I Have All I Need

Title: "I Have All I Need | Pastor Joel Mason (Sunday Service)" URL: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZ68eq6ZSQ" Transcript: "(00:00) Okay. That just proves, see, I just wanted to show you I'm not insensitive to to those who are Well, I was going to say not like me. The thing is, I am more an introvert than an extrovert. Most of you won't believe that, but that is true. Um but uh I also have to perform as an extrovert, so that's what I do. Um Okay, and those are online today. (00:24) Thank you for joining us. Glad that you are here and part of what God is doing through this church family. And I I'm just going to say Kevin, to you you told me you were going to be here this morning. Uh buddy, I'm telling you. Okay, so as you're watching in the dugout I'm glad you're online. All right. Um I just had to say that one of my one of my friends from the gym try to uh you guys many of you know Kevin, but um he told me that he's very busy as a softball coach and Sundays become difficult now at this time of the (00:58) year. But he told me that last week they're watching in the dugout and he wanted me to know that they're watching. Um so anyway, that's that's what that was about. I just have to give him a bad time. So All right, let's get down to the to the good stuff here this morning. So uh in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 4 it says this. (01:16) Humility is the fear of the Lord. Its wages are riches and honor and life. I've Some of you have told me you're looking for a tattoo you want to get. Start with that verse. Um and I'm I'm joking. I I'm not telling you to go get a tattoo, but uh the words in that we sometimes will read through Proverbs the way it's written. (01:40) It's it's uh proverbial statements and it's things that are uh truth that needs to apply to our lives and it's condensed truth. And this is one of those examples when it says that humility is the fear of the Lord. So it gives us a definition for humility and then it tells us the results of humility. (01:57) Wages uh its wages are riches and honor and life. How many want that? See, I think if we're smart we listen. And what does it tell us is the source? It's humility. And that's where we're going to go today. We've been in this in our series here uh life unlocked for 35 weeks. Long time. We've covered a lot of stuff. And we're actually got one more week to go. (02:23) But this is the final uh chapter in that book. If you've been following along, this is the final uh foundational in a in a way. If you want to know this is way how it's been built, we're getting down now to the very end of all this. I hope you if you haven't listened for 34 weeks that on this 35th week you'll listen. (02:41) Um this is probably in many ways something I have personally learned and if somebody wants to grow in their relationship with God, listen up today because this is the foundation. This is what God says. This is where he says it all starts. You can try and and all kinds of ways to approach God. It starts here with humility. (03:07) And I'm going to explain that today, what humility looks like, and I want to push us a little bit into self-examination. Are we humble? See, I think we often >> [clears throat] >> we associate humility with pride. Makes sense, right? I mean kind of the opposite, so we see each other. But I don't think we understand pride well enough to do it to as a result truly become those who are humble before God. (03:36) And so that's where I want to start with that first phrase, humility is the fear of the Lord. I told you guys a while ago and I've mentioned it a couple of times. I made uh in fact I can even tell you exactly when and where this this took place. Um I was reading a book called The Myth of Certainty. Um you can go read it if you want to. (03:57) You'll probably go that book was kind of weird. But it would has a good intent and it has a very good uh premise and it talks about I don't need to go into a whole lot on that. It just it talks about sometimes the things we think are certain really aren't as certain as we think they are. (04:14) And but in the midst of that what struck me and I know this wasn't really the author's intent, but what struck me came out of that was the problem that we often struggle with when it comes to understanding certainty is the struggle we have with pride. And that pride is not and this is where we make the mistake. Pride is not arrogance. (04:35) Arrogance is a byproduct of pride. And so we often will associate and say, well, man, they're they're proud person because of their arrogant. Pride shows itself in a lot of other ways as well and that's where it trips us up. We can identify arrogance easily and we don't like anybody that's arrogant. But we don't worry about it in ourselves. (04:55) But it goes deeper than that and that's why when when uh we're told here in this proverb that humility is the fear of the Lord it is uh the concept there with fear is this idea of seeing myself in light of who I really am because of who God is. And so it's living with a reverence before God that I don't become overconfident in who I am, what I can do, what abilities that I have. (05:26) All right? So I mentioned I was reading the book Myth of Certainty. And it's that struck me about this idea and this concept of humility. And I started to look at my own life and going am I a