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NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Nothingness
Publishing Date: 2014-08-03T06:00:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/nothingness/

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We are still on the topic of the community of the spirit.

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Wayne, am I good to go?

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Am I loud enough?

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And the battery is good, yeah.

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So, today we talk about nothingness.

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So here's how we start this, guys.

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Any community that is forged by the spirit,

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any community that is forged by the spirit

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must cultivate, must cultivate humility as its garden soil.

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You know, every time I walk on my balcony,

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there's this old lady about three apartments away

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who comes with her husband onto her balcony.

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And man, it's a small balcony,

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but they've created this amazing garden in that balcony.

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And they'll sit there for hours,

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mushing up the soil,

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and I'll see them taking spoons and putting something into the soil.

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And they make the soil the kind of soil that allows things to grow.

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And so any community that is forged by the spirit

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has to cultivate humility as its garden soil.

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And so that's what we'll be talking about.

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I mentioned some of these points about two years ago,

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but it's time to go over them again.

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Guys, here's the thing, guys.

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If you're a community of the spirit,

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one of the things we need to realize is that the spirit himself is humble.

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In his very nature, the Holy Spirit is humble.

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I mean, when you read John chapter 16,

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you'll see him saying stuff like Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit,

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and he'll say things about the Holy Spirit like

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the Holy Spirit will not speak on his own.

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The Holy Spirit will only speak what he hears.

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The Holy Spirit will not take from what is his,

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but will take from what is mine.

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The Holy Spirit will not glorify himself.

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These are not strict orders given to the Holy Spirit,

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saying you should not do this.

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It's not like that. The Holy Spirit is God.

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And yet, the Holy Spirit in his nature is humble.

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Therefore, if the Holy Spirit in his nature is humble,

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then a community that is forged or created by him

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has to have humility as the garden soil in which everything grows.

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So it's his very nature.

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So just keep that in the back of your mind, that it's his very nature.

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The Holy Spirit is humble.

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And that's why when Jesus operates by the Spirit,

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you can see why he walks humbly.

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And it also shows us then that God is humble.

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Because the Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Christ.

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John 4.24 essentially says God is Spirit.

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So the Father is humble.

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All day that the Father is humble,

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but not necessarily the community he has created.

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In his very essence, the Spirit of God is humble.

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So humility endears a man to God.

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And what happens then is that the work of the Spirit accelerates in your life

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when humility is your ground soil.

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Hey, Heidi, can you just try plugging that plug-in again?

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Because the fan went off.

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Can you just?

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Just try it again.

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Thanks.

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Wayne will handle that.

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So humility endears a man to God

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and accelerates the work of the Spirit in his life.

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Just think of that, guys, for a second.

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If humility is becoming first nature to you,

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then the works of God will be accelerated faster in your life.

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And if humility is not first nature to you,

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then what will happen is the pride that encases us

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will become resistant to the works of the Spirit.

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So it's one or the other, eh?

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Let me say that again.

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Humility endears a man to God

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and accelerates the work of the Spirit in his life.

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Pride encases a man with armor

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which is increasingly resistant to the works of the Spirit

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or is increasingly resistant to anybody the Spirit sends to you.

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This is why, can you see now why God said,

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listen, I will give grace to the humble?

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Guys, just think of what's being said here.

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I will give grace to the humble.

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I will give grace to the humble.

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That's what the Bible says.

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I will give grace to the humble.

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Imagine these are speakers, eh? Not fans.

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So here's the thing, guys.

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We are sons of God, but we are often,

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even though we are sons of God, we are children of pride.

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Job 41.34 says that Leviathan, which is the Spirit,

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is the ruler over the sons of pride.

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Over the children of pride.

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So it's possible for Jacob at once to be a son of God

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and at the same time a child of pride.

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It's possible.

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What harmony can be there, guys?

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So you say this is not you,

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then here are the questions you need to ask yourself.

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Is there self-centeredness?

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My answer is yes.

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I'm talking about myself.

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Is there superiority?

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My answer is yes.

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Is there self-justification?

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My answer is yes.

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Is there self-promotion?

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My answer is yes.

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Is there self-preservation,

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where I preserve myself and things around me first before anybody else?

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Yes.

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Is there envy?

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Occasionally, yes.

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Is there independence?

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Oh, yeah.

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So every now and then, on almost a daily basis,

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I'm on both sides of the equation.

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I'm a son of God, but often I'm a child of pride,

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and pride begins to encase me.

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And whenever pride encases me,

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I'm resistant to the work of the Spirit.

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Because it is humility that endears me to God

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and allows the Spirit of God to work with me,

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because God gives grace to the humble,

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but he resists, as in stands up in battle against,

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are they that God would do that?

