What is The Key We Need?

[0:00] In this message I want to reveal what is one of the keys to powerful Christian living.

[0:20] ! I also want to put to you that the opposite of this key, or a lack of this key, is really! the downfall of many Christians or ministries or churches and I believe it's one of the greatest enemies of the church, the people of God. Now, I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet, just seeing if anyone might be able to help me, but have a think about this one, one of the keys to powerful Christian living and one of the greatest enemies of the church is a lack of this. One of the greatest hindrances to a Christian, to live a powerful Christian life is to lack this key. And I've seen many slip and fall because of this enemy that dogs their steps and gets them off track. What do you think this key is? Who's got some thoughts about it? What do you think a, now there's lots of the keys to powerful Christian living? Prayer. Prayer. Yeah. What else? The word. The word.

[1:24] Faith. Faith. Obedience. Obedience. Oh, getting a bit warmer now. I don't know what I'm looking for. Love. Love. Yeah. Servanthood. Servanthood. Humility. Humility. Someone say that? Yeah. That's the one I'm looking for. Humility. Humility. It's one of the greatest keys to powerful Christian living. And it's, I'll put it to you, it's how we can better learn, how we can obey, how we can serve, how we can die to self. It sort of wraps up all those other things really.

[2:00] Prayer and the word. Obedience, I think someone said. And that servanthood. It wraps it all up in this key. So I'd like to look at this key tonight. Because without this key, I think that we will be ineffective in some ways in how we learn, how we obey God, how we serve him, and how we die to self. If we don't learn humility, then how can we truly grow in these ways? So Micah 6 verse 8 is the verse I want to start with tonight. Micah 6 and verse 8.

[2:36] It says, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Micah says, walk humbly with thy God. I'll put it to you that this is one of the keys to powerful Christian living is humility. Humility. And humility these days, people might consider this something that's a weakness. You know, they might look down on people that seem to be meek, or lowly, or humble, as if they're weak. But in God's eyes, true humility is a strength. It's a rare quality. It's something that is a genuine humility is a real strength in our lives. And so in contrast to that, a lack of humility, or the opposite of humility is pride. Pride. I'll put it to you that one of the greatest enemies of the church, of the people of God, of ministry, of

[3:38] Christian living, of church, the church of God, the people of God, corporately, is pride. Pride can get in and cause much damage. And so I'll put it to you that the greatest enemy of the church is the opposite of humility. It wells up in the sinful heart of men. It is pride.

[3:58] Pride. Pride is at the heart of sin. We saw it way back in the garden where we saw Adam and Eve. Pride was there. And Satan, as he fell, pride was at the heart of them. So we're going to look at the Word of God tonight, at this quality of humility, one of the keys to powerful Christian living. What did the Lord require of thee? To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with thy God. To let go of pride and to walk humbly with God. Proverbs 15, 33, humility will raise you up to a place of honour in God's sight. And that is what matters the most, isn't it? No, it's not about being big noted before men, but it's before God that he can see your humility. It's something that he rewards. It's something that he acknowledges. In Proverbs 15, 33, 33, it says, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility.

[5:04] Humility. It's not before it in the dictionary, but in life it is true. Before honour is humility. God will honour as we are humble before him. And it's a precious truth in God's Word. Proverbs 15, 33. And when you think about it through life, think about those people that you look up to, that you esteem, that you honour in this life. Sometimes those who are lowly in heart. Those who just simply serve and show their love and their godliness, their Christ-likeness.

[5:39] They are the ones that are worthy to be honoured. Those that might be precious, humble servants of God that we have known in our lives. Sometimes it's those that are the janitor of the church.

[5:51] It's those that see the piece of paper on the floor and pick it up and work in the kitchen and wash the cups and saucers and the plates, the dishes. They are the ones that God says before honour is humility. Before honour is humility. Those precious, humble servants of God.

[6:13] Those that cater for the garden and the odd jobs around the place. The little things, the little things that sometimes we take for granted. Those that serve quietly in praying, in preparing for Bible study, in fellowshipping and being a part of the work, in supporting and encouraging and loving one another. These are the ones that God acknowledges. And truly these are the ones that we can look up to. You know those people with special quality in their lives.