prideful person? And I mentioned a couple weeks ago I felt that I identified some areas in my life where pride was showing itself. (05:43) Not I don't believe I was an arrogant person, maybe somebody else would say that. It [snorts] was a confidence in the things that I felt I could do. I was good at certain things. I was good at several things and I could do those things and I could accomplish much with my life and I could be able to go and and and survive in this world and I knew who I I was. (06:07) The problem with that is it's easy to begin to it's sometimes very subtle to begin to think that my confidence starts first with me and then goes back to God. And that in my confidence I can bring something to God rather than surrendering myself to him and allow him to accomplish what he wants. And that's exactly what the fear of the Lord talks about. (06:29) How do you see life? Is it yours to grab, hold onto, manipulate, and gain the most from because of who you are and what you can do? Or is life a gift from God and you surrender who he has made you, how he has gifted you to his presence in your life for him to accomplish what as the Bible says will bring him glory. You see, it's a choice. (06:52) Every one of us can make that choice. We do make that choice and often times we don't even realize we're making it. And so I could in fact I hope you are reading that last chapter in the Believe book. He does a great job just pulling that's what I've liked about this book and why we've used it as our outline is he draws out scriptural perspective on humility. (07:15) But it's and we're going to look at a couple of the passages today that he I think mentions in there as well. And it's easy for us to read these passages on humility or on pride even, but to miss the the root of pride in our own lives and the lack of humility. And I want to push us to see and be honest with ourselves. (07:34) So that's where I'm going to start. Are you a prideful person? And I'm going to answer the question for you. >> [laughter] >> Do you know what God says? He says most of us are. Very, very few of us are humble before him. That's why someone it's said of Moses and you may be aware aware of this. When Moses walked on Earth, he was the most humble man that walked on the face of the Earth. (07:59) Well, maybe we should study his life. What did he do? He had his failures, if you're familiar with his life. But he was humble before God. It took um it took a while for him to come to a point of humility, didn't it? If you know the life of Moses. It was um good stretch into his life by the time that God called him to lead the people of Israel and even in that he was struggling with pride. (08:25) Sometimes we think pride is like I said, it's easy to see arrogance. Sometimes pride is we will deny deny what God wants us to do because we just don't want to do it. That's an aspect of pride. And God wants the pe- us, human beings, to stand before him that to realize the life that it said what did it say in the Proverbs? The wages are and it talks about the riches of of being uh one who is humble before God. (08:55) And the last thing it says is life. We're talking about how do we discover life? Humility is the key. Humility is what will produce the presence of God in your life. God also states the opposite. You walk with pride and it's like you're doing a stiff arm to God. You're keeping him at a distance. And often times we don't even realize we're doing that. (09:20) I was finish the story I started with there when I was um I was driving down uh the Banfield. I don't know if it's still called that anymore. I-84. Heading heading out uh e- heading out of town and I was thinking about what I had been reading in that book Myth of Certainty and it struck me uh I believe God was talking to me in that and and pointed began to point out to me areas of my life where there was pride. (09:51) There was an unwillingness to really recognize. It was not a willful pride. It was a pride just of I'm quite content where I am. And to areas of my life where I wasn't surrendering to what God wanted to do in my life. So, my pride was keeping God from being active in my life. So, I made the prayer, God humble me. Now, I told you before I wouldn't recommend that prayer. (10:17) I really wouldn't. Because God is loving enough to go, "Okay. I'll be glad to do that for you." And um that following year after I prayed that I went through all kinds of things. Where God showed me my confidence in myself was false It was It was a false confidence. It was poorly placed. I endured some some physical difficulties. (10:49) Here, I'll just give you one one freak thing that happened. Just a short few weeks after making that prayer, several other things had transpired, but I was driving back out toward at the time I was was dating Renee and so she was living out in Gresham and so that's why I was going out I-84 often. So, I'd go down 26 on out on 84. It was um it was winter time or that time of year and it had There was a lot of gravel on Highway 26 cuz it had snowed like the week before. (11:24) And but there was no The road was clear, but there was gravel off to the sides. You know, how it can sometimes build up. I'm going down into the tunnel. And you know, as you come in the tunnel if you're in the outside lane and you come into it, there's a blind spot there. You can't see very far ahead of you