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Two places in the New Testament, 1 Peter 5, 5 and James 4,

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two places God says, and in the Old Testament,

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that I resist, as in I stand up and take a battle position against.

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I resist you, Jacob, when you are pride,

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but I give, as in pour out grace to the humble.

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Which means when we talk about the community of the Spirit,

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if you want the work of the Spirit to prosper in your life,

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then it's required that I cultivate this quality called humility.

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There's another interesting verse in James 3, 13,

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it says, where envy and self-seeking exist,

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confusion and every evil thing exists.

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Where envy and self-seeking exist,

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there is confusion and in some versions it says,

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every demonic thing that exists.

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So I'm hoping that we will be delivered from the Spirit,

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because we are influenced by it to varying degrees,

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and I'm praying that the sent word that is spoken today has the power,

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it does have the power, but I pray that it will fall on meek hearts.

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If you're sitting there with a proud heart, then it won't help you,

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but if you're sitting here with a meek heart,

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then the sent word can set you into a place where you don't have to labor under this.

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So how do we resist the Spirit of pride,

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or the Leviathan who is king over the children of pride as it says in Job 41, 34,

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we resist the Spirit obviously by preferring humility,

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by preferring humility,

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and here's the first definition for humility,

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nothingness, nothingness.

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Humility in its essence is nothingness, nothingness.

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1 Corinthians 4, 7 says this,

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what do you have that you didn't receive?

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What do you have that you didn't receive?

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What do you have that you didn't receive?

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Your ability to speak, oops, too bad, your tongue was given by God.

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Your ability to hear, the air you breathe, the children you have, the dogs you have,

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the cats you have, the shelter over your head.

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What is it that you have that you did not receive?

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What is it that you have that you did not receive?

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And if you did receive everything, why do you Jacob, act as if you hadn't received it?

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Why do you act as if you didn't receive it?

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I mean if you ran an audit of my life,

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would you discover in me anything that I could take credit for?

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Anything.

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Even when I do good, Philippians 3 says that God wills me and gives me the desire to do good.

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So what is it that you, if you did an audit of me, could find that Jacob could take credit for?

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Nothing, man.

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There's not an iota of information that I know about the Canucks or that I know about aircrafts

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that actually comes because I learned it myself.

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I have a memory, I have a brain, who gave that?

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There's nothing.

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So isn't everything you have received a sheer gift from God?

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And this is why Jesus said in John 5 19,

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Assuredly I say to you, the son can do nothing by himself.

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The son can do nothing by himself.

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Guys, practice this.

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Forget the word humility and begin to use the word nothingness.

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This is the attitude man should have before God.

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Nothingness.

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Because once I have this attitude of nothingness, God can be all and do all.

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Why?

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Because we go back to what we've been saying for the last few weeks.

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The flesh profits nothing.

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The spirit gives life.

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At the end of the day, guys,

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nothingness, if I can begin to understand humility in terms of nothingness,

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now God can be all and do all because this is the attitude that man should have before God.

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This is why God could be all and do all through Jesus

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because Jesus very clearly said, Assuredly I say to you, the son can do nothing for himself.

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In a sense, guys, redemption is the restoration of humility.

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As in, it brings us back to a place of entire dependence on God.

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Redemption is the restoration of lost humility.

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How did man lose his place in God? Pride.

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How did Lucifer lose his place in God? Pride.

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Why do people still find it difficult to accept Jesus? Pride.

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So redemption is the restoration of lost humility where people are once again dependent on a savior.

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You don't need a savior if you think you are self-made or able to do things on your own.

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So let this attitude be now found in you, just as it was found in Christ.

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So here are the basic equations. I possess nothing. I possess nothing.

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I possess nothing. There is nothing I possess. Everything has been given to me.

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So my car, my house, my wife, my children, my job, my bank account, my church, my this, my that.

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It's the first thing a child learns. My toy, my mama, my papa, my house.

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I possess nothing. I possess nothing.

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I possess nothing. The second thing is what I presently have was not obtained but bestowed.

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What I presently have was not obtained but bestowed.

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It's so hard to think like this, guys. You know, it's fine to hear a sermon like this in a church

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and nod saying, hmm, good point. But man, when you are out there on a daily basis to practice,

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this is a whole different ballgame because every time it comes up, nothingness has to come in.

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And thirdly, my nothingness must be filled.

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See, here's where we are different from so many religions in the world.

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In other religions, they love nothingness. So they'll go sit on the top of the Himalaya

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or resign themselves to a monastery where they'll take a vow of silence and live in poverty.