[6:49] It's, you know, sometimes after a church meeting it's that one that comes and shares a smile. It shares a word of encouragement. It shares a scripture. And it says that I'm praying for you.

[7:01] It's those ones that through the week might make a phone call and spare some time to touch base with you, to make contact and to show their Christian love. And it might be things unrecognised and out of the limelight. And that is the special quality of humility. And in a way it's about just being honest before God. As each of us before God can really take that place that we are due.

[7:31] It's really our real standing before God. That we're all just unworthy vessels really for His grace. And not being a bragger or a big shot. Going around big noting ourselves but realising our real standing before God. Because the word says that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. And there was an old time preacher who said this. He said humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. It's not saying, you know, sometimes people have false humility. But it's really humility is, hey, I'm just me. And I just thank God that I'm saved. And that He's blessed me with eternal life. And I just want to bless Him for what He has done for me. There was an ancient theologian that said this. The three greatest virtues of Christianity are humility, humility, and humility. The three greatest virtues.

[8:28] It's true, isn't it? That humility is such a precious and important quality. And our Lord Himself said of John the Baptist. He said that there's none greater amongst prophets than John. John the Baptist. He wasn't really someone that was esteemed or recognised. He didn't have too much credentials that the world could see. But the Lord recognised him as the greatest.

[8:53] This man that was simply a voice. A voice. That's all he was. A voice crying in the wilderness. And John honoured the Lord. And John was honoured by the Lord for His humility. What did he say in John 3 verse 30? He says, He must increase, but I must decrease. You know, it's the scales there, isn't it? As He increases, then I decrease. As I decrease, He increases. As I draw closer to Him, He draws closer to me. As He has more of me, I have more of Him. There's a man called Lucky Baldwin who lived a rough life. He was a bit of a rough diamond. And he was gloriously saved. And God uses him now in prison ministry. And Lucky prayed a prayer one day that puts this truth so neatly. He prayed like this. He said, Oh Lord, I lost nothing and I am nothing. And nothing from nothing leaves nothing. So Christ is everything. Everything. Christ is everything.

[9:59] He is all in all. He's all I need. He is our ultimate resource and source. And if our heart is truly bowed before Him, we can receive from Him, we can receive from Him. And He will be truly our everything. Our everything. As He increases and we decrease. Humility. It's one of the keys of being a useful Christian. Of one of the fundamentals of living a fruitful Christian life. Humility. And the opposite of that is pride and self-will. As it's been said that pride is the oldest sin in the world. Satan demonstrated it, didn't he? And he said, I will. I will. I will. I will be like the most high. And he wanted to reject God's authority.

[10:45] Satan demonstrated pride. It's like one preacher put it, be humble or you will stumble. Be humble or you will stumble. Satan stumbled and he fell. And at the heart of it all was his pride.

[10:59] It's what led Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. They believed the lie of Satan when he said, you shall be as gods. As God. They believed Satan's lie. And pride rose up in their hearts. And pride I put to you today, pride is truly the enemy. The greatest enemy. One of the greatest enemies of the church. The people of God. When pride comes, it can cause a stumbling block. And it's listed amongst the six things that God hates. In Proverbs 6, it talks of, amongst five other things, a proud look. Proverbs 6, the six things that God hates.

[11:43] That can be your homework tonight. Proverbs 6. What are those six things? But one of them is a proud look. And so we have great need of a letting go of pride and of a finding of this precious, precious quality of humility. So let's look through the word tonight at some of the benefits of humility. What are the benefits of humility? We see in Psalm 25 verse 9. Psalm 25 verse 9, humility shows us how to learn, to be teachable. To be teachable, we need to have humility. Because if you come as a student, it makes you sitting at the feet of your teacher, isn't it? And likewise, as God's people, we want to be sitting at his feet, learning of his, being teachable believers.

[12:33] In Psalm 25 verse 9, it says, the meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. I think that a lack of meekness and humility is one of the roadblocks that stops many Christians from growing. It's a roadblock, this lack of meekness, this lack of humility, this lack of being teachable. And I believe it's where we see many who have become spiritually immature, and their faith is barren, and they're stagnant as Christians, because they will not unlearn and relearn those things they need to get rid of, and they will not learn that which they need to learn.