as you come into that tunnel. (11:41) Well, it happens to be as I start in the tunnel um there was a person stopped in the in the inside lane. I'm think Okay, so I hit the brakes kind of quick, but hit the brakes. But my right side was a wheels tires were on gravel. And it instantly I mean faster than I couldn't have done anything about it. >> [clears throat] >> Took my truck and literally within a matter of seconds slammed me head face first into the into the abutment right as you come into the tunnel. (12:14) So, I had no it just slammed me into it. And uh I was kind of stunned and I was waiting to get hit by somebody else and thankfully person behind me didn't and I was able my my truck was still running, but it was the right front was smashed up. And I'm thinking, "Okay, I back up and I drive It's Okay, it's moving. (12:33) So, I continue on. And I get to a spot where I can pull off, check and see nothing's and I'm leaking any fluids, so everything's fine. Everything's great. Okay, car's fine. I think it was the next day I got up to and I'm thinking I'm fine. No big deal. I get up I and I my take a step and my knee just locks up. And I it's just killing me. (13:01) And and I can't figure out what it was. Shorten the story up. Finally end up going to see the doctor and they go "This is really weird, but you have a compression uh injury on your knee." Well, what had happened was my foot was on the brake and when that thing went around it it compressed everything in my knee. (13:21) And it it tore um several things up. Ended up having to have surgery on my knee. Now, why do I tell you that? Because it was with great confidence I was driving there. It should never have happened. It was a freak accident, but it was a beginning of God saying, "I want you to see that you have little control over what you think you have control over. (13:44) " And so in the consequence remaining of that year, not only did I deal with that, um I had a lung collapse out of kind of nowhere. I thought I was dying. It felt like it. Wasn't very good. Made it to the hospital. They figured out what it was. Then I had I came down with uh with mono. Then I came down with uh I think I I can't remember. (14:10) I just just a whole list of physical things that I ended up facing. I had several other things occur. And it was like I couldn't get out from under this stuff. It just wouldn't happen. But in the whole time in that I kept hearing God saying "How much do you control? How much of this is yours?" And and until uh I began to draw back to have a perspective that everything that I have is from God and every moment in life is from God and that wisdom will draw me toward God to find what he wants to do then I began to see the difference (14:47) between humility and pride. Pride is not arrogance and I'll say it again. It can be. But for most of us it's just simply "I got this, God. I'll come to you when I'm in trouble. I will give to you what I can't do, but for the most part I'm fine on my own." And that keeps us far from God. Humility is God's answer. (15:17) And we're going to look at that. I'm going to give you specifics here in just a minute. But humility is God's answer for life. You may think, "But humility will keep me from that next promotion. Humility will keep me from building my bank account. Humility will keep me from getting" and we'll say the things that are there. (15:35) And it I want you to know that's not true. "Well, somebody will take advantage of me if I'm humble." It could happen even if you're not. Humble does not mean weak. Humble is insight. Humble lets you see life in the presence of God. And until we want to see God and willing to humble ourselves before him it's like we're playing a game just outside this this glass window that we see how much better it could be and we wonder, "Why can't I go in there?" Because you're trying to do it on your own. (16:16) There is a If If Let me back up for 1 second. There is a theme that runs through the Old Testament. And if you've been reading along with the uh as a church we're reading through the Old Testament right now. And there's a theme that starts to come out through the Old Testament and if you're paying attention you start to see it. (16:36) And it is the issue between humility and pride. It runs all the way through the Bible actually, but all the way it's very very prevalent in the Old Testament. I can give you examples. Um I'll I'll give you one and I'm going to look at uh an aspect of this in a second here. Israel wanted a king, so they selected Who did they select? Saul. Yeah. (17:04) Tall, good-looking guy, much like myself. And the I'm joking. I will be humble here. So, um but they they selected somebody because as we are told in couple of places in the Old Testament, God looks at the heart and man looks at the outward appearance, right? Problem with looking at the outward appearance, it's a basis of pride. (17:30) And so God wants the heart that's surrendered to him. The struggle that took place between David and Saul, if you know the story uh is a very sad story of the effect of pride and the gift of humility. Oh, we read the little story the individual ones and we see God working, but we're missing sometimes what God's actually showing us. (17:55) He wants the humble heart. What is said about David? That he was a man who had a heart after God. Saul was a man who abandoned