The Key to GOD’s HEART // Summer Lean In series (part 3) // Pastor Drew

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Come back here.

>> [music]

>> Amen. Good morning. How we doing today?

Let's go. Come on. Can we get a second?

I just want to celebrate what God is

doing. I want to highlight the worship

team. How do we feel about this worship

team here? Just [cheering] incredible.

Incredible. I uh I'm so grateful for not

just the the talent and the skill, but

the heart and the posture to move where

God's moving and not to tell God or tell

us this is what we're doing, but we are

following him and uh and and I got to I

got to take a second to celebrate

Morgan, my bride, who leads this and uh

just how incredible. Yes. Come on. Can

we give her some honor here? [applause]

You guys don't get to see it, but her

heart, she just always comes with a

heart for others. She comes with a heart

for uh for for worshiping God. She truly

leans on him in every way. It is there

is no question that the rest of us get

to ride on the coattails of her prayer,

of her worship, of her heart for the

Lord. And that's what helps us to enter

in in here. So babe, I love you. I'm so

grateful for you. Thank you, [applause]

man. I wonder sometimes how I got how I

how how I caught this girl. And uh for

real, for real, out of my league. And uh

uh when when we got married, fun thing,

fun fact, when we got married, uh we

move in to we get married, we move in

together, and then she starts cooking.

And I don't remember her ever cooking

prior to us getting married. So it was a

bit of a gamble, one might say. Uh, no.

She and and we always went over and her

parents are amazing cooks and her uh and

and so we have her this I'm used to that

and then she started cooking and she's

amazing and I'm like where was this

skill this whole time? Every time she

makes a meal it's like this is amazing.

This is better than eating out. This is

so good. And I'm like where was this

before? And honestly now I'm grateful

because if she would have been flexing

this skill beforehand, there ain't no

way I would have she would have been

caught way before I found her. Right?

The reality is is I would not have been

able to get that. And uh and so because

you know what they say, the way to a

man's heart is through his stomach,

right? And so the reality uh there it

every time she cooks it makes me

happier. It makes me more in love with

her. Uh but what I want to talk about

today is I want to talk about the way to

God's heart. How do we get what's the

key to God's heart? And honestly in the

Old Testament, you see this trend and

this idea of almost like it's the same

idea like the way to God's heart is

through his stomach. They make these

sacrifices and often times they even

think that it's like this food to him.

Multiple times throughout the Old

Testament, God says that's not my food.

If I was hungry, I wouldn't even tell

you. He's like, I just like I the whole

creation is mine. That's not what I'm

do. That's not what's happening here. I

desire mercy, not sacrifice. Yet, this

whole idea of how do I get access to

God's heart? How do I win his favor? How

do I get closeness to him? For years,

for thousands of years, people go, it's

sacrifice. It's to give of something to

him. And yes, but it's not the action.

There is actually

a key that gives us access to the heart

of God.

And if I am Morgan talked about to seek

our first love, to seek him with all of

our heart again, if I'm going to seek

him, if I'm going to seek that love, how

many of y'all know I want to know what

gets access to his heart? Amen.

The reality is that the key to God's

heart is what we're going to be talking

about today. It's humility.

The key to God's heart. It's humility.

And this is as we're going through the

summer lean in challenge. This is going

to be this is so key. I need to know

what God's heart is. If I'm going to be

leaning into him, if I want to have

closeness and intimacy and connection

with him, I've got to know how I even

get in there. And uh and so this is part

of our lean-in challenge. If you aren't

familiar with it, it's a two-part

challenge this whole summer. It is

number one, it is we want to do the

Psalm reading plan. We got a churchwide

reading plan that we're doing together.

