Lessons in Humility

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

You know, how many of you know the serenity prayer?

Many of us know it.

In fact, it says, Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.

Well, that's good.

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.

Then the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two.

Is that not good?

Let me repeat it one more time.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Wow.

Well, basically, that is what this whole chapter is all about.

In fact, you know, as self-centered creatures, and we are, we're born that way.

We're born with a sin nature.

Amen.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and what?

Death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.

Romans 5, 12.

So we enter with this selfishness.

Did you have to teach your moms and dads, did you have to teach your children to be selfish?

It just came automatically, didn't it?

It was natural.

So we being self-centered creatures, there is little in life that we would not change to suit ourselves if we could.

Is that not true?

In fact, sometimes we try to do that anyway, don't we?

And it doesn't work at all.

But there are more things in life that we cannot change than things in life that we can.

Would you not agree with that?

Amen?

And this is what Solomon is basing this message on.

And in that truth, we come up with the recipe for wisdom that we looked at last week.

Wisdom, godly wisdom, produces humility.

And without humility, without the humbleness that God really wants us to have, we will not walk in God's wisdom.

So, and you may want to write this down.

In your uh notes, I've got life is a process of learning humility.

It really is.

Some of you have been humbled this week.

I've been humbled this week.

I thought I was gonna win something at that wild game dinner.

But the African preacher won it.

So I was humbled.

But really, things don't go your way.

Sometimes you think it's because people are upset with you or mad at you when in reality God is trying to humble you.

Hello.

Amen.

So this is gonna be a really good lesson this morning.

It's gonna be a lesson in humility.

And the definition that I have come up with that I wrote after listening and studying these five definitions of humility, and that's what we're gonna look at this morning.

Humility means being content with things you can't change.

Humility is being content with change or changes or change that you are with things that you can't change.

Humility is being content with things you can't change.

That's a great definition, and you ought to write that down.

Humility means being content.

Here's another way of saying it, when change is impossible.

That's what true humility is.

I had a very great, I was a fan of Kurt Warner many years ago when he played football.

Kurt Warner was a fantastic pro quarterback.

In fact, he led the St.

Louis Rams to the Super Bowl championship.

But also during that year, he won the most valuable player for the whole year, kind of like Peyton Manning just did, except his outcome was a little different.

They won the Super Bowl.

And not only was he the most valuable player of the league that year, he was the most valuable player of the Super Bowl that year.

And an unbelievable, outstanding spokesman for the Lord.

He did not, he was not ashamed of the gospel.

He spoke vehemently for the things of Christ, every opportunity he had.

Well, the next season they were expecting great things.

Well, what happened was Kirk got uh hurt, and uh, so during the uh offseason, he was rehabilitating himself and trying to get back in shape and started back up and played, uh didn't had a terrible preseason.

And long story short, the backup quarterback beat him out for the quarterback position the year after he was the most valuable player of the league, most valuable player in the Super Bowl and had a Super Bowl championship ring.

He went from being the most valuable player of the league, of the Super Bowl, to sitting on the bench or really walking the sidelines, holding a clipboard, taking notes.

Now that's humbling.

That's humbling.

But the way he handled it was unbelievable.

And you know the rest story.

He came back and then, you know, became another four to five years, had fantastic seasons ultimately to the Cardinals.

But but we see this humbling process.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have found uh on uh we've got this hopper or whatever they call it, but they have all these old-timey uh series of movies, or well, not movies, but shows, you know, series of shows.

Now, I grew up with my grandparents and my grandmother and granddaddy both.

Well, my grandmother, papa never cared for television much, but mama loved Magnum P.

Anybody grow up with Magnum P.I.

Amen.

Well, I found them.

I'm I'm that's what I'm watching now because there's nothing else worth watching.

So I'm watching all the old Magnum P.I.s.

I mean, you know, and I do like Hawaii Doo, Honolulu.

And I was reading a quote the other day.

I saw something about Magnum, and listen to what Magnum P.I.

said about humility.

The actor Tom Selleck wrote, now you watch him in uh on Friday nights, Blue Blood.

Boy, what a great uh way they bring the family around the table, and it's all about family values and morals and doing right.

And Tom Sellick's a great actor anyway.

But listen to what he said about humility.

Whenever I get full of myself, he says, I remember the nice couple who approached me with a camera on a street in Honolulu one day, and when I struck up a pose for them to take my picture, the man said, No, no, no, no, no, no, sir.

No, no, no, no.

I was asking, could you please take a picture of me and my wife?

I thought that was quite cute.

Is that not true?

Is that not true?

In the eighth chapter here of Ecclesiastes, Solomon reminds us about things that make us humble.