[13:14] It can be a real stumbling block, that people hang on to false teachings that are long cherished, and they will not receive correction. Because that would mean they had to admit that they were wrong.

[13:28] It's humility, isn't it? At the heart of it there. And so, some, in their pride, they will not let go of error. And they will not listen when they're warned, because of pride. They will not heed counsel because of pride. It's at the heart of it. And it's something we need to be alert to, so that we're not ineffective Christians. It says that the meek, God will guide. And those who acknowledge their need of learning, will learn of him. Humility is a precious quality that God calls us to, so that we can learn of him.

[14:01] He beckons to us. In Matthew 11, 29, he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. We see the Lord himself, that role model, that ultimate example, that ultimate mentor, that ultimate shining example that we are to follow. He says, I am meek and lowly.

[14:25] He says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You know, sometimes it's easy to get an over-inflated view of oneself. It sounds like the writer of the book by this title, The Ten Most Humble People in the World and How I Chose the Other Nine. You know, The Ten Most Humble People in the World and How I Chose the Other Nine. And he was also the author of the companion volume called Humility and How I Achieved It. Now, of course, if you were to make such a claim, you wouldn't be humble anymore, would you?

[15:06] And so we can all be subject, well, speaking of myself, we can all have that inflated view of ourselves. And when we do that, we can lose receptivity. And people who are puffed up with pride, they will not receive sound doctrine. The prideful won't be taught. They'll tune out, and they'll rather argue about it and make waves about it. They know better. They'll tune into the flaky teachings on the TV and miss the Bible study. And this can be a real danger. The prideful are stagnant Christians. They can be complainers, murmurers, back biters. They've set themselves up as a higher authority, and it breeds strife and dissension and discord. Humility is needful for all of us.

[15:56] Humble ourselves. We must humble ourselves together, myself included, all of us, to be clothed together with humility, the Bible says. How we need a humility that will listen and learn. If we are teachable, we can learn. If we're not teachable, we will not learn. And without a sense of humility, it's a great obstacle to learn. And as Christians, we're called to be learners. We're called to be disciples, which means learners. Someone has said that life itself is a long lesson in humility.

[16:31] Sometimes we go through life and it's one step forward, two steps back sometimes, isn't it? When we develop humility in our lives, we can receive from God. We can learn about Him. Another benefit of humility is that humility shows us how to obey. How to obey. Humility shows us, in other words, how to be yielded to God. To be yielded to God. I'm not talking about a slavish, reluctant obedience.

[17:02] Someone's got to beat it out of you, where it's an irksome thing to follow God's way for your life, where you have to be badgered or coaxed or bribed or put on a guilt trip to obey God.

[17:14] God, but rather, humility makes it a willing, joyful surrender that it springs up in your heart, that it comes from your heart, that you want to obey God. You want to have that willingness of heart and to be heartily following Him. And you want to volunteer, you want to serve, you want to do even those unrecognised jobs, those things where you don't get the credit, where you may not receive men's praise. God doesn't want us to be servants that have to be beaten into being servants, but are willingly so, gladly so. And humility shows us how to obey God, how to submit to His will, gladly, freely, heartily, to be useful Christians who can be His vessels for His honour. And 1 Peter 5, it says, Likewise, your youngest, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. It's a mutual thing. Notice that. Subject one to another. There's a brotherly and sisterly kind of submission and humility, a humbling of ourselves together, a subjecting one to another, and exhorting one to another. We're all on the even level, as it were, that we're all brothers and sisters. It says that, for God resists the proud, He gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. I believe that victory comes as we submit to God and resist the devil. That's what it says in James, isn't it? As we submit to God and resist the devil, and the devil will flee from us. We're called to obey God. The proud disobey

[19:02] God. They will not submit to Godly disciplines. And it becomes a big obstacle when people get that that defiance. The proud are stiff-necked. They are hard-hearted. They will not be living sacrifices.

[19:17] People of God tonight, we call to be living sacrifices. Now, just get a grip on that term. It's it's an awesome term, isn't it? It's a graphic picture. Living sacrifices.

[19:32] Romans 12, verse 1. You know, think about it. Am I a living sacrifice? That might be a bit inconvenient. Oh, being a living sacrifice, that might be a bit uncomfortable. Might be a bit painful, being a living sacrifice. It means sometimes that we won't get our own way. But God will have His way.

