Keion Henderson - The True or False Test

The name of this message is a true or false test. What God is trying to find out is whether you have true humility or false humility. Daniel was a prophet, and he was in danger. He thought, «Man, if I tell this king what this dream means, he’s going to cut my head off,» but he was genuine. He thought, «I would rather have my head cut off than not show up as the prophet that I am.» You are not ready for all that God has for you until you are willing to lose all you have in order to gain all that He has for you. Can I tell you something? You will never have your future and your past at the same time. You will lose one and gain the other, or you will keep one and never see the other. Light and darkness—you all remember that word? Light and darkness cannot operate together; they cannot dwell in the same place. You cannot be who you’re going to be and who you were at the same time. Yes, sir, everybody say, «Be humble.» This boy was so arrogant. Watch what happens: he goes from living in the palace, having everything he wants; the Bible says he went from eating filet mignon to eating grass. Can you imagine? See, and I know this to be true. It’s one thing to be poor and never have anything, but let me tell you something: to get something and then have to go back—y’all don’t want to keep it real in here today. This isn’t for everybody; I know some of y’all either had parents who were trust fund babies—God bless you, I wish I were one, but I ain’t. Let me tell you something: there’s nothing like having nothing, then getting something, and then having to go back to nothing. Let me tell you, that kind of backward movement will make you contemplate doing things you said you would never do. Who am I talking to in here today? That king, who used to have a table for 80, is now on the ground eating grass—all because he was proud. Pride comes before the fall. Most people are not aware that they possess a deformed form of humility called false humility. What is false humility? It is when you appear humble outwardly while concealing pride inwardly. What is false humility? It is downplaying achievements and minimizing your value with the hidden agenda of receiving validation through constant displays of sadness, which causes people to feel sorry for you. Let me help you—anybody ever met someone who always has something wrong? «Everything’s always wrong, and they didn’t treat me right,» and «I just had a good time,» and here you are wanting to make sure that you hold their ego up and don’t let it fall. They say, «If I don’t have you in my life, I’m going to kill myself.» No, they’re not. Anyone who tells you they will kill themselves isn’t going to do it. The people who genuinely do are quiet about it. I’m not being funny because this is serious; the majority of people who make threats go away. I think that suicide prevention must be taken seriously; we ought to pay attention to the signs. The problem with most of us is that we’re too arrogant to see someone who is down because we are always trying to be up. This boy is eating grass. False humility is when you act humble to gain attention. Can I read a scripture for you? Colossians 2:8-18 says that some people put on a show of humility by displaying false modesty as a way of gaining control. So, some people pretend to be humble to control the situation—that’s called false humility. Are you listening to me? Do you have time for one more? The only thing this whole church is crazy about—it isn’t just me; y’all can say what you want, but it’s all of us. The only thing you have to do in this season is stay grounded, stay genuine. Are you ready for this last one? Listen, stay guarded! Whoa, whoa, whoa—not the guard you think I’m talking about. Come on, because I just hit a buzzword for some of y’all. Yep, he’s right! No, no, no! Everybody is always looking for a word to validate their opinion. You heard the pastor; he said, «Be guarded!» That’s why I don’t answer my sister’s call? That ain’t what I’m talking about. You know what you need to guard? Your mouth! Your heart is already guarded; that’s why you can’t find anybody. I ain’t talking about that; I’m talking about your mouth. You already have the heart part together. You’re asking God to bless you with a husband, but your heart is so guarded they can’t reach it. You already got that part. See, that’s why I’ve got to preach this stuff. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So, your anticipation tells me what you think. Now, one person say, «Guard your mouth.» Your heart will get you in trouble; your mouth did! Well, I said it; it’s out there now. So, if you’re mad at me, I can’t take it back. Everybody say, «Guard your mouth!» Watch what happens! Twelve months later, this dude is walking around; he has lost his kingdom, and he’s eating grass. I’ve eaten enough grass in my lifetime to know it doesn’t taste good. Y’all didn’t play outside like we did; see, all y’all know is buffalo wings! But some of us grew up where we had to go outside and we actually wore the knees out of our pants.