We are 12 chapters into Psalm. It's a

pretty quick kick uh uh pick back up. If

you go, "Man, that seems like a lot for

me." Don't worry. Just jump in. You can

jump in. We can uh we may even have Do

we have the reading plan QR code? Can we

get that? I may not have given that to

you guys this one. Uh but the the

jumping in and starting with Psalm 13

with everyone and just let's just go

let's just start where we're at. So we

got the reading plan. You can take this

challenge and then the second part of

the challenge is to attend connect

collective weekly all summer. I'm

leaning in. I'm saying yes. I was just

talking to someone this morning who said

because of all going through a ton going

through so much and said because of all

that I'm going through I didn't honestly

I didn't even want to be here I didn't

want to get out of bed I didn't want to

come and my husband made me my he p he

said no you're going and it's a part of

this leanin challenge that's the whole

idea of going when I don't want to I'm

going to lean in and that's what I'm

going to choose to do again and again

and again. See, the key to God's heart

as we talk about humility, uh, man, this

has there there hasn't been a sermon in

quite some time that I've prepped that

has just absolutely

hit to my soul repeatedly again and

again, as this one has over the last few

weeks. So, I want uh I want to ask for

some grace as I walk through this. This

is it feels it feels heavy on me and not

a not a hard way, but just like a deep

conviction way of areas that I go, man,

I want to I want to grow in this and

areas that I feel like I totally whiff

on this and areas that I've gotten

deeper revelation as I've done more

study on this that I'm like, "Holy

smokes, Lord, I need to model your

humility." And that's exactly what we

see here. Humility is such a key part of

the heart of God. Uh in fact, there's a

book that I have read through a couple

times in preparing for this message. If

you want to get a deeper revelation on

humility, if you want to get slapped in

the face, kicked in the teeth by the the

the by our need, by our pride, by the

reality of what we have in this, there's

a book called Humility by Andrew Murray.

It's an older book and it is this it's

incredible. It's incredible. I've read

it and I've listened to it uh a few

times over this week and uh the last

couple weeks and it is it's so deeply

powerful. But this is what this is what

we see scripture says about humility. If

I can do a real quick overview. James

James 4:6

4:6 says God opposes the proud. If you

want God to be against you, who cares

about humility, right? like I'll just I

I'll embrace my pride. But he gives

grace to the humble.

See Isaiah 66:2 says, "Has not my hand,"

Isaiah 66:2

God says, "has not my hand hand made all

these things, and so they came into

being, declares the Lord." These are the

ones, these are the people who I looked

on with favor. Who wants the favor of

God in here?

>> Come on. those who are humble and

contrite and who tremble in my word.

When's the last time you opened up the

Bible and it it made you shake a little?

James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves

James 4:10

before the Lord and he will exalt you."

Isaiah 57:15

Isaiah 57:15

says, "I dwell." Where does God live?

Where is it? What's the home address of

God? I dwell in the high and holy place

and also with him who is contrite and of

lowly spirit to revive the spirit of the

lowly and to revive the heart of the

contrite.

to the Holy Spirit. God is always

looking for the humble.

In the same way that when you pour water

into any vessel, it always fills the

lowest place first.

So the spirit moves over those who are

lowest, who are most humble, who are

most broken, who are most desperate and

dependent on him.

Lord, may my heart

be ever in a lower posture again and

again and again. This this sermon in

this topic has revealed a new depth to

me of what we say for all of our servant

leaders, everyone who serves here

collective, we say the further I go, the

lower I get.

The further I go, the closer I get to

God, I have to get lower. This is this

this is why we see what humility

actually the whole purpose. What is this

is the reason we model is because it

actually originates in God himself.

The creator of all things, the

magnificent one, the one to whom all

glory, honor, and praise is due,

actually is the one who teaches us what

humility looks like. Because he himself

set aside his supreme majesty to love,

serve, care for, and relate to, and be

in relationship with his creation. He

models this. It's actually Psalm 113 5-6

says, "Who is like the Lord our God who

is seated on high and who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth? He sees

us. He comes near when I cry out because

I got a bill that's due." And then

something shows up and he and and he

makes a miracle. Why in the world would

the creator of the universe give a hoot

about what bill I got due?

And yet he does.

It's humility originates in God. And

then it is exemplified

in Christ. We see this. Philippians 2

3-8 says, "Do nothing from selfish

ambition or vain conceit. But in

humility, count others more significant

than yourselves. Let each of you look

not only to his own interest but also to

the interests of others. So we are

taught humility. How do we learn

humility? Have this mind amongst

yourselves which is yours in Christ

Jesus. Verse six

says, "Who though he was in the form of

God, did not count equality with God to

be something to be grasped, but emptied

himself by taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men

and being found in human form, he

humbled himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death, even death on the

cross. There's not a soul in this room

that has matched that level of humility.