Or another way we could put it, the title of the message, lessons in humility.

Humble pie, anyone?

Number one, humility is knowing what you don't know.

Humility is knowing what you don't know.

Verse 1.

Throughout the Bible, we are warned against being wise in our own eyes.

In fact, uh, Proverbs 15, 33.

Let's go back there and run.

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom.

And before honor, what's this?

Is humility.

Go to verse 12 in Proverbs 18.

Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.

Now notice two things there.

He's saying if you're gonna be honoring to God, you're gonna be used greatly by God, you've got to be humbled.

Amen.

You've got to walk in humility.

And then watch Proverbs 22, 4.

Humility, now watch, and the fear of the Lord, and the word fear there means honor.

It's not a frightening fear, like uh, where is uh Christian?

Christian, raise your hand.

You still don't have that lizard, do you?

He had they found these little lizards running everywhere, and so uh Christian grabs this little lizard and he's going up, look, and it scared me.

I started to say, I'm gonna pinch that lizard's head off.

But but but we're not talking about that kind of fright.

We're talking about a honoring fear, a fear of reverence and homage and majestic.

That's what we're talking about.

But then he says, humility and the fear of the Lord, now watch, are riches and honor and life.

That abundant life.

The only way we can experience, he says, I've come to give you life and give it more abundantly, is through walking in humility.

And you say, Well, what is the definition of humility?

We said that.

It's being content with things that you can't change.

But let me tell you another good definition that I have for me personally.

Humility is not getting my way when I want it.

I knew I wouldn't get one amen on that.

Humility is not getting my way when I want it.

And that happens a lot of times, doesn't it?

Now the key is do we act in humility or do we get mad?

Most of the time we get mad.

You know why?

That's pride.

Only pride breeds contention.

Proverbs 13, 10.

So we see that.

And here's what Solomon is saying.

A wise man knows some things and some things he doesn't.

In verse 1.

But now notice in verse 1 he says, but the sternness of his face is changed.

In other words, you know how a person, you can tell a person on his face whether or not he's really walking in humility.

Most of the time, a person that is content with regardless of what's going on, whether he can change it or not change it, there's a joy in his face.

There's a radiancy in his face.

And notice what's what he says in verse 1, that there's a radiancy in his face.

Those who look to him are radiant, they shall never be ashamed.

Psalms 34, 5.

And listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8 2.

It's awesome.

And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know.

In other words, a person that is mad all the time, or a person's not getting his way all the time, you can see it on their faces.

When the teenagers, and most of you guys are older and some of you ready to graduate, so you're becoming young men, young ladies, but but it's pretty easy to determine by your facial expressions whether or not you get your way with your parents.

Hello.

It's pretty evident for us adults if we don't get our way with our bosses.

Hello?

None of us like submitting to authority.

Oh, I got up this morning.

I can't wait for everybody to tell me just what to do so I can do it.

Huh?

So here's what he's opening the whole thing up.

He says, you can tell a person that's really humble he's got a joy in his countenance.

Wow.

Now most of the time I do have that, but some you don't want to see me when I don't.

You don't want to see these eyes.

Melvin saw them one time.

And that was at a car show.

Guy spilled some coffee on me.

And I thought he did it on purpose.

You would not have wanted to have seen that look that I gave that gentleman that morning.

And then the Holy Spirit got me, and I said, Oh Lord, I'm sorry.

Because I really was about to take his head off.

I thought.

I mean, that's what I felt.

I just really I mean it burned me.

And my first reaction, that coffee hit me, and and I saw him coming, and I'm sitting there fixing my coffee, and I've got it in my hand stirring it, and he's looking at me, and I'm looking at he just boom.

And I'm like, boom! You want to boom?

I'm gonna boom.

That was that fleshly thinking in my heart that I had to repent of.

Mama said, I hope I never see that look again.

I said, You just saw it for a second.

But that but that's what I'm talking about.

Our face, our face is, ladies and gentlemen, communicate a lot about what we are and what we're thinking.

Amen.

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

But that's what he's saying.

A person that's content, even in a tough situation, in a situation he can't change, you're gonna see the joy of the Lord all over him.

That's good.

That's good, preacher.

Trust, he says in Proverbs Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy own understanding.

Did you hear me?

Not thy own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy path.

Be not wise.

Watch.

In thy own eyes, fear the Lord.

There's that honor again.

And depart what?

From evil.

That's where that stubbornness and that pride and that rebellion comes in when we have that ugly looking face.

And it shall, now watch what he says in verse 8.

It shall be health.

Woo! Health.

Some of you are stressed out because of your attitude.

Ooh.

Some of us bring stress on ourselves because we're not content.

Hello?

Amen.

