In Matthew 26, we're going to talk about something for all those that know that they have a call into the ministry in some shape, way, form or fashion.

So this morning I would like for you to open up your spiritual ears. Open them up wide and listen. And don't just let this be a Word that's spoken to you on this Sunday, but during your ministry, take this Word with you everywhere you go.

In the Book of Matthew, chapter 26, beginning with verse 19.

They said, and the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them. And they made ready for Passover.

Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, He said, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."

Listen with your spiritual ears today.

And they were exceeding sorrowful and began everyone of them to say unto Him, "Lord, is it I?" And He answered and said, "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

The Son of Man goeth, as it is written of Him. But woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man, if he had not been born.

Then Judas, which betrayed Him answered and said, "Master, is it I?"

He said unto him, "Thou hast said."

The title of this message is, "Master, is it I?"

Let us pray.

Most holy and gracious heavenly Father, we thank You for this Word today. We thank You, Lord God, that You sent Your Word forth to accomplish everything that You sent it forth to accomplish. And You said it would not return unto You void.

Father, let this Word fall on good ground today. That Your people would hear this Word and that it would take root. And Father, that it would bear fruit within us.

Hide Your servant behind the cross. We thank You that deception is bound today and only the Spirit of Truth can operate. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, Father, be acceptable in Thy sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. In Jesus Name.

Master, is it I?

When we study Judas, nothing is known of his early life. (You've got to listen to this Word today.) He may have joined the disciples of Jesus from just pure motives. But his hopes of a high place in an, about an earthly kingdom were diminished because, according to the Word of God in John 6:64, Jesus was never deceived by him.

And in John 6, verse 71 the Bible said that Jesus knew already who would betray Him.

When we begin to look at Judas, many people began to cringe on the inside. Judas was one of the twelve, glory to God, that's rarely talked about because nobody wants to admit, glory to God, the spirit (Glory to God) that's on the inside of them.

When we study Judas, Judas had a root problem. And let me tell you what it was. He desired to be rewarded for every service that he rendered. (Look at your neighbor and say, "Compensation.") he wanted to be compensated by everything that he said. He wanted to be compensated for everything that he did. He wanted to be compensated for those three long years that he walked with Jesus.

His character was flawed. His thinking and his attitude was all wrong. And his thinking and his attitude caused him to sell Jesus out to the enemy. (We're talking about, 'Master, is it I?'" Lift up your hands to Jesus today.

That's the name of this message today. Take it everywhere you go. Let's get into the mind of (Jesus) of Judas. (I'm sorry.) You see, a lot of times we don't understand why people act a certain way. But you have got to get into their mind. If you get into their mind, then you would understand the attitudes that they have. (Oh, you don't hear me today.)

A lot fo you don't understand why people act a certain way. You don't, (Glory to God) you have not gotten into their thinking. You have not gotten into their mind. When we look at Judas, when we get into his mind, this is what he was probably saying. "I have forsaken my business. I have sacrificed my opportunities. I've turned down positions and possessions for three years by following this Jesus of Nazareth day and night.

And now (Glory to God) I am under the impression that He won't fulfill my dreams."

You need to hear this today. You are not in the Body of Christ and you are not in the ministry that your dreams be fulfilled. (I need to say that again. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost up in here today.) We are not in the Body of Christ, and we are not in the ministry so that our selfish dreams can be fulfilled. We are here, (Glory to God) that we might tell a dying world that there is a Saviour and His Name is Jesus.

We're still in Judas' mind. And he's pondering these things in his heart. And he is saying to himself, "You know. I thought following Jesus would bring me position. And based on what He said, I thought it would bring me power. And the most thing that I really wanted was prestige. But I was all wrong. What in the world does Jesus mean that I must die that I might live?

He began to build a case. That's what Judas does. He built a case for his actions. (Listen.) He built a case, so that when he goes to do what he does, he can be justified in his own mind. It looked to Judas like Jesus had misled him. So he began to calculate in his mind. (He was the treasurer, you know. So he had to know a little bit about math.)

So he said to himself. "Three years should equal at least thirty pieces of silver." And that's what he betrayed Jesus for.

He built a case. I don't know where you are in your mind, but we're not talking about you. We're talking about Judas. So don't get quiet on me now.

Satan's first step in developing the Judas spirit in people is to convince them that the leadership that they have been serving and have been held accountable to are not living up to the promises that they have made them. (Oh, the Holy Ghost is talking today.)

They've got their eyes on the leadership instead of keeping their eyes on God. The Bible says, "Look to the hills from whence cometh your help. Your help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth."

They think about their personal prophecies and the prophecies that were made to the church, or the ministry as a group. And most of the time their interpretation of what has been said, and not only their interpretation, but their application is all screwed up.

Master, is it I?

This Word may not apply to you because you might not, you know, care any one way or the other. But you need to hear this today, and you need to get this tape today. I guarantee you. This thinking allows for self-justification for betraying friendships and selling out our friends and our mentors to the enemy for personal gain. Self deception, it convinces them that leadership is no longer beneficial, and leadership is no longer understanding.

Judas build a case. See, Judas couldn't do anything until he built the case. People don't react until they have something that they seem to have to be able to react to. Pride and a self exalted sense of self importance.

Let's look at Lucifer. The Bible said, "Oh Lucifer, son of the morning...." He had a ministry up in heaven. But pride came in the way, and it caused him to pull away from the One that was in authority.

In Proverbs 21, verse 2 it says, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts."