Yet I say, I strive for Christlikkeness.

And yet my concerns are ever so selfish.

And I I'm always looking at at what what

perception is of me about how what I

sound like, what I what I'm presenting

as, what all this I I continue to make

things about like I don't know if I want

to serve in that way. Oh, that's that's

frustrating and hard for me because I

don't know if I'm going to get any

kickback on that. I don't know if it's

worth my time to give in this way when I

haven't really received much like thanks

and gratitude for what I've done before.

So I

I don't look anything like Jesus. That

doesn't look anything like him. If

there's even an inkling of that in my

heart, I need to kill that.

>> Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, "Take my yoke

Matthew 11:29

upon you for and learn from me.

For who am I? How does he describe his

own character? Gentle and humble in

heart.

He is gentle and he is humble.

So this is this is where to I I got to

realize that to become like Christ is to

increase in humility. It's it's an

essential.

And so this is one of the things that we

just did. We are we have core values

that you may have seen on some of our

signs out there. Our core values is who

we are. And then once you join the team,

you'll get six more. We have six core

values. Jesus first, people,

missiondriven, authentic relationships,

generous living, and joyfilled. And then

when you jump onto our team, we've got

six more leadership behaviors. But we

just added one. We just we we combined

someone. We added one because I humility

is such an important part of this that

we said as a team. We had a leadership

meeting at our house on Friday and we

introduced this. We made a little tweak

to it. But here is our humility

definition for collective church for all

of us servant leaders. Everyone here at

collective church. Can we pull that up?

Humility is being shaped.

Can we pull that up on the you got that?

Humility. Shaped by his grace. It should

be a grace slide. Shaped by his grace,

covering my sin, I serve others. There

we go. Shaped by his grace, cleansing my

sin.

My whole life is shaped by this. My

whole life is is built off of this

foundation. The way I see the world is

not because I am the mighty chosen holy

one. No, I have had I'm the one who

brings nothing but my sin to God. And

because of his sacrifice and his blood,

my nothing that I bring now has allowed

for me to receive his grace.

If I stand there,

my entire outlook on this world changes.

So I'm shaped by his grace cleansing my

sin. I serve others not to be seen

but to put his glory

and his mission above my own. His glory

above my own. His mission above my own

purposes, my own thoughts, my own

desires, my own pursuits. It is him

above me. It is others before me. This

is what humility looks like. I love how

John the Baptist, John [snorts] the

Baptist, I think, highlighted this so

deeply well because John the Baptist has

the greatest, he is the uh he he's the

Billy Graham of the day, right? He's

just six months older than Jesus, but

yet he starts his prophetic ministry

before Jesus does. Everybody's coming

out to the wilderness to go meet John

the Baptist and go see miracles and go

get baptized by him. him and and there's

he's got all these disciples surrounding

him and John the Baptist is the guy

and then

Jesus shows up

and John the Baptist with no selfish

ambition or vain conceit with no desire

to go hold up don't trample on my

ministry I got a good thing going you

see all the people over here don't you

see the things that are that that's

happening this This is good stuff. And

Jesus, all these disciples, all these

people are starting to follow Jesus and

they're leaving John's ministry. Even

some of John's key disciples end up

becoming some of Jesus's disciples.

And when his disciples come over to him,

they're like, "What what are we going to

do about this? He's baptizing people and

like all this, what's going on?" And

this is what he says in John 3:30.

John 3:30

He must become greater and greater.

I

must become less and less.

There must be a constant removal of

self, of pride, of every aspect of who I

am, to the submission of Christ. all the

things that I want to call my identity,

that's actually not my identity. That's

actually just my preferences. That's

actually my defensive mechanisms. That's

actually the things that I need to lay

down at his feet.