I can bring stress on myself because sometimes I want it done my way.

Hello?

You okay?

And for you, perfectionists, God help you.

I live with one.

Where is she, by the way?

Did she rapture?

If she did, we're all in trouble.

I hope not.

Hey, darling, come in.

Where have you been?

Everywhere.

Yeah, but I need you up here.

You're my comfort.

You're my joy.

You're my corrector.

Okay, yeah.

If I get in trouble with a word, you're supposed to be here to help me with it.

And I do that quite often.

If somebody said, You've got a great vocabulary, I said, yeah, make them up.

But now notice it shall be helped to thy body and to the marrow and to the bones.

You'll have a you'll live a good life.

Folks, listen, it's a lot better to go through life content than stressed out.

Can I get an amen?

And that's what he's talking about.

That's exactly what he's talking about here.

Wow.

And those, Psalms 34, 5, who looked at him a radiant, they shall never be ashamed.

Happy is the man that finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

Proverbs 3.13.

Man, that's so good.

You know, today the knowledge of the world is changing.

Do you realize I was doing my research on this pastor scripture?

You realize used to it, took about 38 years for knowledge to change.

That was before the technological or the technology came into being.

That was before we had cell phones.

In fact, I can remember the bag cell phone.

Anybody else remember that?

In fact, David and uh Surpro got the first one, and I saw it, and I said, the pastor needs one of those.

The only problem was it cost 50 cents a minute.

So you couldn't use it, so you just had a bag sitting in your car.

Really?

I'm serious.

The only time you used it was for emergencies.

In fact, you wore a beeper and you get a beeper, and if you see the number and you know this whether or not you're gonna make the call.

If it wasn't an emergency, you waited until you got back to the church and call them on the hard line.

Anyone do it?

Am I the only one that did that?

Okay, I figured Paul might have.

Paul's getting close to my age.

But now listen, listen.

Not that old preacher.

I'm not that old preacher.

But now listen, here's what he's saying.

38 years it would take us to understand knowledge.

You know what it is now?

One year.

One year.

One year.

In one year, we know what it took 38 years to know.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no way you and I can know everything and keep up with everything.

Can I get an amen?

No way.

I meant my kids.

I've got grandkids that are three and two.

No, four and three now.

I don't know.

They're growing.

I was shocked.

I was sitting there studying last week, and I get a phone call.

And there's a silence.

And I said, hello?

And I said, hello.

Hey, do you pop pee?

Brooklyn.

My three-year-old grandchild had called me on my daughter's cell phone.

I said, How did she do that?

Three years old.

Well, my daughter has the favorites with our pictures on them.

So she hit the picture.

And called Poppy.

And we're having a good conversation.

And then all of a sudden, my daughter says, Brooklyn.

She calls her sissy.

Sissy, are you on that phone?

And she grabbed the phone and put it behind her.

And I could hear going on.

Who are you talking to?

What's going on?

Sissy, did you dye somebody on my phone?

And I hear her say, Poppy.

And then all of a sudden I hear Mary say, Is that dad?

She put, Daddy's head?

I said, Yeah, that's me.

You interrupted mine in Brooklyn's phone call.

Three years old.

Three years old.

What are you saying?

What we're saying is, folks, chill out.

We don't know everything.

We won't know everything, and don't try to know everything.

Amen.

And that's exactly what he's talking about.

In fact, I wrote this in my notes to me.

It is a wise and humble man who knows what he doesn't know.

That's good.

What he doesn't know, what he can't know, and what he doesn't need to know.

We don't need to know everything.

There's some things I didn't know about my kids growing up until it seems like when we get together holidays, they want to tell me all things that they got away with.

And I finally told them, I don't want to know.

I don't want to know.

I'm thinking of a you have a different enlightenment.

Don't change my mind.

I don't want to know.

When it came to the boys, I didn't want to hear I didn't want to hear anything about my daughter kissing a boy.

If you did, I was coming after that boy.

So don't tell me.

That's my wife's job.

I don't want to know all that stuff.

All I want to know is they the boy loves the Lord.

He's sold out, he's radical, and he's going to treat my daughter like hey, Christ, would treat them.

Amen.

Amen.

Now that's all I need to know.

Anything else?

We're going to have a heart-to-heart conversation.

Number two.

You might get that look.

Number two.

Humility is living with what you don't like.

Hello.

Verses two through seven.

Much of our daily lives are controlled by the dictates and the desires, not to mention the needs of others, whether it be the government or whether it be family.

They dictate really daily, we have to remind ourselves that we are required to do things, whether it's by the governor or our family, that we don't like.

Can I get an amen?

Do you like paying taxes?

Okay.

Do you like going 35 miles an hour when it's a four-lane and you know you could be doing 55?

