitting waiting to be validated only to realize the reason he wasn’t validated by those who should have seen his value he was really being preserved for the time in which God would need him, and this is what I’m trying to get to you that man’s validation exalts you with a price, but the scripture says if you want real validation IT IS GOD that can take one down and set up another, so he’s riding through the and the people come to him and they are shouting HOSANNA which means God help AND save, in other words don’t just stop the trouble but take me out of the cycle, and some of us should be praying that God doesn’t just help us in our times our trouble but also get me out of the cycle, i can handle life better if I didn’t keep going back through the same cycles over and over, somebody should HELP, now shout SAVE. This is why we must be relentless with our praise because you have no idea what your praise is saving you from, the in Lukes account the Pharisees come to God and say tell your disciples to be quiet and he tells them you don’t want me to do that because if they don’t praise me the rocks are going to cry out, now I know we like good churchy saying but I make sure I know what I’m saying and this scripture is not saying either God will get praise but its a reference to Habakkuk 2 where he speaking of the destruction of the city and the rocks crying out is really a sign that walls are coming down and destruction has begun and the reason why you ought to praise God is because if you close your mouth Hosanna can’t save you, and the deliverance you’ve been desiring won’t come to you, tell somebody keep a praise on your lips, a closed mouth is a defeated life but an open mouth is a victorious life, tell your neighbor keep ya mouth open, and your hands raised. Somebody shout HOSANNA!!!

They go before Pilate, now they are saying ‘crucify him’ but the reason he still carried out the assignment is because he knew who he was before the cried Hosanna and crucify him, so if you don’t sweat the crowd you won’t be phased when they switch up on you, dont get distracted by the crowd or you’ll miss out on your original assignment.