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And so to bring themselves to nothingness in many of the main religions of the world is a great thing.

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But here's the difference, guys. With us, our nothingness must be filled.

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And it must be filled with God. And it can be only filled with God through unceasing dependence.

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This is a huge difference between us and the other religions.

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All other religions talk about disowning things. Bede, what's his name? The guy from Tibet.

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The Dalai Lama, a beat, a monk somewhere, a beat guru or whatever.

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All of them keep talking about, oh, become nothing, become poor of everything. That's good.

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But that ain't the end. Because we as humans were not meant to be nothings.

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We are now supposed to come to a place where once you get to a place of nothingness,

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your nothingness needs to be filled. And it must be filled with God.

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And it can only be filled with God through unceasing dependence. Awesome God, man.

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Marvelous master planner he is. That's how he works.

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So guys, it also applies then that to the extent that I resist nothingness,

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to the extent that I resist nothingness,

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to the extent that I resist nothingness,

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I am filled with substance not sourced from God,

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but the flesh.

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To the extent that I resist nothingness,

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to that extent I am filled with substance not sourced from God, but from the flesh.

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And we know from John 6 63, which we'll repeat throughout this year,

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The flesh profits nothing. The spirit gives life.

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My nothingness must be filled with God.

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To the extent that I resist nothingness.

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So every time Jacob thinks that his ability or his prowess or his caliber is something,

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Jacob has some of God and some of his own flesh.

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And because of that, what is produced won't be pure God.

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It'll always be a mixture.

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And others will get diarrhea if they eat it.

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Because it's always mixed with Jacob's sweat.

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And that ain't tasty.

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Can't put it cruder than that.

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Did anyone throw up? No.

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Any questions before we go on?

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Just on the side guys,

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always remember loving kindness that we sang about today.

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Try loving kindness on people.

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And two, whenever you correct somebody,

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make sure that kindness and honor are the framework that you use to correct somebody.

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Because I can correct somebody and it can be solid correction.

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But if honor and kindness are not there, the correction is seen as criticism and hardness.

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So when honor and loving kindness are the framework you use to correct somebody,

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it probably will have greater results.

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So at least it will be received well.

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What happens after that is a person's choice.

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That's just on the side.

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Okay, let's go on to the next thing.

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Next definition.

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Humility is not devaluation.

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Humility is not devaluation.

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But this is the next one.

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Self-forgetfulness.

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This is a C.S. Lewis term.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.000
Self-forgetfulness.

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:30.000
Humility is not devaluation, but self-forgetfulness.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.000
So one, it's nothingness.

00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:37.000
Two, it's self-forgetfulness.

00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:44.000
So self-forgetfulness is basically the opposite of self-engrossment, self-indulgence, self-importance.

00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.000
The opposite of self-importance is self-forgetfulness.

00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.000
That's the best way to define it.

00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.000
Because all of us understand self-importance.

00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:55.000
So what do we mean by self-forgetfulness?

00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:01.000
It's the opposite of self-importance.

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.000
So how do you define what Vancouver is?

00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.000
Vancouver is what Toronto is not.

00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.000
Immediately you understand what it means.

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.000
That's what it means.

00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:14.000
So self-forgetfulness, that was supposed to be slightly funny, but let's move on.

00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.000
Self-forgetfulness is the opposite of self-importance.

00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.000
Guys, here's what self-forgetfulness does.

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:37.000
Self-forgetfulness recognizes the value of your abilities.

00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:44.000
Self-forgetfulness recognizes the value of your abilities.

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:51.000
And yet, so if I say I am someone who is practicing self-forgetfulness,

00:21:51.000 --> 00:22:04.000
I recognize the value of my abilities, and yet I forget about myself.

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000
Self-forgetfulness recognizes the value of my given abilities, as in God-given abilities,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000
and yet I forget about myself.

00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.000
That's self-forgetfulness.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.000
Where, okay, Jacob, you teach well.

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:23.000
Yeah, that's a God-given ability sponsored entirely by the Spirit of God,

00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:27.000
because teaching is one of the gifts that the Spirit of God gives.

00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.000
So it's a gift.

00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:39.000
So it's a given ability, but having recognized the value that this ability may have in doing what I do,

00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:47.000
I then have to learn how to forget about myself without devaluing the ability.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:52.000
What sometimes happens with us Christians is we devalue the ability also.

00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:57.000
Oh, you cook well. Ah, no, I'm just an average cook. I'm just useless.

00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:02.000
If it tasted good, it must be the Lord or a sprinkle of salt that fell in by mistake.

00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:06.000
No. That's devaluation.