No.

Do you like your parents telling you no when you want to do something?

No.

I mean, we live life with a lot of no's, don't we?

We really do.

And I want you to, and I actually I read it about five times in the New King James, the King James EVS, but then I got to the message with uh Eugene Peterson's version, and I read it through the message, and I want you to hear it.

Here's what it says in these seven verses.

First of all, he says, a citizen's under the control of a king, and he's humbled by having to obey that king.

But notice what he says.

Here we go.

Do what your king commands.

You gave a sacred oath of obedience.

You gave the oath.

And we're going to look at this from Romans 13.

Don't, hey, do not worry second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant.

You're serving his pleasure, not yours.

Mmm, that's hard.

Verse 4.

The king has the last word.

Who dares say to him, What are you doing?

Carrying out orders won't hurt you a bit.

The wise person obeys promptly and accurately.

Verse 6.

Yes, there's a right time and way for everything, even though unfortunately we miss it for the most part.

Amen.

It's true that no one knows what's going to happen or when, who's around to tell us.

I thought to myself, God gave me two things in those seven verses.

Verse 2 through 4, he's talking about a discreet mouth.

He's talking about how to respond and when to respond.

Now, Friday night at the Wild Game Supper, the gentleman that preached, the chaplain for Auburn, went with out of Job.

And in chapter, you know, in Job 1, God says, Have you considered my servant Job?

A righteous, godly man.

He says, No.

And he said, Oh, by the way, Lord, let me remind you, the only reason Job is serving you is because he's a very wealthy, prosperous man.

So the Lord said, Okay, Satan, if you really believe that, here's what I'm going to let you do.

You can take everything he's got, but you can't touch him.

And you remember the story.

He takes everything: the cattle, the camels, the everything.

He loses everything.

Even his kids.

They kill his kids.

He had seven sons and three daughters.

Hey, a tornado comes through and kills them.

You say, how do you know it's tornado?

It said a heavy wind.

Only thing I know do that's tornadoes.

And then he comes back and Job says, though he, hey, he goes in there and Job says to himself, hey, I, you know, he begins, actually, he worships God after all that happens.

And his wife gets so upset in chapter 2, she comes to him in verse 9 and 10.

Do we have that?

Do we have that uh Jeremy?

Job chapter 2, verses 9 and 10.

Job 2:9

If not, don't worry about it, I'll quote it.

And Job chapter 9, she comes up to him and he said, After all this happened, you've lost everything.

Job 9 · chapter mention

We've lost everything.

We've lost our family.

Why don't you just curse God and die?

Why don't you just curse God and die?

Look at this.

Good job, Jeremy.

Then said his wife unto him, Does thou still retain thy integrity?

Curse God and die.

You still trust in God?

You still believe in God after all he's done to us?

I know a lot of us have been there.

Look at what he said in verse 10.

Oh, this is awesome.

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

Whoa! Now I didn't say that.

He did.

I'd have to have a lot of nerve to call my wife foolish speaking.

But she really had, because she had given up on God.

She had told him to curse God and die.

She was foolish.

But now notice how he answers.

He answers with a soft tone.

He said, What?

He asked this question to her.

Shall we receive good at the hand of God?

And shall we not receive evil?

And all this did not Job sin with his lips.

He controlled his tongue.

Wow.

Humility is being able to control your tongue in a bad situation.

Can I get an OMI?

From all of that.

That's my weakness.

That's my weakness.

It's being able to control your tongue in a situation.

In a situation that you can't control.

Wow.

Notice the second thing.

Verses 5 through 7, I saw we've I call it discernment, keen judgment.

In other words, what to do and how to do it and when to do it.

You know you can do something at the hey, you can do a good deed at the wrong time and it's not good.

Amen.

You can say something that, hey, that needs to be said at the wrong time and it blows up.

So knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it, and when to say it is very important.

And that's what Solomon's saying.

A humble person is still, he thinks through every situation and he knows what to say and when to say it.

Is that not good?

Now, I want to give you four things, four areas.

That's not in your notes.

God gave me this two days ago.

In fact, it fits.

This is so good.

It's so good.

Humility is living with what you do not like.

We do not like authority.

Say this with me.

We don't like authority.

Say it out loud.

We don't like authority.

Now Romans 13.

Romans 13, 1 and 2, we are to submit to civil authority, as, and we'll see why.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.

There's higher powers that we are to submit to.

For there's no power but of God.

All these powers are under the direction and the authority ultimately of God.

That's very important you understand that.

He's ordained these authorities, okay?

Hey, man didn't create these, God did.

That's very important you'd understand that.

