Tonight we're going to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It's going to be our starting point this evening. 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. Tonight we're going to be continuing our study on humility. We've been talking about and finding out how important it is for us to grasp this humility. There's so many benefits to it that we don't really realize and we don't I guess we don't wanna learn about it. A bunch of us, we don't know. It's not taught much in churches. It needs to be taught much more. There's so much benefit that we can get. It's denying or lessening ourself so that God might do more through us. I don't know about you. I've been enjoying this study. I hope you have. Last time we took the humility test when we found out that the only accurate way to measure our humility is really by how we treat others. And so we developed a test there, and if you want that test still, let me know. I can give it to you. I'll be there, and I will judge you extremely harshly. But no, it's a take-home test. If you want it, I've got a paper back there where you can make some copies. Tonight, we're going to be going over proper self-esteem. So proper self-esteem. You've heard about building your self-esteem. You've heard about probably the importance of having a high self-esteem. Well, tonight, we're gonna be looking at scripture to see just how much esteem we should be giving ourselves. Okay, remember, we talked about it before, but esteem is the value that you place on someone or something. And we've seen in scripture before about how we're supposed to esteem others greater than ourselves, right? And we've talked about esteem before. But let's start off here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse number nine. 1 Corinthians 15, nine. The Bible says, Paul speaking here, he says, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Let's pray. Amen. So we've been talking about humility and pride over the last couple of weeks. And I want you to understand that humility and pride, they are opposites, but they're not polar opposites. Okay, if we were to make a chart here tonight, which I will, if we made a chart here tonight, I don't know if that's a chart, line graph, whatever it is. We're doing two opposite ends of a spectrum. You can call them whatever you want. And if we put pride as one extreme over here, humility is not the other extreme. The other extreme would be self-loathing. You can call it self-hatred, okay? Just being really down on yourself. That's the opposite of pride. Okay? Humility is not the polar opposite of pride. It's pride and humility, they fight one against another. They're definitely not on the same team. But the two extremes, we have pride on one side, which is, I'm great, I'm wonderful, oh, I can do all these things well, I'm so intelligent, I'm so good looking, I'm so strong, I'm so handsome, or whatever you think about yourself. I'll tell you what I think about myself and we'll just get over here. That's pride. That's me putting myself up way too high. I think too highly of myself. The other end of the spectrum is self-loathing. I'm worthless. I don't like my hair. I don't like my body type. I don't like my appearance. I don't like my personality. I don't like my health. I don't like my inability to do things. I'm just down on myself. I'm worth nothing and I'm just worthless and I just, I hate myself. That's what self-loathing is. Okay? It was an intention, Gitter, just got the wrong intention. Humility does not come by self-hatred. Humility comes by you accepting an honest assessment of yourself. Okay? That's not you assessing yourself, thinking too highly of yourself, and it doesn't come by you thinking too lowly of yourself. is in the middle, and it comes from an honest assessment. Okay? An honest assessment of yourself. I like what Spurgeon says. Charles Spurgeon says, humility is the proper estimate of oneself. That's kind of along the lines of what we're going on tonight. Okay? I want you to understand Jesus Christ is our perfect example of humility, and we've studied His life as a life of humility, and we've studied His teachings on the subject of humility, but our best biblical example of what a Christian should be is the Apostle Paul, okay? Christ is our example. You wanna find out what type of person you should be, look at Jesus Christ. If you wanna know how you should handle situations, look at Jesus Christ. He is our example of what a perfect man would be, okay? But if we wanna find out what a Christian should be, living as one that follows Christ, we should look at the Apostle Paul, okay? Our best biblical example of a Christian is the Apostle Paul. Paul had an accurate, honest assessment of himself, and he was very humble as an end result. Okay, Jesus Christ is the epitome of humility. We're not gonna be able to reach that epitome. That's a great goal, shoot for it, look at Jesus Christ, be as humble as Christ as you can be. But if I fall short of the mark of Jesus Christ and I can be just as humble as Paul was, I'm happy with that. Because that's still way up there. I still don't think I could hit that mark, but that's a good goal to shoot for. And how Paul got as humble as he was is he had an honest, accurate assessment of himself. Alright, so we're going to look at three different portions of Scripture. They're all ones that Paul had written under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we understand that. Let's look at this first Scripture here that we've already read, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 9 and 