The Judas spirit also starts in a seed form with the feeling that we must be rewarded immediately for every service rendered, and given recognition or a higher position for time and money spent. It's the "God owes me something" revelation.

We're trying to stomp the devil out today.

God owes us nothing. "What is man that Thou art mindful of him? What is man that Thou wouldst visit him?" He owes us nothing. If He didn't one more thing for you, He owes you nothing.

But Judas is upset because of three years that were spent following Jesus. Many of us have been following Jesus longer than that. So we've been upset for longer than three years. (Don't get fidgety because we ain't hanging ourselves. We're going to get our heart right. That's what we're going to do.)

He pondered that he deserved better. And that's the problem a lot of times in the Body of Christ. We have been positioned and we have been brainwashed over and over and over and over and over... again. That if I don't have it, then something must be wrong with me.

There is nothing wrong with you. There is a time and a purpose and a season under the sun for everything. It just might not be your season yet.

If we don't allow leadership to correct this flaw, then we will hang ourselves just like Judas hung himself on a tree. We'll wind up hanging ourselves.

The Bible said that Judas betrayed Judas with a kiss. He told the enemy, "It's the One to whom I come and I kiss." Judas is upset when someone else gets anointed. When Jesus was anointed by that woman who came and anointed His feet, the Bible said Judas got upset about it. He said, "Don't you know we could have sold that and made some money off of it?"

Judas doesn't want you to be anointed. Judas wants you to shrivel up and die. "Master, is it I?" Jesus did not demand that the Father promote Him. Instead, according to Philippians 2:7, He made Himself of no reputation.

In Matthew 26 and verse 53, He could have called for an angelic host to come and aid Him. But instead He rather laid out His life for the brethren. No greater love than this, than a man laying down his life for his friends.

There is no greater love than that. In John, 12:24, it said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." We must die to self ambition, self promotion, self interest. Everything that deals with self, we must die to it.

There is a saying that they used to say, that children need to be seen, not heard. Too many times we're too busy trying to be seen, when Jesus is trying to be heard. (Oh, we're talking now.)

It's not one of those sermons that would make you jump up and shout hallelujah. But it's an inventory sermon. That's what it is. We can talk about John. We can talk about Matthew. We can talk about Luke. We can talk about Peter. We can talk about all of them, but nobody wants to talk about Judas.

Selfishness is the root problem of ninety-nine percent of all unscriptural attitudes and actions. Self-centeredness gives power to 1. John 2:16. "The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life..."

If we do not allow death to self to take place, we are destined eventually to sell out to our relationship to Jesus just like Judas did. Die to self. Die to self. Die to what you think. Die to pride and self worth.

It would seem as though Jesus was on a path to self-destruction, the way He was constantly slapped and spit, and kicked and beat. But He died that He might live.

Some of us don't want anything about their ministry, anything about correction, because we're so full of pride. You're on your way to hang yourself. Sometimes we have to lay the axe to the root and not just prune the branches. We've got to get rid of the root.

He's a battle-axe. Isn't he? Sometimes we've got break up that root and lay more seed and start all over again.

When we look at Peter, it seems as though he was on the same path that Judas was on. He left his fishing business. Didn't he? He left his family. Didn't he? All to follow Jesus. And then when Jesus was being taken, Glory to God, he even was a group of people. And a woman said, "That's one of them that were with Him."

Started cussing. "You've got to be out of your mind. I wasn't with (Judas), I mean Jesus." But then he repented and realized that he's....

... accusation against an elder. When you have people that are in leadership, except the Lord reveal it unto you.

I'm not talking about sister so-and-so that knows everything about everybody. I'm not talking about Brother so-and-so that, Glory to God, is judging everything and everybody and waiting to say, "I knew it. I told you so." I'm not talking about them.

But when the Holy Ghost reveals something to you, if you are a mature Christian, it won't part your lips. It will go straight to the Throne and be prayed about.

You remember David and Saul? Even though Saul was trying to kill him, (Not just persecute him, kill him) he said, "I will not touch the Lord's anointed." He said, "I won't touch him." He had a chance to dash him through with the sword, but he said, "I won't touch him."

"Master, is it I?"

This Word was spoken today not because I wanted to speak it, but because the Lord told me to speak it. I was still battling with this Word this morning in the bathroom as I was getting dressed. And the Lord said, "I gave you this Word, now speak it, because Judas has been trying to creep up."

Judas got his own agenda. (You don't hear me.) Judas got his own vision and Judas got his own dream. And Judas was to be exalted. And Judas wanted somebody to know his name.

(Judas doesn't have to be a he? Does he?) Because it's a spirit. If you've got a little Judas in you, tell Judas to get out of you. If you don't know how to be loyal to anything or anybody, then you've got Judas in you. Judas wasn't loyal, but his own cause.

Oh, I need to say that all over again. He was with Jesus, but he wasn't with Jesus. Jesus called him a part of the twelve. He even sat down at the Passover to eat with Him. And the whole while Judas walked with Jesus, Jesus didn't treat him any different than He treated the twelve. (Oh, you don't hear me today.) Because He knew Judas would hang himself. He knew it. He already knew it.

After he did what he did, the Bible said that he tried to repent about it. But he was too late. You see, if you set up your own motive, you set up your own agenda, you've really got your own vision. You still get the gift, you'll still get the anointing, but you'll also get enough rope to hang yourself.

"Master, is it I?"

Give God a handclap of praise today.