But when we understand humility, I think

we get a lot of misunderstanding. So I

want to talk about a few things that

humility is not. You can write take some

notes on this one. Humility is not

ignorance of reality. [snorts]

Humility is not pretending like

something doesn't exist. I love how uh

our brother Fei Awadelli here uh says

it. He says if if if you're driving a

Lexus, if you got a nice car, right, and

someone comes up and they're like, "Hey,

I like your car." And you go, "Oh, it's

not a nice car. Oh, no. It's it's

nothing. Oh, it's it's just a it's a

it's it's nothing. Don't worry." He's

like, "No, it's a nice car." Right? What

am I doing? I'm getting this false

humility and I'm adding a lie onto it as

well. Oh, it's nothing. It's nothing at

all. Right? Like, no. Right? Like, so

it's not an ignorance of reality. In

fact, I think the epitome of this is

found in Numbers 12:3. You don't have

Numbers 12:3

this. Don't worry about it. Uh, now the

man Moses was very meek, very humble,

more humble than all the people who were

on the face of the earth.

You want to know who wrote that?

Moses. [laughter]

Can you imagine that? If I show up next

Sunday and I'm like, "Hey guys, by the

way, I preached on humility." So, I

figured I'd get the award. I got a new

medal that I'm wearing. Most humble is

what it says. I made sure it was big so

you can read it from far away. Like, can

you imagine that? Yet the reality is if

you read the whole story, it's an

important context for why people were

trying to overthrow him in that chapter.

And so you see this this this whole idea

of what's going on. Moses is this

nothing nobody. That's why he's my

favorite person outside of Christ in

scripture. I I so deeply relate to him

and the little and the nothing that he

has to offer but obedience to Christ.

It's absolutely incredible. And and he's

like he now Moses I'm tell you about me,

right? just this humble, meek, nothing

guy. He can't speak. He's not inspiring.

He's not charismatic. He's not He's not

that type of person that when he walks

in the room, you feel it, right? It's

not that at all. It's like people are

going, "Okay, now that you let us out of

Egypt, can we get someone who's actually

a leader to help us as we're in the

wilderness?" That's what they started

doing. Seriously, like it is. And and so

we see this he's not ignorant of

reality. He's actually

speaking a truth in an important context

in the story that he is writing down.

And so this is it's it's not an

ignorance of this, but it's also it's

also when Paul, the Apostle Paul says,

"I work harder than everybody else. I

worked harder than everybody else."

That's not a that's not a it's it's not

pride. It's the reality of him saying

he's actually leading to and it's all

for nothing. It all was empty. Uh so

pride is not an ignorance of reality.

Pride is or sorry humility is not an

ignorance of reality. Humility is not

self-deprecation.

Often times we think it's like oh I'm an

idiot. Oh I'm just stupid. Oh I'm just

all this stuff and I just speak all

these lies and the and the things that

the enemy wants to speak over me and I

speak it over myself and I call it and I

stamp it with humility and that's not

it. That is not it at all. Th this is

crazy. I think this is such a deep

lesson in humility from King Saul, the

king right before King David and it said

at the end of his ministry that 1st

Samuel 15:12 says Saul came to Carmel

and behold he set up a monument for

himself. So he we're not looking at a

guy who's deeply humble, right? He set

up a monument for himself. And Samuel

the prophet said to him, verse 17,

"Though you are little in your own eyes,

you are too small in your own eyes. Are

you not the head of the tribes of

Israel,

the Lord has anointed you king over

Israel,

and yet he's taking his actions like, I

don't know, it doesn't really matter.

It's not that big of a deal. I just like

I'm nobody. I'm nothing." And he's like,

"No, you are a nobody that God put on

the throne.

Recognize where you are. Your

self-deprecation is not humility. It's

laziness. It's avoidance of what God has

actually placed upon you that you need

to walk through in humility. But it's

actually a like he's given you a serious

call on your life. Every single one of

you take it seriously.

Take it seriously. No, no, no, no. I am

called to my workplace. No, I will stay

faithful in my marriage. No, I will

stand firm for my neighbors, for my

friends. I will do because I have been

given a great and high calling

that is not being too little in my own

eyes. It's recognizing, it's not

self-deprecation. It's recognizing that

God has placed this little person in a

eternity changing role. That's a big

deal.

So this is this is where I love uh h CS

Lewis gives one of the best definitions

of humility. He says humility is not

thinking of less of yourself. It's not

going oh man I'm a terrible person. It's

actually thinking of yourself less.