10. Verse 9, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. but by the grace of God, notice how many times grace pops up in this verse, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Okay, I want you to understand this about Paul's assessment about his honest assessment of himself, the humility we see in Paul. Number one, he counts himself as the least of the apostles and unworthy of the position because of his past mistakes. You see that in verse 9, verse 9, for I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, but I, because I persecuted the church of God. He's not whining. He's not self-loathing. He's stating the facts. He said, If I were to pick someone that's supposed to be an apostle, if I was to choose someone to follow in the faith, I would not choose myself because I persecuted the church of God. That's what he's saying. He's not saying, oh, I'm so worthless. I just hate myself because I did this. He said, no. If I were to pick someone for that position, I would not pick me. I persecuted the church. I am not worthy of that position. Okay? So, number one, he counts himself as the least of the apostles, unworthy of the position because of his past mistakes. Number two, he is something now, but God gets all the glory for that. Verse 10, for by the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm something now, but it's by God's grace that I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. Okay? By the grace of God, I am what I am. God, by his grace, made me an apostle even though I didn't deserve it. So, number three, notice this. Paul says this, I work and I try hard because of how good God has been to me, and it is God that gave me the grace to labor. God gets all the glory for it. Verse 10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. At least I am an apostle, that's wonderful. It's by God's grace that I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. That almost sounds a little proud there, doesn't it? But I labored more abundantly than they all. Oh, look how great a work I am doing for the Lord. But he's not done. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. So here's Paul's self-assessment here. And it's something we need to get a hold on. Number one, I am nothing. That's the first thing he said, right? I'm the least of the apostles. I'm not mean to be called an apostle. I'm in a position. I don't deserve it. I'm nothing. Number two, what he said. What I am, I'm something now. What I am, God gets the glory. God gets the glory for it, okay? He's now in a position of authority, of a leadership. God's been showing him things. He's doing the work of the Lord. He goes, I'm nothing in and of myself, but what I am, God gets the glory for it. Third thing, what I have done, what I have done or what I am doing, guess what? God gets the glory. God gets the glory for it. So Paul's personal assessment, number one, I am nothing. Number two, what I am, God gets the glory. What I've done, or what I am doing, God gets the glory. You see that? Nothing on self, God gets the glory, God gets the glory. All right? That is Paul's assessment of himself. This isn't the only place we see it. Turn to Ephesians chapter three. We got first and second Corinthians, then Galatians, then Ephesians chapter number three. So Paul wrote to the Corinthians and he said this, he said, I'm not worthy to be an apostle. You know, I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. That's what he told the church at Corinth. Now to the church at Ephesus, he writes this, Ephesians chapter three, Verse number seven, we will see another theme, the constant theme going throughout these epistles, all written by Paul. Ephesians 3.7, whereof I was made a minister, there's my position, I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. Okay? Paul's personal opinion of himself when he's writing to the Ephesians, verse 8, he is less than the least of all saints. See, last time you said, well, I'm the least of the apostles. Well, that's not putting yourself real low, I don't guess. I mean, you're still an apostle, you know. I'm number 13, 14, however you want to count it, you know. I'm the least of these guys, you know, of the best. I'm the least of the best. Well, that's not how he meant it, and that's not how he's saying it here. Now he's saying, I'm the least of all saints. Out of everybody that's saved, if you're saved here tonight, you're a saint. Okay, that's a fun one to tell your Catholic friends. But I got to the other day, that was fun. A saint's anybody that's saved. Paul says, out of everybody that's trusted Christ, I'm at the bottom. What's he saying? I'm nothing. In and of myself, I'm nothing. All right, that's his personal opinion of himself. Paul says he's lower than all other saved people. Number two, he says this, he is a minister though, verse seven, whereof I was made a minister, okay, I am a minister, I got some position, but he's a minister because God gave him grace. whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. What's he saying? I am nothing in and of myself. What I am, the minister that I am, is by the grace of God, God gets all the glory. See that? Third thing, Paul says, Paul admits that he was able to do and understand some things that no one else had ever been able to understand before. Look at verse 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Do you realize God revealed some things to Paul that he didn't reveal to anybody else? There's some mysteries, the Bible calls them. A mystery is made to be found out. Okay, you don't read a mystery book and they not tell you the