Let's go ahead and grab our Bibles, and we'll start off in the last book. Let's start in the book of Revelation. We'll work our way backwards this morning. Revelation chapter 4, where we're going to start. Revelation chapter number 4. I'm glad you're here this morning. I'm glad to see you here this morning. We're going to do something different. I don't know that I've done this before, and if I have, then I've forgotten about it. It doesn't matter. Just doing it the first time then, since I don't remember. So that helps a lot. But basically what we're doing is we're going to start a study on something that I see of utmost importance. Take away all the excitement out of the preaching, I tell you. I want to throw the microphone around a little bit. There we go. That helps. Good thing she's always watching me. That's helpful. But what we're gonna be doing, we're gonna be going over a study that basically the power of your Christian life depends on how you handle the subject. And of course, salvation is the most important thing that you can do while you're here on Earth is accept Jesus Christ. He's the only way you're gonna get to heaven. After that, you start up a relationship with the Lord, with the Savior, the one that paid for you with his own precious blood. But in order to have a good relationship and to have any power or effect inside your Christian life, you've got to get a hold on this topic. And it's not preached about much at all. And it's not mentioned a whole lot. And I think it's because of that that the body in Christ as a whole, the church, is suffering tremendously today. And the subject we're going to be going over is that of humility. Humility is something that is an integral part to our faith, and it should be, and it's something that could, basically, before I just totally ruin the message, I want you to understand humility is us taking ourselves out of the equation so that the power of God might reside within us and he can do something with our lives. And it takes humility in order for that to happen. And we're starting to study today because we've got different folks that are able to make it for one service or not another. And we don't have hardly anybody that makes it to every single service, whether both on Sunday or on Wednesday morning. And I think it's so important for everybody that steps foot in the church to get something from this, that basically, we're going to start this morning, and we're going to continue Sunday night, and we're going to hit another aspect on Wednesday night, and this might be two weeks long of this, I don't know, but it's so important, we need to dive in and really try to get a hold of this, because the theme of humility is all throughout the Bible, and you can't look at the life of Jesus Christ without seeing humility. So that's what we're gonna be going over. So I'm glad you're here. If you're not able to make it to any of these upcoming services, please get the sermon audio thing and listen to them. It'll really help your Christian life. It's important, not because I preach it, but because it's in the Bible and it's something that'll really help us out. You got Revelation chapter four. Let's start in verse number six. Revelation chapter four, verse number six. The Bible says, And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes, before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast was like a calf, and the third beast had the faces of man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and 20 elders fall down before him, that sat on the throne and worship him, that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Let's pray. Amen. So we're starting off here in Revelation 4 because it gives us a glimpse of heaven. We get a scene out of heaven that John saw first hand in Revelation chapter 4. And what you have here, we read through it, we saw the four beasts. There's a reason I put dots up here on the board instead of trying to draw four beasts that are full of eyes, within and without, and all these different things. But you've got these four beasts, ones like a serpent, and ones, you know, they're all like different things. You got the big beasts out here, right? I'll put them outside just because I drew the little circles first. But there's a reason I did circles here, because I'm not going to try to draw these fellas. But what you've got up here in heaven is you've got these four beasts. You've got the throne of God. You've got God sitting on that throne. What a wonderful, mighty God we have, and he deserves to be on that throne, and surrounded by that throne, because we have the creator on the throne. Boy, the orange guy's fat. He needs to lose some weight. But on that throne, we have the creator. We have the creator, Jesus Christ. He's sitting on that throne. He's created all things. They were created for His pleasure. That's the purpose of everybody on the earth. That's the purpose of the earth. That's the purpose of all those up in heaven, to give God the glory. So you've got these four beasts around the throne. And they are praising and worshiping God, saying how holy and how righteous He is and how deserving of praise He is. Also, we've got 24 elders around them. The four beasts, they're praising God. After they get done praising these 24 elders, they grab the crowns off of their head that Jesus Christ gave them for what they did on the earth. And they're casting their crowns down at Jesus' feet. And what you have up here, is you have in heaven a picture of humility. You've got