[19:58] He will show us the way. And humility shows us how to obey this. There's a rightful sense of being yoked. Of course, we know the Bible says to be not yoked together with unbelievers. But Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. There's a sense of a yoke is this wooden mechanism that joins two oxen together, or two like animals together. And Jesus says, yoke together with me. So we put that yoke as it were, that connection, that device that joins us to our Lord. And when you're yoked, when you're in a yoke, it means that you're pulling a plough, you're churning up the soil. It means work. And so there's a sense that we're yoked together with God. As yoke fellows, we're working together, working together with our brothers and sisters, with God's people. But the stiff-necked will not wear the yoke. They will not obey. They will shy away from this. And I believe this can reflect how sometimes we can be, become an unproductive, ineffective Christian, where we don't want to bear the yoke. We don't want to obey God. And humility calls us rather that we ought to obey God. A further benefit of humility is that humility shows us how to depend on God, how to depend on God, how to honour Him, how to be thankful, how to pray. The humble have a right attitude, a right heart attitude. The Lord will teach the humble in how to be reverent, and how to honour Him. And He will hear their prayer. He will bless them.

[21:43] We see a graphic story of this in Luke 18, from verse 9. And the Lord Jesus spoke a parable unto a certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

[21:59] Verse 10. He tells this story how two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other a publican. In other words, a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, as are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

[22:56] The Lord Jesus talked about the Pharisee praying thus with himself. He was congratulating himself for all that he had done, all that he was. He was praying loud enough for others to hear of his bragging and self-praise. And the Pharisee's prayer was a selfish prayer. It was filled with the personal pronoun, I.

[23:19] In verse 11 and 12 he says, I, five times. In some ways some would consider the Pharisee was an excellent Christian for what he was doing. But in verse 13 we see the contrast. The Pharisee says, I, five times, the publican uses only one personal pronoun. He says, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

[23:46] He called himself a sinner. That was the only reference he made to himself. So the publican showed a true reverence towards God. He was humble. And God heard his prayer, not the other.

[23:59] He wouldn't even look up towards heaven. He was so humble and reverent before God in acknowledging his sin. He was like Isaiah. As he saw the Lord, he said, woe to me. I'm a man undone.

[24:13] And it's getting that perspective, isn't it? That humility. It puts everything in perspective. Humility shows us also how to serve. How to serve. In Philippians 2 verse 5 it says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. This mind, the mind of Jesus Christ, the attitude of the Lord Jesus.

[24:41] And it goes on to say how he made himself of no reputation. He was made a servant. And humility creates in us a servant heart. Again, I believe it's one of the biggest reasons that we, that me, that maybe some of us here tonight fail as a Christian is this lack of humility.

[25:05] It hinders us from serving God. It hinders us from serving God. We should have this mind that was in Christ Jesus. Even the great apostle Paul was not so proud.

[25:18] In Acts 28 verse 3 we read how he was picking up sticks to put in the fire. It was just the job of a menial servant to go and pick up sticks so they could have a fire to warm themselves.

[25:29] And the snake came out and then we see how he was healed. But the picture of him picking up sticks to lay on the fire. He did that menial task, that manual labour, that the job that the lowest of the low could have done, such a thing.

[25:50] But Paul did it. And God calls us too to take the lowest place and to serve one another. Our Lord told of servants with this right heart attitude in Luke 17 verse 10.

[26:02] He tells how of servants, Likewise ye when ye have done all those things which are commanded ye say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.

[26:16] When we serve God in whatever capacity, at the end of the day we could just say, hey, we've just done what was our duty to do. Just that.

[26:27] There's no claim of credit or seeking of recognition. There's no name in lights or getting some prize for it. But we serve God because it is our duty to do it.

[26:40] And a glad duty, a joyful duty, a privilege to serve him. Not to get any recognition, but simply to serve, to be useful to our Master.

[26:53] And so, this was the attitude of these ones in Luke 17. We are merely doing our duty to the Master. And our joy in serving is not found in the praise of men, but in the smile of our Master.