00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:12.000
So you recognize the value of your ability, but you forget about yourself.

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.000
I mean, I love what C.S. Lewis writes.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:21.000
He says, it's the state of mind, and then from there on I change the words, but this is basically his idea.

00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:28.000
It is the state of mind where you can, Jacob, write a song that is sung in every church of the world.

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.000
That you can publish a book, Jacob, that influences millions.

00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.000
That you can raise the dead.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.000
That you can receive a million dollars from a donor for your ministry.

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:48.000
And yet, you would be no less glad had someone else received the money or done the same.

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.000
That is self-forgetfulness.

00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:57.000
You know, I was talking with Derek last week, and I was asking myself this question.

00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:02.000
That last week, had Eric raised that dead boy,

00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.000
would I have been as happy for him as I would have been for myself?

00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:14.000
If I had gone and raised a boy, and if Eric had gone and raised a boy, would I have been happy that the boy was raised?

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.000
Yeah. But would I have been more happy if it was me?

00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.000
Or would I have been equally happy if it was Eric?

00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:28.000
Very often, guys, you'll find out that you would be very happy if it was you,

00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:35.000
but if it happens to someone else, the happiness is little, less.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:40.000
Sometimes when someone else gets a house, you think to yourself,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:43.000
hmm, maybe, how come they got it? They don't deserve it.

00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:48.000
If someone else gets rich, hmm, how come they're rich? I work harder.

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.000
Surely they must have got it through some underhand method.

00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.000
If someone else gets something better, hmm, how come they got it?

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.000
I have prayed more. Surely there must be some tax evasion here.

00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:04.000
We come up with all kinds of reasons to envy those that are doing well.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000
Had it happened to you, you would be fine.

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:18.000
We don't like it when you're standing in a shop for three hours taking care of everything,

00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:24.000
and the boss comes in at five o'clock, and from two to four thirty, four forty-five, you've been working hard.

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:30.000
And your helper isn't there. But the helper comes fifteen minutes before closing,

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:38.000
and he stands there, and he gets all the credit while you feel rotten that you should have deserved it, but he gets it.

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.000
It's amazing the things we envy.

00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.000
Nothingness and self-forgetfulness is not natural for us.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.000
You saw that in the parable where the servants came up and said,

00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.000
We have worked the whole day. They have worked for fifteen minutes.

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.000
Why are you giving them a dinari and giving us the same?

00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.000
And the master had to reply, What is it to you?

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:15.000
Every time a preacher has six planes that he's giving away and flying around, it's immediately, hmm, he must be doing something wrong.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:20.000
Perhaps he is, perhaps he's not, but immediately what happens is envy and stuff like that comes in.

00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Nothingness and self-forgetfulness, you may think you, see here's the strange thing about both pride and humility.

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:34.000
You never know that you have it, but others who see you know that you have it.

00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:42.000
Both pride and humility exist in a person, and you won't know you have it, but others who see you will know it.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:51.000
So if you have pride in your life, you will walk oblivious to it because you don't think you're a proud person, but everybody else sees it.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:53.000
And if you have humility in your life, it's the same thing.

00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:59.000
You don't know that you have humility in your life, but everybody else sees it.

00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:05.000
You're the only one who doesn't know whether you are proud or whether you are humble, but it shows on the outside.

00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:14.000
So I'd really suggest that you go examine this self-forgetfulness, because as I'm talking, I can see some of you thinking, I don't have this.

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:18.000
Oh man, if I could only speak my heart and tell you.

00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:25.000
I could point out areas in your life, specific instances where I've seen you display this.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:27.000
Yeah.

00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:29.000
CS Lewis then goes on to put it this way.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:35.000
The strongest, most beautiful of vices is pride.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.000
It's when I'm proud of something Christian for reasons other than Christ.

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.000
The strongest, most beautiful vice is pride.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000
CS Lewis writes this book called Screw Troubles.

00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:54.000
Which is a letter from a big demon to a small demon as to, hey, let me teach you how to get this Christian or these Christians.

00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:01.000
And so the big demon is telling the little demon, listen, the strongest and the most beautiful of sins is pride.

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:08.000
So try to get these Christians to become very happy about something Christian without Christ being at the center.

00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:11.000
If you can get them to do that, you've got them.

00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:18.000
Because that's what through Satan and Adam, out of their positions.

00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:25.000
Any questions before we go on?

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:30.000
Others will.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:37.000
Others will.

00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:46.000
I wish I could say categorically that I will be like, you know, I'm a Christian.

00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:56.000
I wish I could say categorically that I will be like Moses and then like Jesus one day because they said of Moses that he's the meekest man on earth.