God. Because he he would take things into his own hands. We see story after story where his pride caused him problems. David had his mistakes. Don't get me wrong. He screwed up many times. (18:21) But his heart was humble for God and that was what allowed him to be able to say, "God, against you and you only have I sinned." You see a humble heart can confess and recognize when I started to slide into that area of pride. It's the humble heart that allows God to work. I encourage you if you're reading along in the Old Testament, put that lens on now and watch for that struggle between pride and humility. (18:55) It's there. It's woven all throughout. Um another good example is uh one of my favorite books in the Old Testament, the Book of Ruth. Phenomenal picture. Do you know one of the main pictures that's being drawn for us in that? It's the picture of humility. And how God rewards the humble. What did Ruth do? She humbled herself on behalf of Naomi so that she could Naomi would be blessed. (19:28) She put Naomi's needs before her own needs because she was willing to be humble. And she didn't even know God. But she said, "I'll make your God my God so I can serve you." And in that process God rewards her humility. And through her we had our savior. You see, God always works through the line of the humble. Go back and look at that. (20:01) God works through the line of the humble. We often overlook it. God never misses it. Because God looks at the heart. Now, speaking of David, he wrote a Psalm that most of us are very familiar with. And it's we know it is the 23rd Psalm. I want to walk through that Psalm because that Psalm is about living a life of humility. (20:30) But I want you to catch what he says here. My guess is you probably can quote it to me or you can tell me the gist of it or you have read it many times. I want you to hear it now. I'm asking you to look at it now and see if you don't find with me that humility is the story that he's telling. Let's read it. The Lord is my shepherd. (20:49) I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. (21:13) You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessing. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the Lord forever. Great truth. I love that Psalm. But I want you to see what David does in the writing of it. (21:35) Let's see if we can pick it up. First verse he says this. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need. You see, he is making a proclamation. He starts out. He wants other people to to read this and know this. God is my shepherd. He's saying to those who are listening because David was a shepherd so he's writing from a language that he understands and from a experiences that he has had and he is he has walked with and known a lot of dumb sheep. (22:05) Okay? He knows how they can be. And in the midst of that he's saying, I'm one of those dumb sheep. But God is my shepherd. I am not going to try to be the shepherd of my life. God is the shepherd of my life. Do you see the humble surrender that takes place at the very beginning of this? He recognizes his need for a shepherd. (22:29) And it is his shepherd that's going to provide everything he needs. Okay? He continues on verses two and three. What does he say there? He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths bringing honor to his name. I want you to catch this. (22:51) In those two verses there, how many times does he use the word he? As we have it translated in the English. He he mentions it several times. He lets me rest and he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides and he brings honor to his name. So, he is stating now, God is going to direct my life and as I'm looking at God, I want you to see with me what God does. (23:19) I want you to know the reward of choosing God as your shepherd. God is the one that does all of these things. Leads, guides, protects. He is the one. And so he's talking of the benefit of humility, of surrendering to God. And he wants everyone to hear it. But I love when we get to chat to verse four. Because there's a transition from verse three to verse four and you say, well, no, he's talking about same No, he's he is talking to the same God, but he's coming at it from a different perspective and it comes out of one who has really rejoicing in the fruit of (23:53) humility. I want you to catch now verses four and five. What does he say? Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. For you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. (24:18) Do you see how he made a transition? Do you hear it? First he's talking about God out here. Lord's my shepherd. I've surrendered to him. I need a shepherd. I can't do it on my own. And God does these things. But in the midst of recognizing what God does, he suddenly starts to worship God again. He's worshipping. He can't help himself. (24:42) He moves from to a heart that is fully surrendered to the presence of God. And now he's talking to God. He for a moment was talking to us. Now he's talking to God. And he's saying, God, you've done all these things for me. You care for me. I I just love the way it becomes so personal. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I won't be afraid for you are close beside me. (25:12) Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. So, as everything in life may close in, I'm in the midst of praise. I praise my shepherd because he is the one that cares for me. You see, I can talk about God and say what he will do when I realize what God is doing. (25:43) It turns my heart in humility before him to be able to rejoice in what I experience. This is the reward of humility. It allows me to personally rejoice in the presence of God. He his He's not a theory. He's with me. He's not an idea, a hope or wishful thinking. He's doing it for me because I've surrendered my life to my shepherd. (26:17) Goes on in verse six. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. What's his statement? Through humility, I find life. A life that can't be taken from me. This is his final statement in that six. He's stating, look, this is the reality of one who is humble before God. (26:44) Life can't be taken from them. You know the only thing that will take life from person who is humble before God? Pride. Person who's humble before God is protected and held and guided and cared for. God will not let you go. I'll even say this. God doesn't let you go even in your pride. But he'll allow you to experience the foolishness of your pride. (27:07) And so he is stating a truth now when he gets to verse six. Here's what happens to the one that humbles themselves before God. Life can never be taken away. Not today, not tomorrow, not when the valley is dark, not when the walls close in, not when my enemies want the worst of me. No, God's doing taking care of all of that and he will not let my life be taken from me even when I go to be with him in his presence. (27:33) I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Isn't that cool? That God is so good. But it's humility that gets me there. Now, these words should sound real familiar to you because this is what Jesus was repeating in Matthew chapter five. Thank you. I was figuring somebody would know where I was going there. What did Jesus tell us in Matthew chapter five? God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. (28:08) Oh. The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need. You see, that's He's repeating the truth. Humble yourself before God and you can enter his kingdom. His kingdom is where life is. His kingdom is where his riches reside. His kingdom is where his blessing and protection and guidance exist. You can't have the king guide you if you refuse to enter his kingdom. (28:38) And the key to the kingdom is humility. Jesus taught this right there. Taught it all over and over again. But somehow we don't quite hear it. That's what he's saying right here. Blessed are those who are poor and realize their need for him. We've looked at that when we were in Matthew. (29:00) And that poor in spirit is the idea of recognizing the chaos of my soul without God. I recognize I recognize what happens when I'm in charge and I recognize when I surrender to my shepherd. There's a difference and I need a shepherd. And when you recognize your need, the doors of the kingdom thrown open. Come in my daughter. Come in my son. (29:26) I want to guide you. I want to protect you. I want to provide for you. I will walk with you. No one will touch you. Your life is mine. Can't be taken from you. You will dwell in my house forever. And it continues on. God blesses those who mourn for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble for they will inherit the whole earth. (29:46) Those first three verses are talking about how I humble myself before God to enter his kingdom. And the blessing and the reward that comes from it. And then just like David what's the next thing? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For they will be filled. It's if you want there's there's tremendous parallel between Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes and Psalm 23. (30:12) Because they're both telling us the same thing. That humility is the key to the kingdom of God. Humility that recognizes my rebellion against God and seeks [snorts] forgiveness. A humility that no longer feels like I am able and capable but I need to listen for and allow God to lead and to guide. (30:35) It's it's a humility that no longer tries to do the things that are necessary to protect my bank account, protect my retirement, protect whatever it is that I must protect and instead says God, my future is yours because my life is yours. Show me your presence in the fears that I have. I humble myself before you. Jesus is saying that's exactly what we experience. (31:01) I want you to think about who's giving the the promise on the other side of that. Jesus is saying this to you. He's saying, you humble yourself before God and the kingdom of heaven is yours. He says that if you uh recognize the harm that has been caused to you in your rebellion against God it's an expression of humility. (31:22) As you do that what does God do? He blesses those and they will be comforted. God walks You know what that literally means there? We looked at this before as well. That we receive the very presence of God in our lives. Is there a greater comfort than that? It's it's the choosing the Lord is my shepherd. (31:44) It's the statement of God is my shepherd is that shepherd God himself is with me. Do you see now how beautiful the resurrection of Jesus is? The promise of a shepherd was eternally sealed. He can't be taken from me. I surrender to him in humility, recognize my need for salvation because my life has been a mess. I'll humble