Because now you'll understand why you're to submit if God ordained them, because literally, when you're submitting to civil authorities, you're submitting to God.

That was only one amen.

We're going to say that again.

When you're submitting to civil authorities, you're ultimately submitting to God.

That's what it says.

The power, but of God.

The powers that be are read those last two words of three.

Ordained of God.

Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God.

And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Woo! That's pretty powerful.

You with me?

Now go to Acts.

Watch Acts chapter 4, verse 18.

Acts 4:18

And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Because here's what you're thinking.

Well, but when the civil authorities tell us to do something that's against God, now what do we do?

Watch.

And they called them, they told them to quit talking in the name of God.

Quit sharing.

You've been told that.

But Peter and John answered.

Verse 19 said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

In other words, hey, verse 20, for we cannot help but speak the things that we've seen and heard.

You can say it's not a man.

The government can tell you to shut up, but if it's God, if it's going against God's word, we can't shut up.

We must stand up and speak up.

Acts 5, 28 and 29, same thing.

Acts 5, 28 and 29, they're speaking out, and the Sanhedrin says, Did we not tell you to shut up?

Did we tell you, do we didn't, did we not tell you not to speak?

Strictly command you that you should not teach in his name.

But behold, ye have filled, woo-hoo! And this is what we want to do in Africa.

This is what we want to do in Westover and what we want to do in Chelsea.

We want to fill our Jerusalem with the doctrine of God.

And intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, Woo! We ought to obey God rather than men.

Are you with me?

Is that not good?

As long as though they're not going against God's word, we are to humbly submit to them.

Amen?

And abide under their law.

Because it's ordained of God.

Now let me show you what's next.

What about your boss?

What about your the the word there is master in the King James, but it means those that are in authority over you in your work arena.

Look at what he says in 1 Peter 2 18.

Servants.

Be subject to your master with all fear.

Not only to the good and the general.

You know, you don't have any problem submitting to a good boss, do you?

But what do you define the good boss?

That's a good question.

I ask myself, I like, I've had several bosses.

Most of the time we defined a good boss as one that lets us do what we want to.

But also to the floor.

Those that aren't so good.

Those that confront us, those that maybe take advantage of us, those that try to manipulate us.

Guess what?

You might.

And we're accomplishing something.

I sat under two, Dr.

Falwell and Dr.

John Bort, and I followed them.

Oh, I loved it.

All I wanted them to do in every meeting, I'd look up.

Which hill you want me to take, Dr.

Falwell?

Just point me at the hill.

My group's ready.

We'll take it.

But if you're sitting there and you don't know where you're going, you don't know which hill, bless God, we're gonna do it.

We're gonna take a hill.

It may be the wrong hill, but bless God, we took a hill.

That's why you better tell me which hill.

Because we're gonna take it.

Amen.

But now notice what he says.

This is so good.

To subject.

All right, now look at verse 19.

For this is thankworthy if a man for his conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

Mmm.

Verse 20.

For what glory is it if when you be buffeted, hard times for your faults, you shall take it patiently, humbly.

But if when you do well you suffer for it, you take it patiently.

This is acceptable to God.

He said, Hey, it's no problem to take it patiently when it's going your way, but when it's not going your way, do you take it the same way?

Are you patient?

Are you humble?

Do you you and you know the only way you can do that?

By realizing you're not submitting to your boss, you're submitting is unto the Lord.

Verse 21, for here unto were you called.

Because Christ also suffered with us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps.

Wow.

That's the second authority you've got.

Third authority is your parents' teachers.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Verse 2, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with thee.

Honor them, obey them, submit to them.

You say, Well, I don't like what they're trying to tell me.

Here's what we all teenagers say.

They don't understand.

Yeah.

It really is.

That's the right word.

We don't understand.

Guess what?

We parents may not understand, but everything we do, and if your parents are godly, listen to me.

They're doing it to protect you.

They're doing it to protect you because they really do love you.

Now, it's funny.

My son and both of my daughters, my son's 40.

40.

My daughters 27 and 25.

And they have their own children.

It is amazing that all of a sudden, mom and dad, hey, we are no longer dummies.

Amazing.

I was watching my daughter the other day correcting my grandchildren.

And it was just like Susan.

And I can remember her saying, Mama, you don't understand.

I almost said, Mary, you don't understand.

Braden wants it his way.

And he needs his little butt torn up.

Did he say backside torn up?

It's amazing.

The older they get, the wiser we are.

It really is.

I'm just laughing.

I'm not saying worried.

I'm just laughing.

And little Stephanie with little Judah, he is such a beautiful.

I said, Steph, I can't wait.

She said, Dad, don't you speak that curse on me?

For y'all that know Stephanie, you can see her saying that.