00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.000
And Jesus obviously was not proud.

00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:03.000
I wish I could say that that's how I'm going to be in the next one year.

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:08.000
But that would be, then I would have to preach on lying and self flattery.

00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.000
Because this is a process.

00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:18.000
I'm finding so many areas of nothingness absent and self forgetfulness absent in my life.

00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:23.000
So many.

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:30.000
We'll talk about that when we get to how we relate to each other and how humility is involved in it.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:31.000
We'll get to that.

00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:36.000
But remember guys, envy and self seeking are caused by pride.

00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.000
Many failures and defects in my life are caused by pride.

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:45.000
When there's envy, it comes because I see you having something that I want.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:50.000
When there's, I mean, you throw humility out of the equation.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:53.000
You throw it out of the equation.

00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.000
You throw it out of the equation.

00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:06.000
When there's, I mean, you throw humility out of the equation and love becomes dominance or ownership.

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.000
Resources become security.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:15.000
Wants become covetousness.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:21.000
It's amazing how you take out this thing called humility out of life and everything morphs.

00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:28.000
Everything changes.

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:38.000
And yet if it's a community forged by the spirit, this is supposed to be something that we have.

00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:44.000
I don't know why this incident comes to mind, but I was flying from Dubai to Jakarta.

00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:47.000
And I'd gotten an upgrade to business class.

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:53.000
I'm sitting in business class and an Indonesian man who doesn't seem to speak much English,

00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.000
doesn't have much of an education from the way he looked and I could be completely wrong,

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:01.000
had an economy seat and the flight was delayed.

00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000
So he quietly came up and sat in business class.

00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:13.000
And there were a lot of empty seats, tons of empty seats and he sat in the business class.

00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:18.000
I was surprised at how people reacted.

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.000
First they tried to look at him and shame him.

00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:22.000
He couldn't care less.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:30.000
He put the blanket around him and he closed his eyes because he was enjoying it.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:33.000
And I was thinking to myself, you paid the same cost.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:34.000
You got an upgrade.

00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.000
So you're sitting here.

00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:37.000
Let him enjoy it.

00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:39.000
Don't you think any other way?

00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:46.000
And there was no question of thinking any other way because I was actually beginning to enjoy the boldest message he was doing.

00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:52.000
Finally guys, two people got up and went to the steward.

00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:57.000
And they went and told the person, this fellow should not be here.

00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:00.000
And they came, caught him and took him back.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:03.000
Now perhaps what he did was wrong.

00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:12.000
But I was surprised at the motivations and the conversations and the thing that was rising up in people because someone had taken up a place.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:18.000
Guys, pride will always seek equality.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:22.000
Humility will confer equality.

00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:24.000
Pride will seek equality.

00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:28.000
As in, we are all equal if we have paid this price.

00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.000
So we can be equal.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:32.000
If you haven't paid it, you cannot come here.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.000
Pride seeks equality.

00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.000
Humility confers equality.

00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:40.000
Adam sought equality in Eden.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:43.000
The first Adam sought equality in Eden.

00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:48.000
The last Adam conferred equality in Gethsemane.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:51.000
That's the difference.

00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:54.000
Pride seeks equality.

00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.000
That's why covetousness begins to come in.

00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.000
That's why envy begins to come in.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:02.000
You begin to seek while humility confers it.

00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:09.000
Where you confer to others what is yours and you confer it freely.

00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:22.000
Oh, how we get our, as the Brits say, knickers in a knot when these things happen.

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:24.000
So let me read that again.

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:26.000
May you ponder on it.

00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:32.000
Self-forgetfulness is the state of mind where you can write a song that is sung in every church in the world.

00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.000
Publish a book that influences millions.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:37.000
Raise the dead.

00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:41.000
Receive a million dollars from a donor for your ministry.

00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:48.000
And yet, you would be no less glad had someone else received and done the same.

00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:53.000
This was Saul's problem, because the ladies started singing.

00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:58.000
Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his ten thousands.

00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.000
Boom!

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:02.000
I am a king.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:08.000
He's a harpist who I promoted to go in my army.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.000
And now the ladies who have been singing about me are singing about him.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:13.000
I have spent years.

00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:15.000
He has hardly spent some time.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:17.000
I deserve this. I worked for this.

00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:22.000
He just comes on the scene.

00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:26.000
This is the same thing that makes us older people resist the younger ones.

00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:29.000
You haven't paid the price.

00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.000
How dare you?

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.000
This is the same thing that arises in us as parents when our kids rebel.