myself before God and God meets me. He meets you. (32:17) That's the empty tomb. That's the joy we celebrate on Easter. And it's ours if we humble ourselves before God. Blessed [snorts] God blesses those who are humble for they will inherit the whole earth. There is a progression there. We've talked about that before too. From the surrender to this point where now he's saying, blessed are those uh who are humble. (32:41) That's a way of life now. I humble myself to become humble. That's how I live my life. And those who live in humility, what does he say? They'll inherit the whole earth. You're going, that's fine. I just want a small house back over No, then he says, God take care of all your physical needs. It's an expression you'll know the depths of the life he gave you. (33:06) The joy that comes from his presence, the power that comes from knowing him, talk speaking with him regularly. The the aspect of his promises known and fulfilled. You have a foundation that cannot be shaken. You have an eternity that is set for you. You have life at your fingertips. Go humbly before God and enjoy all that he has given you. (33:29) See how cool it is? That's why I need my savior because I need to know life with God. And in humility it is available to anyone. Absolutely anyone. If they'll humble themselves before him. That's the beauty of what God has done. Now I want to take you to a couple other verses here and I want us to think about a couple of things. (33:56) Uh in Micah chapter 6 verse 8 it says, "No, oh people, the Lord has told you what is good and what is required of you. To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." >> [snorts] >> Life just got explained real simple. Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. In the process of that, I will tell you in the way that that is is laid out for us in the in the Hebrew scriptures, the foundation of the first two is the humility of walking with God. (34:32) Otherwise, I'm defining right or mercy and justice by my own standards. I can seek justice and love mercy but if I don't walk humbly with God, I'm probably going to do more harm than good. I need God's presence in my life to determine what his justice and mercy looks like. Where his motivation to do and respond, his insight into the words that I need to use, his uh peace that comes in the presence of all the things that are going on around me. (35:05) That comes from walking humbly with God. Extremely important. Stated by God himself. Okay, if you're listening up, I'm going to make it simple for you. Seek justice, love mercy but you got to walk humbly with me. Um >> [snorts] >> for a dumb sheep like me, I need it simple like that. Because I oftentimes will think I can handle it myself. (35:35) Uh there's problems coming up. No, I remember back what David just said. When the valley gets dark I'll let God walk with me. He leads the way. It's not me to determine the path out because I often will sprint for the thing that looks like the light of a door that's open and it does nothing but brings chaos into my life. (35:55) I have to walk with my shepherd. I have to walk humbly to hear his voice. In Philippians chapter 2, I want to read just a couple of verses as we wrap up here. I don't want to pick up on a couple of thoughts that we have in the New Testament. >> [snorts] >> Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 8. (36:12) It says, "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had." Okay? Philippians chapter 2, Paul is speaking the church in Philippi and he is telling them What is he talking about? I'm going to simplify it for you. He's talking about humility. How to live in relationship to Christ and oftentimes, in fact here's a a good study for you if you want one. (36:33) Go study humility in the New Testament. You will discover that one of the greatest challenges in the early church was pride. There was pride over the spiritual gifts they received. There was pride over who was more important. This speaker or this this teacher or it was the struggle of pride and humility and Paul oftentimes brought them back and simply told them, "Look, here's what you need to understand. (36:59) This is all because of God, not because of you. You humble yourselves before God and you receive from him. You walk humbly with God and he will do through you what he desires to do. As David said in the 23rd Psalm, you will bring honor to your name." God brings honor to himself through the humble. And this is a truth that's repeated to this new church. (37:25) The church is blossoming after the resurrection of Jesus and it's spreading throughout the world. It had to be reminded. You are not special because you see the presence of the spirit through through powerful miracles and and gifts and some people are great teachers and others speak in tongues and all these things are taking place. (37:46) It's not the person that performs it's it's the God who works through them and as soon as you think it is you, it will be gone. And that was Paul's concern. And so as we get here to Philippians 2, he's telling us let me give you a little reminder who's our example of humility. So he says, "You must have some say the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (38:08) " Though he was God, so Paul's wanting us to see, remember Jesus was God himself. God in human form. For us to be able to say I have met God and I