God on the throne, the only one that deserves the glory and the honor and the praise. And surrounded by Him, you have all these different beings and all these different creatures that are bowing down, making themselves low, they're giving in and of themselves whatever possessions they might have, they're casting it down at Jesus' feet, and they are prostrate on the ground, and they are just saying, look, I am low, but I don't matter. God, you're the one that matters. God, I am nothing and you are everything. So they're giving God praise and glory and honor and that's what it looks like in heaven. That's what it looked like here in Revelation chapter 4 whenever John's getting his sneak peek up in heaven. If you were to see up in heaven right now, what you would see is you would see a mighty throne with God sitting on that throne and everybody around him humbling themselves and lifting up God. They are praising Him and they are putting themselves down low. Okay, you've got created beings bowing down and worshiping and praising the Creator. Alright, there is one in heaven that matters and that's God Almighty. Okay, that's Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the one that matters. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, these three are one. We understand that, I use their names interchangeably. Same God, okay? God is the only one who matters in heaven. Glory, all the praise, all the glory, all the attention, all the worship is God's. All of it deserves and goes towards him. In order to focus wholly on the one that matters, the other occupants of heaven must empty themselves and be empty of self in order to be full of God and focus on Him. You say, what's that? That's humility. Humility is being empty of self so that God may fill. God's not gonna fill up a vessel that's already full of something else. So what humility is, is us pouring ourselves out of us so that it might be empty for God to fill up with himself, okay? Let me give you some different definitions, explanations of what humility is. That's a good place to start on a study of humility. Humility is being empty of self so that you might be full of God. We already know we got the Holy Spirit residing within and I'm not saying if you're proud you're not saved, I'm not saying anything like that. But we're talking about the relationship, we're talking about giving God the glory and honor that is due him. You can't praise the Lord, you can't give glory to him if you're full of yourself. You got to be empty of self so that he may fill. Humility is not, you need to understand this, humility is not self-loathing. It is not self-hatred, okay? So don't think that just because, I don't like myself, I don't like this about me, and I just feel worthless. That's not humility, that's self-loathing, alright? Humility, if I can bar graph it here a little bit, humility is being at zero. Pride is whenever you raise yourself above it. Self-loathing is whenever you drop yourself below that. Humility is saying, I'm nothing, I don't matter. I don't, not that I don't matter, I don't count, okay? Whenever the opinions are given around the room, mine does not matter. Mine does not count. That's what humility is. It's not raising yourself up. It's not dropping yourself down low. It is being in that neutral field, empty of self. I don't have sway in this decision. That's what humility is. And we'll get further into that later. Humility is the mindset of I am nothing. And like I said, we'll go into that in more detail later. Humility is removing yourself or any abilities you think you might have and instead allowing God to fill and to work in your life without your interference. Okay, we've got to be empty of self so that God might be the power that's working in our lives. But what happens is we get saved and we say, yes, I'm a new creature. I know I got Jesus Christ within. Now look at what I can do. And you start trying to do things in your own power and you find out, well, this is failing, this isn't working. What is it? You're trying to use your own power to live for Christ. Our problem is we need to grasp this humility, we need to empty out ourselves so that God may be all in all. So that God may be the power source behind what happens in our life. I don't think we're gonna be back here in Revelation chapter four, turn to Ephesians chapter one. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians chapter 1. This morning, basically, we're going over kind of the origins of humility and pride. And we'll get more into that as we go along this morning. Ephesians chapter 1, let's start in verse number 15. Ephesians 1, verse number 15. Bible says, Ephesians 1 verse 15, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Verse 17, That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him up from the dead, and set him on his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head, the head, over all things, to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Did you notice all of God's part and power in that equation? God gives the spirit of wisdom in Revelation verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. So He's given you revelation, wisdom, knowledge. He's given you those things. We see the hope of His calling, verse 18, the eyes of your understanding be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance. See, it's all coming from Him. We're not providing anything here. God's filling us. God is putting things, giving us things. It's coming from God. That's the desire of Paul to