mystery by the end of it, all right? A mystery is something that is mysterious, but in the end it's found out. Well, God wrote a bunch of mysteries in the Old Testament, things that the men that He used to write down and pin those words, they didn't know what was going on. What in the world are they talking about? They're writing these things down in the Old Testament, not sure, but still under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They're writing these things down and they don't understand them completely. They just say, yes Lord, and they write them down. Well, Paul comes along and God says, I'm gonna show Paul what a bunch of these mysteries are. I'm going to reveal to Paul and connect these dots and people are gonna go, whoa, I can't believe that. And Paul's being shown all these mysteries from the Lord and he makes it, verse nine, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. God hid these things from the beginning of the world and He's revealing them to Paul. And I don't know about you, I'd get a pretty swole head sitting there finding things in the Bible that nobody found before. Oh yeah, you wanna see some weird deep hidden truth in the Bible? People think that they got it now and they'll make a website of it and say, look at this deep hidden truth I found in the Bible. And what they really mean is, watch me really stretch thin this half a verse to prove something that I'm trying to prove because I wanna feel important. Paul, he's saying, listen, I'm nothing. God gave me a position in a ministry, to Him be the glory. It's by His grace that He put me here, because I'm nothing. And listen, what I've done, what I've shown you through scripture, I don't get any glory for. I didn't find it myself, God gave that to me. God's the one that showed me, and God deserves all the credit and all the glory. That's what Paul's saying. You see the mindset of humility we need to have here? This is how we need to see ourselves. Like Paul did, number one, I'm nothing. By two, by God's grace, I am what I am. And third, what I've done, praise God for it. Anything that I've done that you think might be beneficial, that came from God. 1 Timothy, chapter one. 1 Timothy, chapter one. Keep going to your right there. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, chapter one. So Paul gives his self-estimation to the church at Corinth, he gives his self-estimation to the church at Ephesus. Now, he's writing to a fellow pastor, his protege there, Timothy. He writes in 1 Timothy 1, verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me For that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul's opinion of himself. Number one, I am the chief of all sinners. Out of everybody who sinned, I'm the worst one. That was his opinion of himself. His resume, verse 13. who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief." Notice again, it's not self-hatred. He's not looking for pity. He's simply stating the facts. Before I got saved, I was blaspheming God. I spoke against Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. He did that. He was a persecutor. He went after the church of God. He did that. He's not whining about it. He's not complaining about it. He's not saying that he's worthless because of it. He's stating a fact. He was injurious. He was injuring other people, okay? He did that. Statement of fact. He's not throwing a pity party. Simply stating facts. He says, I am in the ministry because of Jesus Christ, not because of my own greatness, verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me. Where's the power coming from? Jesus did it. Where's Paul's ability come from? Jesus gave it to him. Jesus enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. So Jesus enabled Paul, God gets the glory for it. Number three, all that Paul was able to do, he attributed to God's grace yet again. Verse 14, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. If you really want to obtain biblical humility, It doesn't come from hating yourself. It doesn't come from you thinking that you're worthless and you're no good and you're just a piece of trash. That's not humility. Do you realize pride can clothe itself in thinking that you're wonderful, but it can also clothe itself in thinking that you're worthless? Pride is a sneaky little devil is what he is. And a lot of times we're proud whenever we think, oh, I'm so great, oh, I'm so great. But there's also proud in saying, I am the worst. I am absolutely horrible. I am worthless. And why? You're still focused on you. One's focused on yourself and how great you are. The other is pride because you're focused on how worthless you think you are. It's still pride. Well, we need the honest assessment of what we are. Honestly. And you know what, the honest assessment of me is the honest assessment of you. Because we should all be right here. We gotta come to the same mindset that Paul found himself in. If you really wanna obtain biblical humility, you'll have to learn to change the way that you see yourself. And that comes by thinking, number one, I am nothing. Not self-hatred, not self-loathing. You're not junk. God doesn't make trash. If you have a problem with self-loathing, here's the verse you need to memorize. Psalms 139 verse 14. Psalms 139 verse 14 says this. Psalms 139 verse 14. I will praise thee. for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. If you've got a problem with self-image and you think you're just utterly worthless, You need to praise God for this, and you need to memorize that Psalm, Psalm 139, verse 14. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. I want you to understand, you are not worthless. God made you, he made you fearfully and wonderfully, and Christ died for you. That means you're not worthless. It is your effort and personal ability that is nothing, okay? You can't do anything to help God out. He's not waiting for you to pitch in your ability so he can do something in your life. Okay? God has all the power. God has all the ability. And he wants to work through you. But what happens is we put ourselves in the way. We say, okay, God, let me help you out. We got to see a guy over there. There was a CBA concert over there. The kids got to sing and play instruments and things like that. And there was this little kid. He was probably under two. I would guess he's probably 18 months. A little kid with a mullet. How old do you think he was? Right at two. Well, he was running around, getting in everything, smacking the water fountain and everything. Just having a great little two-year-old time. And it was wonderful. I was just watching him and stuff. And it was great. And I was talking with his dad and everything. And I was like, well, they put the kid in a mullet. But I didn't tell the dad that. But the dad was having a great time. Well, the dad acted like he was the dad of a two-year-old and just. You know, come back over here, okay, leave that alone, you know, put that down, you know. He was just being the dad of a two-year-old. Well, anyway, I got to talking with the dad a little bit, and I said, he was sitting there smacking on the water fountain and stuff, and I said, that boy needs a hammer. And he goes, he's got plenty of tools. It's like, don't encourage him, he does not need that. I said, does he try to help you out? He goes, oh yeah. He goes, everything I try to do, He hops in there and he tries to help. I said, does it help you? No, never. If you have a two-year-old, especially a two-year-old boy, and you're a dad and you start working on anything, that two-year-old wants to come and sit in your lap, grab whatever power tool, do whatever, and they always make it worse. You know what we are? We're God's two-year-olds. We say, oh, Lord, you wanna do something in my life? Oh, this sounds wonderful. Let me hop in your lap, Lord, and let me do it. And you know what he says? You just messed it up. You're making my work harder. That's what we do. We wanna see the power of God, we wanna see God do something in our life, and the first thing we do is we hop in his lap, and we, we, we just, we. And what happens? We get in his way. If you wanna see the power of God in your life, what you need to do is step out of his way, and say, God, I can help nothing here. You know me, I can mess it up. And I tell the Lord this on a regular basis. Lord, all I can do is really mess this up. Father, would you just go ahead and do it? Because if I get in there, fire, okay? Damage, danger, that's what I can do. But Lord, could you just go ahead and do, because I can't. And you know what God does? Wow, I can really get something done if you admit that you can't help me in this. That's what we need. That's the humility of saying, God, I am nothing. I can bring nothing beneficial to this equation. I, in and of myself, can bring nothing. But God, if you, but God, if you, if you do it, God, I can appear to be something, but I promise I'm gonna give you all the glory for it. God, if you do something through me, I'll make for sure I get none of the credit, because I know it wasn't me, and you get all the glory. That's what we need. If you wanna obtain biblical humility, you've got to realize I can do nothing in and of myself. It is your effort, your personal ability, that's nothing. You can't do anything to help God out. That's what you need to understand. Number two, you need to understand, by the grace of God, you are what you are. If you're intelligent, if you're intelligence, missed out on that one. If you're intelligent, you are by the grace of God. If you're good looking, you are by the grace of God. If you're funny, you are by the grace of God. You kind of see a theme here. If you're rich, if you're athletic, if you're talented, if you're friendly, if you're nice, if you see anything of value in the mirror, you need to realize, I got that by the grace of God. God gave me that. God is the reason for any of the goodness I find in here. By the grace of God, you are what you are. You need to realize that. Number three, you, God, should get all the glory concerning anything you think that you have done. Any awards that you've won, any tests that you've scored highly on, any accolades, any medals, any praise, any recognition, any compliments. God deserves all the glory for what you think you have done. I like, I read an article this week about the, apparently the Boise State running back's doing really good up there. Okay, he's in the Heisman Trophy race or whatever. You watch some college football? I don't. I couldn't tell you who won the OU Texas game yesterday. I don't know. I don't really care. But this Boise State running back, he said something real funny, because apparently he's doing real good. They were interviewing him, and he said this. He said, I like to say that I'm a Christian cleverly disguised as an all-American running back. He said, I've learned that God has blessed me with amazing talents. You know what that is? That's a guy who's been given an interview, some position, some people saying, whoa, he's a really great running back. And he goes, whoa, I want you to understand, first of all, I'm a Christian. Christ is the main thing in my life. Second of