know him and I can approach him. He was though he was God, he did not think the equality with God as something to cling to. Instead he gave up his divine privileges. (38:32) He took the human humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. And when he appeared in human form he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross. I'm going to summarize what Paul's saying. He's speaking to that church. He would speak to us too and he'd say, "I want you to understand something. (38:52) God loves you. God gave his son for you. But you are not better than his son. You need to humble yourselves before God and follow the example of his son who not only left the throne room of heaven to take on human form, that which he had created, but he then became a servant to serve that which he had created and even so much so that he willing to take on the worst of the form of his servants so that everyone could know how much God loves them and have available to them the very presence of God. (39:25) So if Jesus humbled himself, what is called for those that say they love him? Jesus said what? The servant's not greater than the master, right? Uh one of the I think clearest pictures of this as we have was there uh at the at the Last Supper Jesus with his disciples and they come into the upper room and what does Jesus do? He removes his outer cloak, wraps the towel around him, gets down on his knees and takes the stinky dirty feet of his disciples and begins to wash them. (39:59) Do you see the power that's being demonstrated in the humility of the God of the universe washing the the the I'll say mangy feet of his disciples? It's humbling. And it should be because we are called to follow his example. We look at that often times and think of Jesus, well, yeah, he he had to do that. We kind of put him on he was a teacher trying to make a point. (40:26) He was trying to give him a little bit of a guilt trip cuz they were slow to do it. No, he's not. He's demonstrating what humility looks like because he wanted his father to be glorified through his life. Not my will, but yours be done. Humility is the key and Jesus is the example and he calls for us to that say, I love God. I surrender to Jesus. (40:54) Then surrender. Because he's now your shepherd. And he says, I wash feet, you wash feet. I don't get served, I serve. Humility allows us to what? Love people who are just like me. That's what humility does. You know what pride does? It builds up barriers of comparison. And confidence where it does not belong. And soon we cannot see how God could love that person or that person or that person. (41:34) But humility actually allows us to love with the same attitude of our savior. Because he is at work in us to glorify himself. What brings the greatest glory to God? When he sees himself in you. Think about that. God is so pleased when he looks at you and listens to you and walks with you and your response is that of Jesus. (42:10) And and he just I can see him beaming in the presence of his angels and say, that's my servant. That's what humility looks like. And often times we're so preoccupied with gaining in this world that we give up the greatest gift we've ever been given to walk with God. Humility is [snorts] the answer. Colossians chapter 3 verse 12 it says, since God chose you to be holy people he loves, you must clothe yourself with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (42:55) I want to focus in for a moment on that statement, you must clothe yourself. You see, it is it's taking off the old garments. In fact, we are told in a couple of different places we take off the old and we put on the new. We now clothe ourselves in what? In the righteousness of Christ. So that all that is seen in us is Christ. (43:16) So now, here's what's really awesome. When I clothe myself in righteousness, it's Now, when somebody looks in the first human tendency is to look at the outward appearance, do you know what the first thing they see is? They see Christ. Why? Because the inside has been changed by humility and through humility to surrender to Jesus himself. (43:38) My shepherd is seen when people look at me. Jesus is seen by the transformation that's taking place in my life and it brings glory to God. That's cool. Think how valuable you must be to God if he wants you to be the image of his son. That is a blessing and a gift. First Peter, Peter Apostle Peter picks up on the same thought and he says, all of you dress yourselves. There it is. (44:06) Dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another. For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God and the right time he at the right time he will lift you up in honor. What's [snorts] the right time? What the shepherd determines is best for his glory. (44:30) You see how beautiful this actually is? It's such a rich gift. But it's one that's so hard for us to hold on to because there's something within us that always tells us, you can't let them think less of you. You can't let somebody else get better of you. You can't and we we look and compare and we struggle and we fight. (44:54) Surrender to the shepherd. Be able to honestly say with David, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. >> [snorts] >> If you can get to that statement right there, you're headed down the right path and your life will be surrendered to God. If you can In fact, you don't