[27:05] When one day he'll say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. We see our Lord as the greatest servant. He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

[27:21] He demonstrated humility. Every footstep was humility. God robed in human flesh. The creator of the expansive universe became crystallised down into human form.

[27:37] Subject to the frailties of flesh, yet without sin. And he demonstrated humility. In Matthew 20 verse 26, he says, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister or servant.

[27:53] And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to serve, to give his life a ransom for many.

[28:06] Our Lord is the ultimate example of that servanthood. Even the night that he was betrayed, his thoughts turned to the needs of his friends, the needs of others, as he took the towel and he girded himself and he washed dirty feet.

[28:24] John 13. And so he says, after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say, Well, for so I am.

[28:39] If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.

[28:52] Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. What an example!

[29:03] He took that role, that place, that lowly place of his servant to bow down to our feet, to your feet, to mine. And he says, So do you.

[29:19] Do as I have done to you. A young minister was preaching about this sermon on washing the disciples' feet and he said this, he said, Do you know friends, we are all fighting for the top in the church but there are so few fighting for the towel.

[29:37] We need to fight for the towel, brothers and sisters. You know, it kind of speaks to me when we see certain ones they want to serve, they just want to rush out to the kitchen to put the kettle on, not to serve themselves but to serve those.

[29:51] that they can serve. And those that want to share and help, I know Pastor Adam was humbly helping with that role there while we were waiting for others to attend.

[30:04] And what a role of servanthood, of servanthood. What we need to have that hard attitude. We thank God for Caleb and for Dean tonight.

[30:14] Willing to serve. Willing to serve. And it's a blessing. There's so many ways that we can all serve and be a part. And sometimes it's that those that are the last, the least, the lowest, there's not many willing to step into those shoes of the last, the least, and the lowest.

[30:39] And it's been said this, well, men search for a throne to build their kingdoms. Christ rich for a towel to wash his disciples feet. Yeah. What an example of love, of grace, of humility.

[30:53] As one writer summed it up of humility, he said this, humility is the placing of our entire dependence on God. From the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature and it's the root of every virtue.

[31:11] And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. It's a guard against pride and we need to seek after humility. Many would have heard of Muhammad Ali's boast that in the boxing ring he would brag that I'm the greatest and he would say that he floats like a butterfly and he stinks like a bee.

[31:37] And he was a real one to brag about his prowess in the boxing ring. And this would psych out his opponents too. But on one particular flight, Muhammad Ali wrote in his book The Soul of the Butterfly that the flight attendant asked him to put his seatbelt on.

[32:00] And he said to her, Superman don't need no seatbelt. She smiled at him and said, Superman don't need no plane either. It really put him in his place.

[32:13] He was humbled then. And so should we be. We should be humbled that we need to have that right heart attitude before God. How do we attain this humility? How can we realise this humility or this meekness?

[32:27] It's one of the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5 we read it's one of the fruit of the Spirit. And so it must come as we depend on God because where does the fruit of the Spirit come from?

[32:38] From the Spirit. From God's Spirit. The Holy Spirit. And it must come as we depend on God. Humility shows us how to die to self. How to die to self at the heart of godly humility into dying to self.

[32:53] Sounds a bit like being a living sacrifice again doesn't it? To die to self. A Christian writer said this, Pride must die in you or nothing of heaven can live in you.

[33:09] We must come to him on bended knee with a bended heart. Galatians 2 it says, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

[33:32] Crucified with Christ. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, meekness, humility, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

[33:56] Meekness. It was said of Moses that he was the meekest man yet he was the one that God chose to use for his glory. And you might feel meek, inadequate, lowly, incapable.

[34:14] Yet God can use you for his glory just as he did Moses. This Christian writer said this about humility. I quote again. Humility is perfect quietness of heart.

[34:26] It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me. And when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my father in secret and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble.

[34:53] A perfect quietness of heart. You might be attacked for being a Christian. Someone that I love dearly is getting attacked even these days, even the last few days.

[35:05] And it's brutal. It bruises. It hurts. But maybe God is shaping. Maybe it's a humbling that we need to have.

[35:16] It's easy for me to say that because I'm not, in this case, attacked. But it can be for all of us at times, can't it? We're attacked for being a Christian. We're slighted. We're mocked and scoffed at.