My thoughts my this is this has probably

been the thing that's that's been most

disappointing to me. How often I'm

thinking of me. How often I look at

conversations in light of self. How

often I look at I'm preparing for this

sermon as I'm looking in the mirror

doing my hair. Can you imagine? I'm

like, it's not about you. It's not about

you. It's not like I know I got to have

my hair done for Sunday morning, but

like the whole concept is just like, how

do I do this, God? How do I make it less

about me? Think less of self always

towards him. Always towards others,

always for what? For his glory, always

for the sake of serving someone else.

Lord, may I become the type of person

that is not thinking about any concerns

of what someone else may be thinking of

me, but only you and you alone.

Here's another thing that it is not.

Humility is not repeating the this cycle

of sinning and apologizing. I don't need

sin to be humble. I've already sinned

enough. I've s If I If you sin one time,

you are in extreme

desperate need for a savior. You don't

need to sin again and go, "Oh Lord,

please help me out again. I need it is

not a result of constant sin. It is a

result of he is the one that has walked

me into this. Okay, so I got to and then

here's here's another one. Uh humility

is not appearing humble. This is where

it gets tricky. Morgan and I were dating

and I'll never forget this. Uh she she

said, "Drew, I've noticed a pattern with

you." And I'm like, "Yeah, babe.

What is it? It's my devilishly handsome

looks, right? Is how much you how much

when I come around your heart flutters.

Is that what the pattern is? She says,

"When my parents are around, you clean

the house and you do the dishes and you

help out with them. When they're not

there, you couldn't give a hoot about

what mess is there."

I think I think that's that shows me

pride right there. That shows me that

your humility is actually just a show.

And holy smokes, was that so deep

because guess what my flesh said? No, I

am humble.

I one of one of the issues of my pride

was the whole idea that I wanted people

to think I was humble and I loved when I

got that compliment

and like that was that was part of the

it's once again it comes back it's not

appearing humble there's a true humility

that is actually accessible and that is

and we have to we have to run away from

this because pride itself

pride is the whole the the the enemy's

whole thick, right? It's his whole

thing. It's what he does. He comes down

and he says, "You know what? I should be

as God." And so, he gets thrown down.

What does he say to Adam and Eve?

You could be as God. What does he say to

us?

Your way is better than God's way.

I think you know the best time the the

best way to do this here. I think you

should follow your gut and your heart

and what you're doing instead of looking

to what the Lord says, what the word

says, what his people say like this. The

whole idea pride is in everything. It is

so sneaky. It is so sneaky. This is what

pride is described as the first shirt

that you put on, the first sin that I

wear and the last that I take off.

It is a a a reality that I when I think

about this, I think about Luke 18 9-14.

We're going to uh if we can pull this

one up. Lukeapter 18:es 9 through4. And

Jesus is talking about this. He's

preaching. He says to some who were

confident read prideful of their own

righteousness.

Say that's exactly where I was, right?

You don't understand how holy I am.

Right? Like watch out. They were

confident of their own righteousness and

looked down on everyone else. Jesus told

this parable to them. Two men went up to

the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and

the other a tax collector. The Pharisee

stood by himself and prayed, "God, I

thank you that I am not like other

people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers,

or even like this here tax collector. I

fast twice a week and give a tenth of

all I get." Verse 13 continues on. But

the tax collector stood at a distance

who would not even look up to heaven but

beat his chest and said, "God have mercy

on me, a sinner." I tell you that man,

the tax collector who everybody looked

down on, they hated, the most hated

person in that society. I tell you that

man rather than the Pharisee went home

justified before God. For all those who

exalt themselves will be humbled and

those who humble themselves will be

exalted.

You want to know the first thought when

I read this? Let's go. Pull back one.

Pull back one to the last verse. Here we

go. See if you catch this. I read this

and I go, "Oh, [sighs] thank you, Lord,

that I am not like that Pharisee.

You guys see that?

Ah,

what's happening?

What is going on in my soul?" Anybody

else catch that where you're like,

"Yeah, man. That Pharisee, he's a mess."

Oh, geez. Anybody else? Come on, let's

be a little honest here. Anybody else

read that and go like, "Yep, not that. I

ain't that. That's for sure." Oh, the

reality that that is every single one of

us as soon as we That's why these

parables of Jesus are so deep. They're

so powerful. This is the reality that

humility is not a moment. It's not just

an encounter. Humility is a a new

identity. It's a reality that I live in.

And there is a deep deep freedom in

living in a place who am I? Who? Why me?