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:41.000
It's surprising how as parents and uncles, because I can only speak as an uncle,

00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:45.000
how parents and uncles, when a young kid does something that's defiant,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.000
the first thing that comes up in us is pride and anger.

00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:52.000
Pride and anger come up.

00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:59.000
And yet those two things don't come up in the heart of God.

00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:04.000
Pride and anger rise up first.

00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.000
It's the cause behind so many things. Let's move on.

00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:12.000
Guys, in any circumstance, when the soil of my heart is proud,

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.000
the grace that God has for me in that circumstance is resisted.

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:21.000
Whenever the soil of my heart is proud, in any circumstance that I am in,

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:25.000
in that area, the grace that God wants to pour is resisted

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.000
because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:38.000
So in any circumstance you're in, the first thing you have to do is walk humbly.

00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:40.000
Today is the day of confessions.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:46.000
I was thinking that there were certain jobs below my standard that I wouldn't do.

00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:50.000
And I got poorer and poorer and greater and greater into debt

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:53.000
until I remember one day going to the Greyhound bus station

00:35:53.000 --> 00:36:01.000
and taking up a job that someone had offered to clean buses when they come back from a long haul.

00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:06.000
It is surprising. The day I did that, the next day, this was 20 years ago,

00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:12.000
the next day I started working at Emmanuel Baptist.

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:18.000
But there was a need for a step down.

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:23.000
Because in the circumstance or the situation that you are in,

00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:28.000
when God wants to pour in grace, the first thing that happens is one needs to take on a humble heart.

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:31.000
Otherwise, grace is resisted.

00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:33.000
And it's not that God is not pouring out grace.

00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:38.000
It's that you're not able to receive it.

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:44.000
Like I said earlier, pride resists the Savior. Pride resists the Savior.

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:48.000
Many are not getting saved because they're too proud to accept the Savior.

00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:50.000
You've got to be bankrupt.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:57.000
It's not that they are not bankrupt, but they're not willing to admit their bankruptcy.

00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:00.000
It's also key to receiving the Word, guys.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.000
It's also key to receiving the Word.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:06.000
This is one of Eddie's favorite lines, James 1.21.

00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:07.000
It says there,

00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:13.000
In humility, receive the Word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:16.000
So it's impossible to even change.

00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:18.000
I mean, didn't we say this?

00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:23.000
That the Spirit, the words that I speak to you are Spirit and life.

00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:29.000
So even for those words to affect you, the words will not affect you when my heart is proud

00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:36.000
because it will be resisted because the Bible says it is only in meekness and humility that you can receive the Word.

00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:51.000
So there's a, the quality of your hearing and your teachability has a direct correlation to humility.

00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:58.000
The quality of your hearing and your teachability has a direct correlation to humility.

00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:02.000
Because pride will even resist the Word of God.

00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:03.000
Wow!

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:05.000
What do we have left then?

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:07.000
Pride resists the Spirit of God.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:10.000
Pride resists grace.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:12.000
And pride resists the Word of God.

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:15.000
What do we have left then?

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:18.000
Scary, eh?

00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:23.000
And yet we've taken this as a regular part of life.

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:28.000
1 Corinthians 8.3 in the message puts it this way.

00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:32.000
Sometimes, I love the way he phrases it.

00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:39.000
Sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds.

00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:46.000
Sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds.

00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:52.000
Any questions before we go on to humility in interpersonal relationships?

00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:55.000
Any questions?

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000
In Matthew 13.15 Jesus very well said,

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.000
In Matthew 13.15 Jesus very clearly said,

00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:16.000
that dullness of hearing comes when one walks in, does not walk in humility.

00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:18.000
Okay, let's talk about relationships.

00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.000
Like I said earlier guys, pride and humility are similar.

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:27.000
Both hide themselves in the mind and in the heart.

00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:30.000
So that's the kind of humility that we have.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:33.000
So that's the kind of humility that we have.

00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:39.000
They hide themselves in the person so that the person does not see he has them.

00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:44.000
Pride and humility are similar.

00:39:44.000 --> 00:40:01.000
Both hide in a person so that he does not know he has them.

00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:04.000
He has them. But others do.

00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:09.000
This is the crazy part, but others do.

00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:18.000
A humble person will never go around like I do, telling people that I'm the humblest man on earth.

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:24.000
But others will see that you know a humble person when you meet the person.

00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:26.000
You know a humble person.

00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:29.000
Oh by the way, just so you know,

00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:35.000
Sue's mom always thought I was one of the humblest guys on earth.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:40.000
I'm laughing because every time she used to say it, I used to think, wow, if only she knew.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:43.000
But maybe she's right. You don't know.

