Humble Thyself
Sermon: Feb. 9, 2019 (4th of 11th month)
Luke 18:9-14 Two men in the temple.
Matt.25:32-46 The response of the saints is "WHEN did we do these things", rather than "YES, I sure did!" They could have said, yes we did these things in order to give glory to GOD, but it was better to not remember what they had done, which shows that they are humble.
Matt.6:1-18 Don't brag about own righteousness.
1 Cor. 1:22-31, 2:1-8 He chose the lowly, uneducated. Even if HE does give us skills, knowledge, gifts, righteousness, we should not boost/brag about it.
Romans 12:3-4, 16 Think not too highly of self, even of what GOD has done in you.
I love the country song "10 foot tall & bullet proof". When drinking, a person can feel like they are 10 ft. tall & bullet proof, but after the buzz/high is gone, and the night ends, the crash comes.
And I also used the analogy of Superman.
Even Superman COULD be held in a prison/jail/bondage if and when exposed to Kryptonite.
Samson had super-natural strength. But as far as I know from the bible, he didn't brag about it. Even Samson was able to be held against his will after his hair was cut.
Jeremiah was a true prophet of GOD. And The Spirit of GOD had always been with Jeremiah even before birth. Same with Samson. But Jeremiah was able to be held against his will in prisons/jails and dungeons and wells.
NONE of us are Superman. And even if we are, we would still be weak when exposed to our own form of Kryptonite, which is lack of prayer, lack of fasting, lack of sleep, lack of focus on JESUS, lack of reading the bible and lack of passion. All of these things are our Kryptonites which make us weak. AND PRIDE is also our Kryptonite!
And false doctrine and legalism are also our Kryptonite!
There are LOTS of things that make us weak. We are HUMAN, even if the presence of GOD is strong upon us!
Paul, Jeremiah, John and many other true men of GOD, FULL of The Spirit of GOD was able to be captured and held against their will. IF you think that you are 10 foot tall and bullet proof, you need to humble yourself!
Noah was the ONLY righteous man on the Earth and he MUST have also been a GREAT ship builder. But he did NOT brag about how great of a builder that GOD had made him, or that GOD has chosen him. EVEN if it was TRUE! He still didn't go around telling people how great he was, or how great his skills were.
The bible says that Moses was very humble. But he had been a prince in Egypt. He was powerful, rich and famous. But he never bragged about any of it.
Jesus was GOD. But never straight out said those words "I am GOD". Although HE did say it many times in much more humble & elusive ways. HE was also a carpenter by trade/skill/career. And you know that HE MUST have been a GREAT carpenter/builder with MUCH skill. But HE never claimed to be the BEST at anything. EVEN IF IT WAS TRUE.
Even if we are truly the best at our job, or singing, or something else, we should NOT be telling people that we are the best. That's pride! EVEN IF IT'S TRUE, OR EVEN AS A TESTIMONY TO GOD.
And if and when we give testimony about what GOD has done in us, we should say "GOD HAS" or "JESUS HAS".
To leave out those words is NOT giving GOD the glory!
Paul was extremely highly educated, and even studied under a well renowned expert in Judaism. He briefly mentioned his studies. But he never bragged about it. He never said he was the best in anything. He was a tent maker. But he never said that he was the BEST tent maker in the world. And he never said that he could make tents BETTER than someone else older or more experienced, even if it was true.
Concerning the 5 Holy Days in the End Time timeline, NO human could possibly do what was done. JESUS did it. NOT me and NOT any member of this congregation. JESUS gave me each piece of the puzzle, one piece at a time over many years. Finally, when JESUS allowed me to see the full picture, HE led me to teach it to the people, and then Brother AJ was led by GOD to put it into a time line chart. It was THE SPIRIT OF GOD that led AJ and me in this. It was NOT our skills or abilities. It doesn't make us wise or smart or intelligent or great in any way. It is only by the mercy and grace and choosing by GOD that HE led us in this. NO human could possibly put it all together correctly. Over my life time, I have seen MANY people attempt to draw outlines of the end time. But The Spirit of GOD always gave me discernment that they were ALL wrong. They were trying to do the outline depending upon their own knowledge and human thinking. NOT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD LEADING THEM. But I can guarantee you that EVERYONE of those people would THINK and CLAIM that The Spirit of GOD led them. Yet it was NOT true.
1 Peter 5:5-6 Humble Thyself.
Mark 9:33-35 The disciples wondered which one of them were the greatest. But JESUS said that to become the greatest among any group, we first have to be the least, and to be a servant.
We can't be a great teacher or great minister or great pastor or great anything, until we first learn how to be humble, and sit on the back row, and keep our mouth shut, and listen and learn, usually over many years. We must first learn how to be the least, and be everyone else's servant.
Mark 10:45 Mark 14:55-61 and Isa.53 entire chapter: Christ came as the suffering servant. HE didn't come the first time as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, but rather, at first HE came as a little baby, and then even as a grown man, HE was a servant and never claimed to be the BEST at his carpenter work or speaking skills. Although I guarantee you that HE was the BEST carpenter and speaker in the world, in all human history. Yet when it came the time of his court trial, HE didn't say very much. Mostly, HE kept his mouth shut and remained silent. In this way, HE submitted himself again to the government of mankind. His arrest was NOT Justice, it was NOT fair. The accusations against HIM was all lies. What happened to HIM was NOT right. But HE still submitted HIMSELF to the governments of mankind, in realization that HE came TO suffer and to be our servant. HE didn't come the 1st time as the LION of Judah, but as The LAMB OF GOD.
Proverbs 16:16-19 It takes humility to accept correction.
Pride hinders the acceptance of correction.
The correction might not always come at the right time, or in the right way. It might not come in gentleness. But whenever it comes, we should be willing to take the time to examine ourselves before we blow it off as a lie.
We cannot usually smell ourselves very often. Most of the time, other people around us can smell us much better than we can smell ourselves. And the same is true about seeing ourselves. We cannot see our face, or our hair on the top of our head. And we can't really see very well our legs. But other people can see us much better. And they can even pick up on (discern) certain things that we say, and we don't realize that we are saying something out of pride, or hate, or ignorance. But other people can hear it and know it, when we can't. We should be willing and able to listen to other people's criticism of us. Some times it might be false accusations. But we should at least truly, sincerely and deeply, double examine ourselves just to be sure about whether it really is a lie, or something that we didn't know about ourselves.
ALL of us, EVERYONE OF US, have SOME pride. Whether you think you do, or not. We all do.
Just in different degrees.
We should take the time examine our self about our pride and get control of it.
If you think that you do NOT have any pride, you are deceived about yourself and you need to listen to someone who can see you better than you can see yourself. A mirror is very helpful. Our friends, family and brothers and sisters and pastors, are excellent mirrors that can tell us what we can't see.
Rev.3:14-22 These verses were written to the END TIME CHURCH, that is us!
JESUS said to us that we THINK we are spiritually rich, meaning full of HIS Spirit.
But the reality is, we are POOR in spirit and righteousness and passion.
This is NOT false accusation by the pastor. But rather, it is what JESUS said about the majority of true followers of JESUS in this end time.
It's time to humble ourselves in fasting and prayer, and repentance.
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