I said, Oh, am I going to enjoy this one?

Oh, am I going to enjoy it?

Judah will be getting on the airplane coming to Puppy.

But that's what we're talking about.

And then there's a, hey, the teachers in Proverbs.

You're to submit to your teachers as long as they're, hey, that's why I'm a firm believer in going to a Christian university.

I am.

I can't help it.

Because you're sitting under the right teaching.

And he says in Proverbs 2.1, my son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee.

Hey, that thou incline thy ear into wisdom and apply thy hearts to understanding.

And this also can be applied as parents, but it's also from a teacher, your professors.

You've got to be cautious to what they are teaching you.

When they stand up in a hey, in a classroom and tell you there is no God, oh my, my, my.

That is so wrong, and it's such a lie.

And you've got to be, hey, now I'm all for you taking them on.

That's when you speak out.

Whoa, I don't believe that.

That's when you know the word of God.

You take them on.

My first two years, I was in junior college.

Oh, I had some real good debates.

I'd say, uh uh, that's not what the Bible says.

Finally, my professor finally said, and we'd start he'd start giving his lecture, and he'd say, And I know the Bible person wants to say something.

Yes, uh, I do.

I don't agree.

So you have your teachers and your parents' authority.

Then you have one other authority.

Nobody really ever looks at this authority because it's on a spiritual plane, and very few people believe in spiritual authority anymore.

And that's the church and the pastors in a church, church authority.

Nobody likes for somebody to take the word of God and tell them they're living in sin.

No one likes that.

But as a pastor and under the authority of God, ordained and called by God, I have to share the truth.

And notice what it says Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follows, in other words, they live what they preach.

Considering the end of their conversation.

That word conversation means behavior.

Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

No, not 13, excuse me.

That's not right.

Go from uh Hebrews 13, 7 to uh 17.

And it says, For those that those that are over you, honor them, pray for them.

Watch here.

For he testifies, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Machazedek, by whom he will be held accountable for your souls.

Amen.

For your souls.

That is so important.

That is so important.

Hebrews 3.

Okay, I knew that wasn't right.

Go to Hebrews 13 for me.

That's my fault.

I probably wrote it wrong, Jeremy.

I want them to get this.

Hebrews 13.

Verse 7.

I think we just used that one.

Yeah.

Now go Hebrews 13, verse 17.

Hebrews 13:17

Obey them that have the rule over you.

Submit yourselves, for they watch over your souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.

I love you more than you'll ever know.

Every time I step in this pulpit, I will be standing before an awesome God one day for every word I've said and the way I've treated you, taught you, led you, loved you.

I will stand as a preacher called by God before God for that every word.

Now don't you think for one moment I don't take this very seriously.

Oh do I?

Oh do I?

There's a shepherd's crown, and that's in 1 Peter 5.

5.

And there again it's talking to the younger people that give honor unto the elder.

And he goes on and he says, Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elders.

Yea, all of you be subjected subject one to another and be clothed.

There's a word with humility, for God resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble.

And he goes on and he says that one day, verse four says that we will receive preachers a shepherd's crown for the way that we've led you, taught you, and fed you.

Or we will be judged for not doing that, or doing it for the wrong reasons.

So those are the four authorities that Solomon is talking about that we don't like sometimes.

But he says, a humble person submits to those authorities.

Can I get an amen?

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

And then number three, humility is accepting what you can't change.

This is pretty simple.

Number look at verse 8.

You can't change death.

We're all gonna die.

Look at what he says.

Often we hear there are only two things that never change.

You're gonna die and you're gonna pay taxes.

Well, paying taxes change.

They seem to go up.

Every year.

They change.

But let me tell you what's not gonna change.

Death.

We're all going to die.

And I want you to look.

These are verses 8 through 14, but look at verse 8.

I want you to see what 8 says.

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death, and there is no discharge in that war.

Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

In other words, he says, even those men that are in war, you know, they live every day.

If they're in war, knowing they may die tomorrow.

He said, Well, we that are even not in war, we may die tomorrow.

No one knows the time, hey, or the day.

None of us, none of us know that time nor that day.

So we see death.

Death is a reality of life that we have no control over.

Proverbs 27 1.

Listen to what he says.

And as it is appointed unto man wants to die, and then the judge, actually, that's Hebrews 9 2.

There's Proverbs 27:1.

Proverbs 27:1

Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Number two, humility is accepting what you can't change.

You can't change death, and you can't change distress.

Look at verse 9.

Solomon said in verse 9, There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

We will all be disappointed and hurt by others.

Let me say that again.

We will all be disappointed and hurt by others.

Can I get an amen?

I mean, I love my wife with, she's the next thing other than my relationship to the Lord.