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:51.000
But anyways, pride and humility are similar in that both hide in a person

00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:56.000
so that he does not know he has them.

00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:57.000
But others do.

00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:00.000
So you will know a proud person because it's obvious.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:03.000
It spills out and you will know a humble person too.

00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:12.000
Guys, here's another thing about humility in interpersonal relationship,

00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:17.000
be it husband, wife, be it pastor, church, friends.

00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:22.000
Without humility, I can't accept my weaknesses.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.000
Without humility, I can't accept my weaknesses.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.000
I can state my weaknesses, but I can't accept them.

00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.000
I don't own or say that...

00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.000
Let's put it this way.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:42.000
Without humility, anything that a person says to me, I will see as criticism and I'll cringe from it.

00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:45.000
I'll cringe from it.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:50.000
Oh man, how my defenses go up when people criticize.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:58.000
The first response whenever I face criticism, perhaps a little less now, but still present, is defense.

00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:02.000
I'm already thinking of how to defend this instead of thinking of,

00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:05.000
is there any truth in this that perhaps I can receive?

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:08.000
Why is that pride again, man?

00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:18.000
Because humility allows me to perhaps deal with weaknesses that you may point out, but pride won't. Pride won't.

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:22.000
And like I said earlier, regardless of whether the spirit of God points it out

00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:35.000
or whether someone who's sent by the spirit of God points it out, pride will always resist it.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:45.000
Humility prevents me from getting terribly unsettled when I'm exploited or taken advantage of

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:50.000
or when I'm ignored or when someone else is preferred before me.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:59.000
Humility prevents me from getting terribly unsettled when I'm exploited or taken advantage of

00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:04.000
or when I'm ignored or when someone else is preferred before me.

00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:09.000
Humility prevents me from getting terribly unsettled.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.000
It's still unsettling when people exploit.

00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:14.000
The initial feeling when you're exploited is, how could they do it?

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.000
But humility will help you come to a place where you won't be terribly unsettled.

00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:24.000
You can work with being exploited. You can work with someone else being preferred.

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:27.000
It's okay. Because what do you do?

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:32.000
You go back to the understanding that there is this thing called nothingness that you walk in,

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.000
that you live in self-forgetfulness.

00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.000
You recognize the value that has been given to you by the abilities God has given you,

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:47.000
but you work in self-forgetfulness.

00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:58.000
Philippians 2.3, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.

00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:02.000
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.

00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:05.000
Just if you could practice that one.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:06.000
This is that one.

00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:13.000
That I will not do anything out of selfishness as in self-centeredness or empty conceit,

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:21.000
but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.

00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:27.000
This is why I said the line I said, pride seeks equality, humility confers equality.

00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:33.000
The first Adam sought it in Eden, the last Adam conferred it at Gethsemane.

00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:35.000
I love this line. I've read it to you before.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:42.000
As long as I set myself up as a little God to which you must be loyal.

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:47.000
We do this, man. Husbands do it with their wives, wives with their husbands,

00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:49.000
teachers with their students, pastors with the church.

00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:53.000
As long as I set myself up as a little God.

00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:57.000
You know those smiling Buddhas that you see in restaurants?

00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:02.000
If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to the bakery right at the end of the street.

00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:04.000
He's right behind you, always smiling.

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:12.000
So the point is, as long as I set myself up as a little God that you must be loyal to,

00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:20.000
there will be those who I will demand their deference from then

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:25.000
and there will be those who will deliberately come and offend me.

00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:32.000
So as a pastor, if I set myself up as a little idol in this church that you must be loyal to,

00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:37.000
I can guarantee you that I'll spend every month agitated

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:44.000
because not everyone is giving me deference, respect and loyalty that I as this little idol deserves.

00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:52.000
So every time you do anything that agitates me, it bothers me.

00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:57.000
Why? Because I've set myself up as a little idol that you have to be loyal to,

00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:59.000
that you have to give deference to.

00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:04.000
And whenever you set yourself up as a little idol, be it in a marriage, be it in a church,

00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:09.000
remember that there will be people who will come to offend you.

00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:17.000
And you've got to get off that idol pedestal because otherwise you won't be able to live.

00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:21.000
If it's not people, it will be circumstances

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:24.000
because little idols want to control everything guys.

00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:27.000
Little idols like controlling everything.

00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:30.000
A little thing goes out of here, you get agitated.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:33.000
You think it's just what you learn from your mother.

00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:35.000
Let me tell you what you learn from your mother then.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:37.000
It's called pride.

00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:44.000
So let me read it as it is.