all, I want you to know any of the talent that you see, that came by God. God gave me that, I am nothing. You know what that is? What we need to see a whole lot more of in this world today. That is Christian humility. That's what we need to learn to do because it's too easy to get some recognition and go, oh, thank you. Oh, well, yeah, you know, I do try. Oh, well, you know, I practice an awful lot. Well, and I, there's the focus. There's the problem. There's the pride. It's that I and pride that's keeping us down. I guess every I and pride should probably be capitalized. But you say, okay, I understand we need to realize I'm nothing and what I am, I am by the grace of God, God gets all the glory, and I understand all the good things that I've done, God deserves all the credit for it. How do we get to that mindset? It's great to understand what I'm supposed to be doing and the end goal, but how do I get there? How do I get there? Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. It's a good thing to know what it is, what the mark is, but it's a great thing to know how to hit it. Okay, it's a good thing to know what the destination is, but it's a great thing to know how to get there. Romans chapter seven, let's start in verse 18. Paul writing again, Romans 7, 18. Paul says this, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. I know the right thing, but I keep doing the wrong thing. And the wrong thing I don't want to do, I keep doing. Verse 20, now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Paul says, okay, listen, I'm fighting, I'll fight here, there's a law in my flesh that's saying I wanna go out and sin, I wanna be proud, I wanna lust, I want it to be all about me. That's the law in our members. But he says in the inward man, there's another law. There's a law of my mind, verse 23, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity of the law of sin which is in my members. So there's a law of my mind that is the knowledge of what God wants me to do. And it's that spiritual side, it's that inward man. And he goes, that law in my mind, I'm having a hard time because I got this law in my members and they're warring against each other. Here's Paul's conclusion of it, verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Paul realized that in his body, in and of himself, there is no good thing. Verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. That is what you bring into the equation. That's what you can offer God, your flesh, which has no good thing in it. That is what God has to work with. A person, like all others, who creates sin and not righteousness. You realize the only thing you can get full credit for is sinning? The only thing you can make in and of yourself is sin? I did it all by myself. What'd you do, sin? That, I did that all by myself, and God can say, yep, you did that all by yourself. That's the only thing we can get full credit for. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Paul's conclusion of himself, verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This sin, it's in our flesh, it's part of our DNA, it's part of this body. As long as we are in these sinful bodies, our only natural ability is the ability to sin against God. Therefore, if we want anything good to come out of us, from us, it cannot originate in our flesh. It can't be in and of ourself. Because in us, we've got this flesh, we can produce sin and nothing righteous. So if we want something good to come out of us, it can't originate from us. It's gotta come from a pure source. It's gotta come from God's Holy Spirit living within us. God, by his grace, dwells within us and gives us access to things like the fruit of the Spirit and spiritual gifts, all of which come from God and not from us. Well, how can we access God's ability while we're in these sinful bodies, right? We can't create God's ability inside of us. We can't create wonderful, good things. We can't create brag-worthy, boast-worthy things in and of ourself. So how can we access God's ability while we're in these sinful bodies? Well, number one, you gotta start off by getting your mind right. You're still in control of your mind. Paul is fighting a battle here, a battle of his mind versus his flesh. Okay, you gotta get your mind right. That means coming to an accurate assessment of yourself. That also means setting your mind on the right things. You have to make up your mind to obey God rather than your sinful flesh. Look at verse 18 again. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will, what I desire to do, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. So I've got a desire in my mind to do the right thing, but it ain't helping me with the flesh here. I kinda know what's right and wrong, but I don't know, I'm having issues here, verse 23. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So my flesh is beaten, winning against my mind right now. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The body, this flesh, this sin keeps winning. How do I get the victory? Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. So in order to gain some of God's access, some of God's abilities while in these sinful bodies, we gotta get our mind right. The Bible says in Colossians 3.2, set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. That's where our attention should be. Philippians 2.5, we've read that before. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We gotta get our minds right. In order to allow God to do something through us, we've got to get our thinking straight. There should be a war going on inside of you, body of sin versus mind like Christ, right? There should be that battle going on. If you don't set your mind to fight against your flesh, the flesh wins. You've got to make the decision to battle within yourself, your mind versus your body. If there's a war going on and it's your mind versus your body and you choose the mind to be absent from that battle, your body, the flesh, is going to win. You gotta get your mind right. Fighting the flesh is more than just fasting or self-denial. It is fighting against that pride that says, I can, of myself, do this. Say, well, I'm pretty good about putting down the flesh. I'll fast every now and then, and I'll deny myself this, or I'll deny myself that. That is part of fighting against this flesh. But if you want to win the bigger victories, you've got to win the battle, and you've got to fight the battle that says, I can do this of myself. I'm going to trust in my flesh to get this done. You're putting your strength in the enemy. This flesh is the enemy. This flesh is where the sin comes from. You've got to put your money, you've got to hedge your bets on Jesus Christ within you, not in this body. Does that make sense? How do you access God's ability while in this sinful body? Number one, getting your mind right. Number two, trusting and asking Jesus to do what you now know you can't do. What's that? Everything. Okay, what could I do? Nothing. I can make sin and nothing else. That's what I bring. So what do you need to do? Trust and ask Jesus to do everything else. If you're fighting against a stronghold sin, you want to know how you get victory over that? You admit to the Lord that you can't win that battle. Instead, you ask Him to win it. God, I've been fighting against this temptation. God, I've been fighting against this lust, or this addiction, or this mind process, or this bitterness, or this anger, or whatever it is. I've been fighting against this sin. God, give me the strength to, no. God, allow me to, no. The mindset is, God, I can't. I have tried for years to get victory over this sin. God, I've learned I cannot. God, I need you to. What can I do? I can try to get out of the way. God, give me the grace to get out of your way and watch you do it because I can't do it. That's how you get the victory. You let God be the power and the path to victory, not God be the wind beneath my wings and lift me to victory. No. God, help me get out of your way so that you can do it. It's a wonderful thing. If we just admit to him, I can't do it. In and of myself, I can't do anything. But God, if you, But God, if you would, then you can. God did an awful lot of wonderful things through Paul. Why? Because Paul said, I'm nothing, I'm the least. God, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good things. God, I, why, he had an honest assessment of himself. He said, I can't, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And God, if you do it, I'll give you the glory, because I know I can't. Number one, get your mind right. Number two, trusting and asking Jesus to do what you now know you can't, which is everything. Set your mind and seek God's power and His ability. Number three, what can you do to seek God's power, to access God's ability while in this sinful body? Number three, make following the Lord a daily decision. seeking His power and His ability as a daily decision that you make. Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, there's all our power, hath made me free from the law of sin and of death. Oh, that law that's in my members that's getting me to sin, Jesus Christ can make me free of that. Verse three, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Condemned means to mark for destruction. Verse four, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Verse nine, but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if So be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." There's the victory. So we've got the body fighting against the mind, and we get Jesus Christ giving us the victory through His Spirit, His power, His ability, And then the end result is now the body's dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. That's the spirit winning that battle. But did you notice that he was talking about walking? There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Walking after the spirit, it's a journey. Take it one step at a time, one day at a time, in the right direction. If you want to see God's power in your life, you have to see yourself as you really are, unable, but given the grace of God. Learn to trust in the Lord's ability instead of whatever abilities you think you possess. Because I want you to understand, this is how you gain this humility. Humility is not gained by self-loathing and self-hatred. Humility comes from being consumed with God. Obsession with God is the only thing that'll save you from yourself. I like what one preacher put it, I didn't put his quote in here. He said, I used to think that the gifts of God were on the shelf, and that the greater I grew, the more of those gifts of God I can obtain. But I found out that the gifts of God, they're on the shelf, but they're on the bottom shelf. And the more I lower myself, the more gifts of God I get. That's what it's really all about. God's got so much power and so much ability that if we would just make ourselves low and make ourselves small and get ourselves out of the way, we could really see the gift of God in our life. And it's this humility that we've got to grab a hold of. But we've got to get our minds right. May God help us. I'd like to ask you to please stand