She's my best friend, she's my confidant, she's everything.

Confidant?

She's my confidence too.

But hey, let me tell you, I've hurt her.

I've disappointed her over 32 wonderful years of marriage.

Sometimes not intentionally, sometimes intentionally.

Because of that ugly pride that's in us all that pops up.

But listen to me.

People are going to hurt you.

In fact, Jesus said this in Matthew 10, 36 even your enemies can be those of your own household.

Did you hear that?

So you're going to be disappointed by people.

Say this with me, church.

Say it out loud with me.

I will be disappointed by people.

Okay?

Ready?

I will be disappointed by people.

That's why we don't, hey, we don't you dare put your total confidence in me.

You put your confidence in me to, hey, as a pastor knowing the word, teaching the word, but you still not ultimately.

You check me out.

You check the word.

Hey, I'm a man just like you.

I've got feet of clay just like you.

We all make mistakes.

We all have our sin problems.

But there's one person that's never gonna let you down, never lie to you, never walk out on you.

And his name is Jesus.

Psalms 141, verse 8.

Psalms 141:8

My eyes are fixed on thee, oh God, and the Lord is my distress.

I mean, it's not distress, but have peace over my distress.

My eyes are fixed, let me quote it right.

My eyes are fixed on thee, oh God, and the Lord is my trust.

Psalms 141, verse 8.

Psalms 141:8

Amen.

I've been in I've been in ministry 35 years.

I have really been hurt by some people.

I have really hurt people.

And I'm telling you, at age 60 now, I've learned that the only hope I've got is to put my trust ultimately in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you put your confidence in your mate and everything's in your mate, what happens if your mate goes to be with Jesus tomorrow?

Where's your confidence then?

Thirdly, deception, verse 10.

He says, you can't change deception.

Boy, verse 10 again.

Unbelievable.

Basically, he says, Then I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of the church.

Here's what had happened.

This man was, hey, putting on a facade.

He was making people think he was a godly person when he was a wicked person.

He went to church all the time.

He was all in the rituals, but his heart was far from God.

And then when he died, everybody thought he was a godly man and they honored him at his eulogy.

I mean, he's got a great, fantastic funeral.

But we know, people know the, and hey, the people that really knew he knew that he was a scoundrel.

We see that all the time on TV, don't we?

I'm not gonna call any names, but some of our presidents.

They've been lifted up, and when you really find out that we're finding out the truth years later, they were some of the worst scandals and whoremongers around.

Call it like it is, amen.

But the problem is what he's saying is this deception's gonna be there, so don't get upset.

And here the people are living for God and trying to do right, and they're almost like they're just totally ignored.

I've got, listen, woo, I've got good news.

Hey, payday's not yet.

It's not over yet.

It's not over yet.

Payday's coming.

Payday someday.

RG Lisa, it's coming.

And hey, God is the judge.

And you go here, yeah, but it looks like they're living longer lives, they're prospering.

One day is a thousands with Jesus.

It's coming, it's coming.

It's coming.

And then the last thing you can't change is defiance.

Verses 11 through 14.

You can't change it.

In other words, people are just gonna be mean, ugly, and they're gonna, hey, hey, they they they're just gonna, they're just gonna they're gonna take advantage of every situation they can.

They're gonna hurt people, they're gonna manipulate people, they're gonna steal from people, they're gonna kill people.

We see it going rampantly right now in America.

There's nothing we can do about it except pray.

We can pray.

We can pray.

And then that brings me to number four.

Humility is enjoying what you can't explain.

Fourth time.

Now, isn't this unbelievable?

Man, this, I had to really go back and exegetically go back through this two or three times.

The fourth characteristic, look, of humility is enjoying what you can't explain.

For the fourth time, this is the fourth time since chapter one, Solomon reminds us that it is our privilege to eat, drink, and be merry in this life.

This seems old coming on the hills.

Seems kind of weird of death, distress, deception, defiance.

But that is the whole point.

We can't control or change these other things.

So don't get so depressed that you don't allow God to use you where you are with what you got to do all you can while you're here.

Does that make sense?

Whoa, that's good.

Hey, you can't.

If we looked at the I quit, I haven't looked at news probably in I don't three months.

I just turned it on the other day to watch Hannah D a little bit, and he got going, I just turned it off.

I went back to Magnum.

I mean, if all we did was listen to him every day, we'd want to go up and find the cave and get in it and bar it and never come out.

But God's called us to be a light, to be influenced, and we ought to live as righteously as we can, be as influential as we can, taking a stand as often as we can, so that we can take as many with us as we can.

Because it's coming.

Jesus is coming.

He's coming.

Boy, he's coming.

And God has blessed us.