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:49.000
As long as I set myself up as a little god to which you must be loyal,

00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:53.000
there will be those who I will demand deference from

00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:57.000
and there will be those who will delight in offending my idol.

00:46:57.000 --> 00:46:59.000
Always.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:06.000
Let me end.

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:12.000
Remove humility from the equation and love morphs into ownership.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:16.000
How can that be true, Jacob?

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.000
The scripture to back it up.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:20.000
Husbands, love your wives.

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:22.000
Wives, submit to your husbands.

00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:23.000
That's one place.

00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:29.000
Another place, husbands, submit your heart and your body to your wives.

00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:31.000
Wives, submit your heart and body to your husbands.

00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:34.000
Be mutually submissive.

00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:36.000
Where does mutual submission come from?

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:41.000
From a willingness to prefer my spouse over myself.

00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:43.000
And what happens when humility goes out of the equation?

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.000
Love becomes ownership.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.000
So love morphs into ownership.

00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:52.000
Faith becomes competitive.

00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:54.000
Faith becomes competitive.

00:47:54.000 --> 00:48:02.000
It's like, I remember in the first three years of my Christianity,

00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:08.000
I used to always want to go and share a testimony

00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:11.000
and oftentimes I would find that I was sharing the testimony

00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:16.000
because I wanted to be known as one who had a story to tell.

00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:19.000
Faith became competitive.

00:48:23.000 --> 00:48:25.000
Need becomes covetousness.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:27.000
Need becomes covetousness.

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:31.000
Resources become security.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:35.000
Spiritual increase becomes elitist.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.000
Self-worth becomes superiority.

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:48.000
Mutual dependence is replaced by dominance in relationships.

00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:50.000
Can happen with you guys.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:52.000
I mean, I'm talking about me with you.

00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:57.000
Instead of being mutually dependent as a pastor, I begin to dominate.

00:48:57.000 --> 00:49:01.000
That's when humility is missing.

00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:05.000
Privileges become entitlement.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:08.000
Privileges become entitlement.

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:14.000
So this week guys, sometimes I think to myself,

00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:17.000
we've got to just keep repeating a message for four weeks

00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:20.000
because how do we handle all these things, man?

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:26.000
It's almost like, stop, let's go over what we already have to do first.

00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:28.000
Because every week I'm telling you this week,

00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:30.000
what about what happened last week?

00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:34.000
We've hardly finished practicing that.

00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:37.000
So I would suggest to you that take some of the things

00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:40.000
that were important in the last two months and stick with it.

00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:44.000
I've got an acronym right now that I'm using.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:46.000
I don't know if that's the word.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:48.000
It's called STAND.

00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:52.000
That's all I'm practicing.

00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:54.000
That and two other things.

00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:56.000
That's all I'm practicing for the last many weeks

00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:59.000
because I can't practice everything every week.

00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:02.000
So out of this, this is self-forgetfulness.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:07.000
And this is nothingness.

00:50:07.000 --> 00:50:09.000
The rest you don't need to know.

00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:11.000
Because if I tell you, I'll have to kill you.

00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:17.000
But that's all I can practice at one time, man.

00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:24.000
So if you so sense and if the Spirit of God is,

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:27.000
no, not if the Spirit of God is prompting you

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:29.000
because he's always prompting you,

00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:33.000
practice this because this is behind so many of our defects and failures.

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:37.000
And this is so resistant to grace, the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:42.000
If you are proud, you are missing out on the grace of God,

00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.000
the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:47.000
Now you may think you have an intimate relationship with God.

00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:49.000
Not true.

00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:51.000
Do not be proud, guys.

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:56.000
Grace, the Spirit of God and the Word of God is what you're resisting.

00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:00.000
So practice self-forgetfulness and nothingness

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.000
and his everythingness this week.

00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:06.000
And Tuesday Bible study, you're good?

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:08.000
Yeah.

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:10.000
Pardon?

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:12.000
Okay.

00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:17.000
So Tuesday Bible study,

00:51:17.000 --> 00:51:19.000
and if anyone needs prayer or anyone has any questions,

00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:20.000
any questions with regard to this?

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:22.000
Wayne, you can answer this.

00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:24.000
Yeah, go ahead.

00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:26.000
How do we encourage each other in this?

00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:29.000
I would say one of the ways to encourage each other,

00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:32.000
at least in the Bible, is to encourage each other.

00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:34.000
And that's the way to do it.

00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:36.000
So, I would say,

00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:38.000
I would say,

00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:40.000
I would say,

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:42.000
I would say,

00:51:42.000 --> 00:51:44.000
I would say,

00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:46.000
I would say,

00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.000
I would say,

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:50.000
I would say,