have to say the rest of it because it will flow automatically. (45:22) He will do all kinds of things for you and soon you will be worshipping him. You have done this for me. You guide me. You care for me. You surround me. You provide for me. You protect me. I just give you praise and he says, well done. Well done. Enjoy the life that I have given for you. Go and live it to the fullest and I will be right there with you. (45:46) See how good God is? One decision. Will you humble yourself before the Lord? It's a struggle every one of us has. Maybe it's a a mental rational rationalization of why you're not a follower of Jesus and you sit there and determine, there's too many questions as to why that would be valuable and I and I can do fine on my own. (46:13) Okay, do fine on your own. But if you really want to enjoy life, humble yourself before God. I dare you. Humble yourself before God. Although there may be some things where he has to help you learn, but I can take you to the promises of Jesus and there's not one thing you will lack because your shepherd will never let you go. And he has the very best for you. (46:42) How do I know that? Because he wants himself in you. He wants to bring his glory out in you. What a gift. What a gift. So how do I do that? >> [snorts] >> I'm going to give you just a couple of thoughts. We could spend a lot of time on the how, but I'm going to just challenge you. It's a matter of perspective. So be honest with yourself before God. (47:06) Here's what I'm [snorts] going to ask you to do. You don't have to pray for humility. Ask God to simply show you where you're not humble. >> [snorts] >> And if you would like to help, I'll come I'll come alongside you and tell you. But >> [snorts] >> no, I'm kidding. The reality is that God loves you enough to actually show you where humility is lacking in your life. (47:30) It's where you're hanging on to something that you're going to solve. You're going to fix. You're going to make better. You're going to determine. >> [sighs] >> Humble yourself before God. So this week, spend some time in prayer. Literally ask God. God, are there areas of my life where I think I know better than you know? Where I'm holding on to it tight cuz I don't want to let it go. (47:50) Are there places in my life, God, where I'm still not letting you actually shepherd, where I'm still leading you and telling you where we need to go? Just ask him. Now, the second part of that ask is a little harder. When God points it out, simply say, God, I'm sorry. Forgive me, but I need a lot of help cuz that one comes naturally and I can't let it go. (48:27) Would you pry it out of my hands? Cuz I want to know what it is to experience your power. But you got to ask. God doesn't force himself. You've got to ask. And ask in humility and be ready for it. And God will respond. And I encourage you, be honest with yourself. That wasn't supposed to happen. Be honest with yourself. (49:04) A lot of times pride Here's Here's how you know. I'm just going to give you a little indicator. If you're giving justification for the way and why the why and how and everything that you do in areas of your life, if you're trying to justify it, there's a little bit of pride still hanging on. If you if you can lay, God, this is my life. (49:24) If you want it, it's yours. Now humility is beginning to work. But if you're trying to still argue with God, picture [snorts] yourself as a sheep sitting next to the shepherd and going, besides you can speak English, you don't have to buy it. And but you can sit next to your shepherd and you're trying to explain to him why you think it's better to eat thistles than grass, then you're still struggling with pride. (49:52) >> [snorts] >> While you're telling him it's better if you jump off the cliff, and he's saying, "No, I know what it's like when you're at the bottom of the cliff." That's pride. Stop arguing with the shepherd. Okay? Pretty simple on the how today. Ask God to show you where the pride is. Ask God to take it from you. (50:13) Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for the depth of your love for us, and with that, how patient you are. Oh, your patience is unbelievable to me. >> [snorts] >> Times where I've thought I've given stuff to you and I realize later I'm still pulling hard against you. Forgive me. And [snorts] I pray for each one of us in here. (50:40) Pride has root in our lives in ways we really don't understand because it often times will keep us from really being honest in our evaluation of ourselves before you. We don't honestly see you for who you truly are. We don't see ourselves for who we truly are. And in the midst of that, we feel shame or whatever, the guilt that might keep us from even being able to say, "God, forgive me. (51:08) " Give us the humility to reach that point. And then allow us hearts that are transformed to where we with David can rejoice in the statement, "The Lord is my shepherd. [music] I lack nothing." And then we turn in worship to you for all that you do on a regular basis. And as Jesus said, "The whole world is ours because you are with us. (51:33) We are living in this life to the fullest to know and express our loving savior." God, help us with that struggle because we like to take things back and we like to hold on tight. Help us to be humble. And I pray this in the humble, oh, so perfect name of Jesus. Amen."