God has blessed us and given us what he has given us to use it for his glory.

I'm glad he's blessed me.

Listen, are you listening to me?

Hey, I love you.

I love you.

I am.

Give it to me.

Give me some more.

Hey, y'all think he's bad.

You ought to be me.

Y'all been with me Friday night.

I was I was quoting every scripture preacher, and finally I got ahead of the preacher because the lad, he had three points.

One was worship, control his mouth, and the other one was to trust him.

And in uh Job 13, 15.

I knew where he was going.

And he said, now we need to turn over.

And he was kind of having a little, he was looking, I said Job 13, 15.

Though he slay me yet, will I trust him?

And Dare said, I and he looked up, he said, Who said that?

Darren said, Oh, he's a preacher.

I knew where that rabbit was going.

Been there.

Chase that rabbit.

Oh, he slayed me.

Yeah, well, I trust you.

Don't you get down and think that the world's coming to an end.

Because guess what?

It is.

And you don't know when.

He's coming as a thief in the night.

You don't know when, so don't worry about it.

You just start living every day.

Hey, this is a day.

I can't do anything about yesterday, can't do anything about tomorrow.

But bless God, I'm gonna have a spell today.

And I'm gonna live my life to the fullest today.

Amen.

And when I go out, you'll when you go to my eulogy, you can say one thing.

Pastor Danny had a good time.

I'm not going wrong.

Oh man, I can't be around people like that very long.

I'm sorry, I can't.

Because I don't have that in me.

I have a Savior that saved me and changed me and filled me with his spirit.

And he's God's given me the promise that nothing's impossible with them.

And yes, he's blessed me.

He's blessed me with the things he's given me in 1 Timothy 6, 17, 18.

I am the enjoy them for the purpose of helping people with them.

Quit worrying about what you don't have and start enjoying what you have.

Amen.

Quit worrying about the Joneses.

Time you catch up with them, they're gonna pass you again anyway.

And don't go in debt to keep up with the Joneses.

Most of the time they're in more debt and they can't know what to do anyway.

Amen.

Just be who you are, be content, be humble, be happy, be content with the things you can't change.

And be in a testimony.

Then I'm through.

Last thing.

Humility is discovering what you can't discover.

That's good.

Then I saw all the work, verse 16, 17, of God.

That a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun, for though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it.

Moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

God has concealed things on purpose in order that we might, hey, let me tell you why we don't know everything.

God wants us to know his greatness.

And hey, hey, and our inadequacies.

Amen.

If we knew everything that God knows, why would we need God?

God wants to close that gap.

God wants us to have a burning heart to seek him.

Because we don't know it all.

Amen.

Why do you think he closed the gap in Philippians chapter 2, verse 7 and 8 when he said, Oh, I love this, Paul says, Christ made himself of no reputation, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:7

Have you closed the gap yourself this morning between Christ and yourself?

Have you come to know him as Lord and Savior?

Wow.

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

The courage to change the things I can.

Some of us need to change some things.

Amen.

Some things we can't change.

You can't change the way you look.

Well, I guess you can if you pay for it.

Don't laugh about that.

We see that all the time.

But the problem is I've been starting to see some of those movie stars with the after effects.

That's a lot uglier than what it would have been naturally.

Hello, just a thought.

People are even paying now when they die to get their bodies freeze.

Frozen.

So that they think somebody's gonna find a cure so we can live forever.

Yeah, I just read about that.

Paying millions of dollars to freeze their bodies in a place so that when they find, you know, that fountain of life drug, they can bring them back out, unfreeze them, get them drug, and they'll live for eternity.

God help us.

You know, some people aren't real smart.

Yeah, they have the PhDs.

Okay.

The courage to change the things I can't things I can't, I'm sorry.

And then here's the last one.

This is the whole premises.

The wisdom to know the difference.

Humility.

Can I say this?

Being humble is the hardest thing a Christian ever did.

Because let me tell you again, being humble means you don't want your way.

Boy, I struggle with that every day.

Every day.

And boy, I when I really make when I make up my mind, I want something.

I feel like I want something.

Sometimes I even disguise it.

God told me.

God gets blamed for a lot of things, doesn't he?

They always throw the gar the God card on you.

God told me.

The only problem is what they're doing doesn't add up with the word of God.

Let me tell you, the God didn't tell them that.

The devil told them that.

But not God.

It's got to line up with the book.

The book, the book, the book, the book.

That's the book for me.

We went out of there Thursday night, all of us saying the book.

The book.

Do you know the book?

Do you know the book?

You should know the truth.

Say it with me, church.

And the truth shall set you free.

Liberty.

Contentment.

Father, we love you.

We thank you.

We praise you.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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