How in the world? How could I? Yet he

has offered that incredible grace to me.

Yet he has put me in a place where my

actions, where my words, where it

matters. That's where he has placed you.

I you you want to know what you have to

offer to God? dirty rags,

sinfulness,

and a heart that wants to do right but

only ever does wrong.

And yet he says, "Thank you, and I will

cleanse you, and I will bring good out

of you, and I will build good inside of

you. And my role is not to work myself

up the mountain of holiness, but to fall

deeper into the valley of humility, for

the Lord fills the deepest places first.

That is where I want to be found.

It is by the key of humility that every

other virtue is unlocked. So what I want

to do, I want to talk through real quick

[snorts]

how to humble yourself. How do I do

this? Right? If the whole idea if it's

not about you, it's not about fighting

for it, how do I fight to become more

humble? Like how do I how how do I

remove this thing if even seeking

humility oftenimes results in pride? How

do I do this? It's such a sneaky tricky

thing. Here's where it is. First step,

praise him.

Begin with praise.

every single time. In fact, you don't

even have to praise him. If you look to

him, you won't be able to help it. If

you truly look to the Lord, you won't be

able to stop your praise.

The time that I find in scripture, if

the band can come up, uh keys can come

up, sorry. uh the time that I find

that's so so deeply powerful in this is

in the book of Job you have most people

know the first two chapters of the book

of Job and they it's it's where Job's

whole life falls apart and and the enemy

Satan is like uh just making everything

miserable to see if he will deny Jesus

and he doesn't [music] and it's powerful

and it's amazing but then the then Job

goes through 36 chapters of Job and his

friends just trying to figure out why

what the heck's going on why is this and

it ultimately comes to this like, oh,

you know what? I think I know why God's

doing this. I know what's happening and

I know how this is happening. And then

then God shows up

and he speaks to Job and his friends.

Can you imagine that? the presence of

God when it show when when he shows up,

he shakes mountains and makes a a

forever fire that just continues to

consume the whole mountain and it's

filled with smoke and there's there's

lightning and there's a constant

earthquake going on at all times. The

presence of God is intimidating. It is

very real. There's a reason why people

just see angels and they fall on their

face and they go, "Please don't kill

me." Like what's going on? This is what

happens. The Lord answered Job out of a

whirlwind and said, "Who is it that

darkens counsel by words without

knowledge?

Dress for action like a man. Prepare for

battle. I got something to say to you. I

will question you and you teach me a

little something." Okay? Where were you

when I laid the foundations of the

earth? Tell me if you have the

understanding. And then he goes on for

two chapters and he continues to reveal

his holiness and his greatness and his

majesty and might. And then in verse in

in chapter 40 finally we see that that

he says, "Shall a faultfinder contend

with the Almighty? He who argues with

God, let him answer it." And then Job

answers the Lord. He says,

"I'm I'm I'm about a small account. What

can I answer you?" I put my hand over my

mouth. I've spoken once. I will not

answer twice, but I will proceed no

further. I'm done talking. And then the

Lord responds out of the whirlwind.

Dress for action like a man. I will

question you and you will make it known

to me. I What is he saying? I ain't done

yet, bro. I'm still going. I got more to

say. Oo.

Oh, what this does to the soul. Reading

through this in the times and I'm like,

"What are you doing, God? Why? Why is

this happening? What's going on? I think

you missed it. I think your timing's

off. I feel like this is I feel like I

had a pretty darn good plan for this and

it's not happening. What's going on?"

And and the thing that will inspire more

humility than anything else in the

world, I believe, is look to God. If I

look to him, if I look to who he truly

is and I look to then who I am, it

causes me to see that whether I am just

a created being, I he must be humble

before him. Whether [music] I'm a

sinner, I must be humble before the one

who has forgiven me. Or whether I am a

saint, I must be humble before the one

who I'm trying to chase after his

humility. It doesn't matter [music]

which way I spin it. It doesn't matter

which way I look at it. If there's

anything within me that goes, "Ugh, I

don't like having to align with his

desire with his will. [music] I got to

kill that thing inside of me." And so,

first I look to him. Second, I got to

repent. What happens? One of the most

common statements [music]

when people meet God, when Peter met

Jesus, when uh when when we see again

and again that there's times in the Holy

of Holies that Isaiah met Jesus and he

says, "I'm but a man of unclean lips."