the church there at Ephesus is that God may be full and present in their life. We see verse 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe. according to the working of His mighty power. Paul didn't say, OK, listen, Christians, I want you to be powerful, and I want you to be able to go out and do these wonderful things for God, and I want you to build a church, and I want you to lead people to the Lord, and I want you... No, he said, I want you to be able to tap into His power, into His greatness, into His ability, and my prayer is that God will give you His knowledge and His wisdom. You see the difference there? It's that we might have room to receive what God wants to give us, and that's His power, His knowledge, His ability, but God can't fill up something that's already full. If we start off full of self, God's got nowhere to put things in us. And so the power of God that He wants to give us to be able to work through us We've plugged that up. We've congested that so there's no way for it to get through. We've filled ourselves up with self and there's no room for God or the power of God. You say, what's our part in all this power and mighty working? It's said there in the verse, look at verse 15. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, Oh, what's our part? How do we get all this power of God and all this of God? Well, first of all, we've got to have faith in Jesus Christ, and we've got to love one another. That's our part. That's not us having power. That's us trusting in God's power and Jesus' saving power. There's our faith and our love towards the brethren, how God knows that we love him, how we love one another. Well, look at this. Look at verse 23, where's our part? Verse 23, which is his body and the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Okay, verse 22. And hath put all things under his feet, still his power, still his ability, and gave him to be the head over all things of the church, that's Jesus Christ, the head of the church, which is his body, we're still his, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. We're wanting Jesus Christ, the head of the church, to fill up his body with his power. But if we're so full of self, none of God's power can get in there. The power of the Christian life is stifled when we are not humble. God cannot God cannot be the power in our life when we are so full of self and not empty of self so that we can be full of God's power and ability. And the sad state of the body of Christ today is this, is Christianity today is weak and powerless because of how full Christians are of self and how undependent we are of God. You say, what's the answer? Humility. There's gotta be a great emptying of self in order for God to fill and for God to do. I want you to understand this, humility is heavenly. Okay, it is of heaven. We talked about those around the throne of God in Revelation chapter four. We've got these wonderful dots up here that are extremely accurate and beautiful. And we, We see those that are around God are humbled by the presence and holiness of God. You got the four beasts, you got the 24 elders, you got everybody else up in heaven that God has created. You see them bowing down in the presence of God saying, you're worthy. Not one of them was bragging on themselves. Not one of them was saying, I am worthy to receive some glory, but God should get a little more. All of them were saying, thou art worthy, you deserve it. You deserve the glory. It's easy to be humble in the presence of God. See, we are often not humble because we lack the focus and the dependence on God. Everybody up in heaven right now, they get to see God, and they understand his power and his might and his ability, and they are utterly reliant and dependent upon God, especially in his presence. Here, we're separated from God, and we think there's a lot of things we can do on our own. And that causes us, that drives out our humility, because we rely on self instead of being dependent upon God. Turn with me if you would. I don't think we have to keep a marker here. Well, keep a marker here because we're going to be in Philippians later. But turn to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. See, humility originates in heaven. Humility comes from heavenly places because you have God and compared to God, you are nothing. And when next to God, you realize how nothing you are. And so everybody else in heaven is able to be very, very humble because they see the one on the throne and they go, ooh, he is worthy, I am not. That puts humility in you real quick. And that's what we need. Isaiah chapter number 14. Let's talk about the origin of pride then. Pride is the opposite of humility. Isaiah chapter 14 verse number 12, Isaiah 14 verse 12, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation of the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will be like the Most High. Where's the power of God in all that? It's filled up with I instead. Verse 15, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. It's talking about Lucifer, this is Satan before the fall, right? Where was Lucifer, where was Satan before he fell? Verse 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Satan started as the anointed cherub that cometh. All right, he was up there, his job, I believe that's in Ezekiel, yeah, Ezekiel 28. But his job was to reflect God's glory back down on him. He was above the throne, shining down God's glory, making sure none of that praise gets by him. He's defense, right? And he gets that glory and that praise back to God. He was up there. Since he was up in heaven, he started off humble. Lucifer was in the right position and had humility in times past. He used to be humble in the presence of God. He used to be satisfied with the position that God put him in. And Lucifer used to praise and glorify God like he was made to do. He worshipped God and he was dependent and appreciative of God. But there came a day when Lucifer no longer had that appreciation for God. And there came a time when His focus and his dependence was no longer on God, but he started thinking, I can do for myself. I can ascend. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also on the mountain, the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. He no longer needed God. And that pride, cost Lucifer residence in heaven. He was cast down. God said, there's not going to be any pride in my presence. You don't deserve any of this. I'm casting you down. So he became a fallen creature. Pride is the loss of humility. Pride is you filling yourself up with self instead of being empty to God. I want you to understand, because this is not often realized, all creatures started off with a knowledge and appreciation of their creator. And when that creature starts becoming full of self, pride enters in, resulting in a separation from the creator. Because now you are full of self and there is no room for God. That's what happened with Lucifer. He was humble in the beginning. These other ones, the 24 elders, the four beasts, they maintained their humility. Lucifer did not. Lucifer said, I don't need to rely on God anymore. I don't need him in my life. I don't need God telling me what to do. And God said, that has no place in heaven. And he cast him down. I want you to understand pride is satanic in origin. And all pride is satanic. All of it. Pride started with Lucifer. Every time we are proud, we are like Lucifer. That's how we are. That's where it started. You say, how's that? Turn to Genesis chapter three. So Lucifer fell. And his pride went with him. All are humble in heaven. All are praising God in heaven. All are giving honor to the one who sits on the throne in heaven. All pride gets cast out of heaven. Genesis chapter three, look at verse number one. Lucifer fell, he's now on the earth, now he is the serpent. Genesis chapter three, verse number one, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. Now he's promising her enlightenment. And ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil. Verse six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. You understand satanic pride was passed on from the serpent to Eve. You want to know what the poison of that serpent was in the garden? It's pride. That serpent who looked just like that, he's mad, mad serpent, mad serpent. The poison of that serpent was pride. Eve emptied herself of her reliance and trust in God, because she was humble in the beginning. Adam and Eve both relied upon God. God put them in the garden. God provided for them. God walked with them in the cool of the day, every day. And they were reliant on God, and so they had that relationship with God. And they were empty of self. It wasn't what they thought. Their opinion didn't matter. It's what God said, and they were just obeying. There was obedience and submission to God and so God was full and present in their life. What happens is Eve emptied herself of her reliance and trust in God and in his word and filled herself with reliance and trust in her own decision making ability. She said, I gotta get God and the reliance of God out of me because, well, I just think, because I've heard from another source now, and I choose to believe this one instead of that one. What happened? She kicked God out, and she said, I know better. Now I can make that decision. Pride was the poison of the serpent in the garden. It infected Eve, then Adam, and it's been passed down to each one of us. Pride is now a part of our flesh due to the curse of sin. See, all are humble up in heaven. Pride's found, they get cast down. Adam and Eve were made in the presence of God. They were down here, they were humble until that serpent came down and infected them with that same pride. Now, since we are on earth, out of God's presence directly, And we've got in our body now the poisonous pride of this serpent. Now every time someone is born, they are born with a pride nature instead of a humility default from the presence of God. Pride is part of us at birth. That's why any baby that comes out and they start screaming and hollering, they are relying on their, and they're doing to the best of their ability to get their mom and not their dad's attention, okay? They're crying, why? They're hungry, they're wet, they need to be changed, they want to be touched, they're cold, they're hot, whatever it is, that baby comes out, that baby's unhappy with something, that baby sees a need and goes to fill that need by the only means that they can do within their own power. What's that? Feed me, change me, I want something, do something for me. And they're trying by their own ability to get what they want. That's pride. We have that naturally. I want you to understand all sin has its root in pride. Why do you sin? Because you believe, I want, I deserve, I can, well it's okay for me, I'm the exception to the rule, I think this is best, I think this is good, I believe, every sin has its root in Me. I think. Anytime you're full of self, you're like, what can I do? You know why you sin? Because you think