[35:30] And yet, humility is that quietness of heart. And it's when nobody praises me when I'm blamed or despised. The calmness comes from him, from our Lord. Luke 9, it says, the Lord says, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

[35:50] How do we get there? How do we get there? How do we get this humility, this humility, this great quality that God commands, this meekness, this humility that is the fruit of the Spirit?

[36:00] How can we realise this? How do we learn it? A statesman of old said this, after crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser.

[36:11] After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser. Sometimes it will be the place of the cross. Sometimes it will be the pathway of the cross. Sometimes it will be that hardness, that humbling will make us humble.

[36:27] That humbling that is hard, hard, hard yards can be those times when God's shaping you and strengthening you to be that vessel I'm to honour.

[36:38] He's making you stronger. He's making you more like him. Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

[36:53] Friends, humility is sometimes not an easy place. It's not an easy road. But God will draw us to himself.

[37:05] As we become less, he can become more. I must decrease, he must increase and he can have his way with us and this is a wonderful precious quality that we can know.

[37:23] A precious quality. And it's God's gift to us. It's his fruit. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. One of them is meekness. Meekness. 1 Peter 5 it says, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

[37:41] One day it will be Coronation Day. Coronation Day. You know, in some nations where they have kings and queens it's a big occasion where people are crowned and we know that the word speaks of crowns and it tells of that occasion.

[38:06] It tells of an occasion where the door will swing wide and he'll say well done, well done. You might say I've just done my duty but he'll say well done nevertheless and one day we'll see his face.

[38:20] One day we'll know his honour but before honour is humility. Before honour is humility and as we grow in that humility we'll learn to learn.

[38:31] We won't be unteachable. We'll be correcting. We'll be able to be corrected. We'll be able to help others learn when we have that humility. We'll learn to obey so there'll be that willingness that obedience that's not forced but it's glad glad obedience.

[38:51] We'll have a willingness to serve where again it won't be you've got to be press ganged or badgered to serve God but you'll find you'll look for opportunities to serve.

[39:03] You'll find ways to serve. You'll learn how to serve. You'll want to grow in your ability to serve. You'll volunteer to serve and that humility will help us to die to self to die to self to be those living sacrifices truly living sacrifices and God helping us will crucify the flesh which means crucifying pride.

[39:37] You know I was just talking in the prayer meeting this week how we don't want to get so sure of ourselves that we think we've got a monopoly on the truth because there's many godly people in many churches many churches in this city in this community have godly people in them and we thank God that wherever there's an opportunity where the word is being preached we pray that it will be preached wisely and strongly we pray that Christians will grow and be strengthened and I like to think that as a church we are solid and strong but we never get to that place we must never get to that place where we get proud where we get proud we can get proud as a church and I can get proud as a preacher we don't want that we're all on this learning journey we're all on this this process of becoming more like him and less like ourselves

[40:43] I can speak for myself that I need to be as I believe would be a good motto for all of us to have as that that John the Baptist had he said he must increase but I must decrease there's two musts there I must decrease increase and one fires the other as he helps us to let's pray Lord we thank you tonight that we can realise this wonderful joy of knowing your love today that you came in the person of your son in human skin yet without sin and you took our place our penalty our shame our guilt and you paid the full penalty and payment that had to be paid that debt that we could not pay you paid in full and it's cancelled you'll never hold it against us

[41:44] Lord we thank you for your grace that took you there we thank you for the humility in your display in your human life Lord Jesus that you came and you say to us let this mind be in us that was also in you Lord help us to see that wonderful role model that wonderful example you are help us Lord not to get prideful not to be prideful as a church or a ministry not to be prideful as individual believers but yet we'll always be willing to hear and grow willing to be learners willing to obey willing to serve and willing to be living sacrifices to die daily to die to self crucify the flesh Lord crucify pride in us crucify that which is of the self and the sin nature crucify it Lord in me and those that would echo my prayer crucify the flesh Lord that it will be killed that Andrew will be dead and buried and never to rise again

[42:45] Lord yet we know that you have come to life in us and that we are new creatures in Christ and by your mercy and love help us to walk in newness of life in that humility that you call us to live to walk humbly with our God in Jesus name Amen Amen Amen Thank you.