Suddenly, when I see God,

I look at myself.

It's like I'm standing fully revealed

before him. And I see my sin. I see my

mess. I see my shame. I see my pride. I

see all of it and suddenly I must lay

myself down and that which I thought was

doing pretty darn good, suddenly I see

the mess in the dirt of my own self. And

so I must repent and I must confess. I

encourage you guys to find someone to be

in regular confession with that you can

say, "This is the sin. This is the mess

that I've done. Call me higher." And you

go, "I don't I don't necessarily want to

do that. I I feel like there's going to

be shame involved. I feel like there's

going to be Listen, why would I care

about how I look in the eyes of man if

it gets me closer to the heart of God?

That's what I want. That's the desire

inside of me. So, I got to praise him. I

got to repent. And then I got to give of

myself. This is what I do. You want to

humble yourself? Do something really

uncomfortable that you actually don't

want to do. Give more generously than

you want to. Give to others. Give to

God. Give of your time. Whatever it is,

give in an uncomfortable way.

It'll strip you of the things inside of

you that say, "No, I had I had a

different purpose for this money. I had

a different dream for this. I had

different things that I wanted to do

with my time. I wanted to sit back. I

wanted to watch this show. I wanted to

do this thing." It'll strip you of that.

[music] And less of me, more of him.

Last thing is a constant state of

dependence on him. I live [music] in

dependence.

In fact, Andrew Murray, who wrote the

book humility, I'd refer uh referenced,

he defines humility as living in

dependence, full dependence on God.

It's just this place of recognizing that

my heart just beat because he allowed

it. I woke up this morning, the sun came

over [music] the horizon because he

continues to spin the world on his

fingers.

Everything everything about [music] me

is fully dependent on him. I just need

to recognize it. And so if we can stand

in this room, what I want to do is I

want to take a second [music] to

worship. I want to take a little bit of

time and we're going to step into this

song and we're going to and and I want

for us to with everything in us, would

we strip ourselves of self? Would we

stop our care of everybody else? If you

have to if you're if you're a a selfish

person like me, I'm always thinking

about what other people I look around.

I'm like, "Oh, shoot. What are they

thinking about me? Oh, shoot. What's

happening there? I got to shut my eyes.

I got to stop. There's no one else in

this room. Because if I feel awkward,

the only reason I feel awkward is

because I'm thinking about what other

people are thinking of me. If I feel

like, uhoh, like this is going to be

this is going to be weird. I don't care.

I don't care anymore. This is between me

and God. I will be even more undignified

than this. Right? I am praising my God.

So, can we do that? We're going to sing

a song of praise. We're going to sing a

song of just the greatness of God. And

what I want to do during this time, turn

from yourself and turn towards him.

Sadi, can you lead us?

[singing]

>> Find your posture of worship wherever

you need to be. [singing]

>> You need to be on your knees.

>> Come on. No one else [singing]

to thee.

How [singing] great thou art.

How great thou are.

Then [singing] sings my soul,

my

God to thee.

>> Yes. Come on, declare. How great thou

art.

>> How great thou things [singing]

my soul, [singing]

my savior God to thee. Off you

>> great thou.

>> How [singing] great thou are.

If my heart can live in a place

how great you are,

how little I am and yet how great

[music]

you are.

Then that'll put me in a place that'll

keep my heart in a posture. Oh Lord,

Lord, may we be a church. May we be a

people who look not to what man thinks,

whose care is not about what this world

[music] desires. Who is not concerned

about the next thing that tomorrow may

bring, but we recognize that every step

of our life is fully in your hands.

Anyway,

may we become a church

that is not looking for accolades.

May we become a people that is not

concerned about other people's

affirmation, about other people's

approval, about other people's

perception. But God, may we live in a

deep humility.

Father God, I pray right here, right

now, would you begin to strip away the

things of us?

What do you need to lay on the feet of

the cross? What do you need to lay

before his throne? What are the things

inside of you that need to be put to

death?

And then there are those in this room

who I believe

I believe it is time to surrender to

Christ. This is it. This is your moment.

[music] Don't wait. There's some of you

in this room who are here for a reason.