it's okay to. That's why we sin. All sin has its root in pride. Pride is built on self-reliance. Humility is built on God-reliance. If you want to find out if you're proud or humble in a certain situation, simply examine who is the source of your strength or ability behind you, behind what you're doing or what you intend to do. So, well, am I very proud in this? Well, are you relying on yourself to do it? Or have you been asking God and praying for His power to do something in your life at that point in time? You can't be proud and completely reliant on God at the same time. You can't be humble and reliant on self at the same time. They conflict. So how can we obtain humility? If we're already part of this fallen sin nature, we've already got the poison of that serpent in us, and we're born with this pride and the self-reliance and the self-centeredness already in us, how can we obtain humility? Well, where does humility come from? It has its origins in heaven. So in order for humility, to get down here to us on the earth, we need something from heaven to come down to us. We need someone from heaven to come down to us. I want you to understand pride is very powerful. Pride can cast down angels and cherubim and anybody else that's got pride out of heaven. Pride can cause heavenly beings to lose their position. That's pretty powerful. We don't stand a match against any of them. The strongest man alive cannot stand up against the weakest angel, OK? But pride can kick him out of heaven. You know what? Humility is also very powerful. Humility can get fallen man up in the presence of God. These are powerful forces we're talking about. Humility does not happen by accident. You don't just default to humility after a certain event. You don't just, well, okay, for some reason I'm more humble on Thursdays than I am on Mondays. It doesn't just happen by accident. Humility is something you've got to strive for. Humility must be sought after and prayed for and obtained and maintained. Humility comes naturally in heaven in the presence of God. Here on earth more effort is required to obtain heavenly humility. We've got to put forth some effort. Why? We're not staring at God right now. We don't see how much greater He is than us and so we're not as easily prone to fall down and admit to the Lord how, Lord I can't do anything without you. Why? We're separated right now. Turn to Philippians chapter 2 if you would. Philippians chapter 2. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Philippians chapter number 2. We need this humility. We've got to have it in order to be anywhere near God. I know we're separated geographically from the Lord right now. He's up in heaven, we're here on earth. We can have a relationship, a great relationship with Him on earth. but we can't have it with pride in our heart. Philippians chapter two, look at verse number one. Philippians 2.1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. You're not fighting for yourself, you're not doing it for yourself. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Since humility has its origins in heaven, in the presence of God, in order for us to obtain humility, we must get it from a heavenly source. Humility came down in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was humility come to earth. He was humility incarnate. Why do you say that? Just look at His incarnation, Him, God being made manifest in the flesh. What greater act of humility do you have than that? God didn't just send down one of the beasts that knows something about humility. God didn't send down one of the elders that knows a lot about humility. God didn't send down an angel with a special message about humility. God himself came off the throne to come down to earth and be born in a barn to a lowly carpenter and live a life of poverty so that He might come and save us. How much more humble do you get than that? How much further down can you go than off the throne of glory, the only one that deserves the praise and the glory and the honor? God came down Himself. Jesus' incarnation was humility. We see that in verse 6. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. What is the mind of Christ? What is this humility? How God left his high exalted estate to come and do the will of the Father. The fact that Jesus was born God being manifest in the flesh is a sign of humility. Jesus' life was a life of humility. He had humble beginnings. He grew the poor son of a carpenter. He lived a life of service, the Bible says, verse seven there, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. You notice how it says he made himself of no reputation? Jesus went about doing the work of the Father. God gave glory to the Father for all that He did. Jesus didn't go around making Himself a great reputation. People gave Him a great reputation because He was doing the miracles of God. He was doing the work of God. Jesus gave God all the glory in that. What did He do? Jesus emptied Himself so that God may work through Him. Jesus' life was a life of humility. It was a life of service. Jesus' death was a death of humility. Jesus came and died for the sins of the whole world. He was empty of self-will and filled with the will of the Father. Look at verse eight. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Whose will was it for Jesus Christ to go to the cross? Well, in Gethsemane, Jesus said, that was God the Father's will. What did Jesus do? He gave up his own will and said, Father, not my will, but thou be done. Jesus' death was a death of humility. Jesus' resurrection and ascension, that's also humility. Let's see, let's continue in the passage here, verse nine. Verse 8, and being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Verse 9, wherefore, that means because of all this, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. You see that? Jesus' ascension, and you got the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there the tomb is empty, the stone has been rolled away, Jesus goes up and he sits back on the throne. You know what that was? His ascension, his resurrection as an ascension. That is the end result of a life of humility. Because God's not going to let you get the short end of the stick. You're not gonna be empty of self and God used the power of himself in your life and God says, okay, I'm done with you, I throw you away. No, God says, you became an empty vessel for me here. I'm gonna get you back up here and you're gonna have some position and status. He's not putting you on the throne. But like I said, Jesus's resurrection and ascension was the end result of humility. The end result of all humility here on earth is God raising up the humble later. You say, where are you getting that? 1 Peter 5, 6 says this. 1 Peter 5, 6 says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. God says, you stay empty for me so that I can fill you up and work through you. I will raise you up later. You get to be low here, but you'll be high there. Every aspect of Jesus's life was humility in practice. Let me ask you this, do you ever see Jesus getting mad on his own account? No. I remember reading about Jesus getting mad about the money changers turning the temple of God and making merchandise of them, so he flips over the table. Why? He's mad on God's behalf. How dare you do this to my father's house? How dare you blaspheme God in this way? But when Jesus was buffeted, he said nothing. When they're plucking at his beard, he says not a word. When he's dying on the cross, he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Jesus doesn't stand up or fight for his own causes. but he fights for the Father's cause. Why? He's empty of self and full of the Father. Jesus said this, Jesus mentioned in the Bible that he could do nothing without the Father. He says this in John 5.30, he says, I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. That's the creator saying, I can't do anything without the Father. Why? He's emptied out himself so that God may be the power within. The health and the strength of your spiritual life is dependent on how much you are like Christ. Without humility, we are nothing like Christ. You can't be like Christ and be proud. If your absence of humility, your absence of the character of Christ. You say, how can we obtain this humility? Well, with the right mentality. Look here. We're still here in Philippians chapter 2. Look at verse 2. Because we see Jesus as the example. Verse 7, made himself of no reputation, form of a servant, likeness of men, humbled himself. Verse 8, obedient to death, even death of the cross. We see what Jesus does there. How can we be like Christ? Verse 2, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded. having the same love, being of one account and of one mind. This is a mental decision. Look at verse three, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What do we need? We need to fix our mind. We need to get our mind right. We need to get our mind empty of self so it might be full of God. You know, we read a lot in the Bible about the flesh and the spirit. We're told about the war against the flesh and against the spirit Galatians 5 17 for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would or talked about we hear about the old man and the new man and And you know the flesh and versus the spirit and all these different things The battle between the flesh and the spirit is the battle between pride and humility The power of the flesh is the power of self. That's pride. The power of the spirit is the power of God. What's that? Humility. That's being emptied of self so that God may fill. Pride is forceful, it's aggressive, and it spreads like cancer. It's natural, it's fleshly, it's of the world where we reside. That's pride. Humility is soft. It's reserved. It's stable yet unadvancing. It retreats when it's attacked, it's brought when requested, but stays only as long as it's wanted. That's what humility is. If you want the power of God in your life, you have to give up your own power and your own position. We're gonna be going over humility the next several services and we're gonna hit it hard and we're gonna hit it deep. If you can't be here, I suggest that you listen to it. Why? I don't know about you, I want the power of God in my life. God's power will not force me to give him power. God won't force me out so that he can take himself in. Jesus had to humble himself. It wasn't so he can force us to be humble. It's so we can see his example because we have to humble ourselves. We have to say, you know what God, I'm really not anything special. I'm not worthless, I'm not saying that. We were wonderfully made, okay, fearfully and wonderfully made. But God, I want to be empty because I want to see you in my life. Because I want that power. And you've got to realize, humility is heavenly. But this pride is satanic. We've got to fight that pride in this world, in this earth that we're in today. We've got to fight that pride. I'd like to ask you to please stand with your heads bowed and your eyes closed.