You've been holding back. You've been

delaying. You haven't [music] said yes.

And now this is the time. It's not a

time to fight, to climb up the mountain.

It is a time to [music] surrender and to

fall at his feet and to say, "Okay, I

will finally humble myself and say yes

to [music] you, God." Is there anyone in

this room that says, "That is me." Would

you put your hand up? That is me. Come

on. I see you. Say yes. Say yes. Come

on. Come on. Who else we got? Yes. Come

on. If you're saying, "I am ready. I

give my life to you." Maybe for the

first time ever, maybe for the first

time in a long time that you say, "Here

I am. I surrender. Break me, Father.

Break me, Father. In the mighty name of

Jesus, I pray. Would we be a church that

lives broken,

that lives humble,

that lives in a place of dependence,

fully dependent on you.

May we think less about ourselves.

May we think more frequently [music]

about you. May we think through the lens

of other people. May we constantly live

[music] in a place of humility and

falling at our feet, at your feet, God,

falling [music] on our knees and truly

living

where we keep coming back to this

[music] again and again and again.

>> [snorts]

>> There was a

I got one last story I [music] want to

tell. There's there's the first time

that I truly felt like I deeply

experienced humility.

I uh it was it was a one of my first

preaching engagements that I had and I

had the opportunity to get to uh the all

these towns were coming together.

They're getting their youth together.

They're doing a a weekend thing and it

was so cool and I was so excited. And

then right right before I just I just

felt this overwhelming like I I cannot I

should not I I absolutely cannot.

[music] And my dad counsel me. He's like

you got to go. Do not let the enemy win

on this one. Okay. And so so I went and

I went with this with the confidence

[music] and guys it was the most

embarrassing biggest flop of a sermon

I've ever had in my life. I'm not even

kidding. It was so the the stage was

about this high and I was on the stage

and I was trying to teach worship and

teach these students to come together

and seek the Lord and I do I was doing

similar to like hey close your eyes if

you're easily distracted right close

your eyes and I was on my knees on the

stage eyes closed going and then when

this the the last song finished I opened

up my eyes and I realized I'm this far

away from a whole group of kids that's

all going

just staring at me guys there was

nothing moving moving in that room.

There was not a thing happening. [music]

And so I dismissed them. Then the next

day I'm like, "Dear Lord, what is going

to happen? What are you going to do? How

what in the world?" I got to totally

shift the next sermon that I had

planned. I had all this stuff organized.

And I I'm asking the family to pray. And

the next night, guys, the Holy Spirit

fell. The Lord moved in powerful ways

that I didn't think was possible. Things

that I was even not theologically

certain about at the time. I was like,

"What? How is God doing that?" Right?

Like I had no clue. And then I left.

Sunday morning. The same thing happened.

All the adults got together and they

joined in the youth said testimonies.

God did amazing things. I drove home.

It's a 4-hour drive back home. And as

I'm driving, I have to pull off to the

side of the road. God, how could you

through me? How could you through me?

How did that happen? I'm such a mess.

I'm such a how that was not me. That was

all you. And it was this deep moment. I

was just weeping for like 20 minutes on

the side of the road. I just was stuck

just how how

But I'll tell you this

before I got home. You want to know what

I was thinking?

I'm pretty dang good at this actually. I

think I could make a ministry out of

this. I think I could start touring. I

can think I could like promote this to

other people. Get some of their

references and be like, "Yeah, let's go.

I can make some money off of this. Let's

do this."

Oh, 20 minutes.

20 minutes of genuine true humility.

May we capture those moments and then

learn how to live in those moments

in a place where it's no longer about

me, where it's all about him, where it's

all about how he wants to bless [music]

others. I pray that over every single

one of us. We pray in the mighty name of

Jesus. Amen. Amen. Let's give a hand for

the word of the Lord.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

[music] message. Our prayer is more than

the words that were spoken in the

message that you would remember the

things that God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is [music] other people being in

a community because we are better

together. So, if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, [music] would you

click the link below and fill out the

form? This is going to help us so that

we can celebrate with you [music] and

equip you with some tools so that your

next steps are great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

[music] praying for you. We're cheering

you on. We believe that the best days

are ahead of you.

Heat. Heat. N.