We have been in a series, for those that are not aware, we have been in a series now for a few weeks.
And that series is Lowliness of Mind.
And we are coming across part five today.
Last Sunday, Pastor took a little bit of a detour to address some of the things that was happening in our nation.
But even that, what was being addressed last week, is very applicable to lowliness of mind.
To be a martyr for the Lord is a very lowly thing.
It's a very unpopular thing, if you really think about it.
So I want to give just a really quick overview from part four, which was not last Sunday, but the Sunday before.
And the emphasis that was made that Sunday was out of Matthew 20.
I'm not going to read it, but I'll just quickly paraphrase that story.
In Matthew 20, we see the mother of the Zebedee sons, which is James and John.
We see the mother coming to Jesus, kneeling before Jesus, and she's basically...
What I talked about that Sunday, she literally signed her sons up for death, is what she basically did.
She came up and she said, would you allow one of my sons to sit at your right, the other of my sons to sit on your left side?
And she's basically signing them up to be martyrs for death.
She's basically signing their death certificate, is literally what she did.
And the emphasis in that was that, where I was coming out of in part four, is that a lowly life, or a life that is of a lowly mind,
naturally produces a friendship with the Lord. Do you guys remember that?
When we live in a lowliness of mind and when we live lowly, friends, it naturally produces us to walk in a friendship with the Lord.
And I said this that Sunday, I said there is a small percentage, listen to me, listen, a small percentage of people that are actually friends of Jesus.
And I'm talking about within the body of Christ. I'm talking about take all the churches, put them together, the body, the bride of Christ,
the whole world that is born again, spirit filled, believers in Jesus, amongst that group of people.
There is a fraction of them that are actually friends of Jesus.
And you would say, well, how can you make a statement like that? How do you know that?
First of all, I've been around enough, though I'm young, but I've had the privilege and the honor to be around enough pastors and leaders in the body of Christ.
And I've learned that when you're around people that are even famous, that literally even have a celebrity title to them in the church world.
I've been around many of those people. And I've learned by being around these people and reading the scriptures, obviously first and foremost,
I've learned that people that are friends of Jesus, there is a certain characteristic and principles that they live in and live by that naturally manifests.
And more than that, more than that, I've sat in under services of people that were friends of Jesus and people that were friends of Jesus.
And I've learned something that when you are a friend of the Lord and you come up to a pulpit to speak, the Lord shows up.
The Lord shows up if you're his friend. You know, we can run all day, all night and say, I'm a friend of Jesus. I'm a friend of Jesus.
But does he call you a friend? But does the Lord call you a friend?
Does the Lord show up and manifest himself in your workplaces? Does the Lord show up and manifest when you're ministering?
Does the Lord show up and manifest himself in your own home with your children?
I mean, we're always going for the public stuff. You know, well, does he show up?
But what about does the Lord show up at your house when you're disciplining your kids?
Does the Lord show up in your house when you're interacting with your wife or when you're interacting with your husband?
We're quick to jump to the public, but to be a friend of the Lord doesn't just mean that he shows up when I'm preaching or when somebody else is preaching.
Does he actually show up when you're at home? Does the Lord meet you there?
So there is a fraction of people that I believe are actually friends of the Lord, a fraction of people.
But the reason why we're on this series, there is many reasons of why we're on this series of lowliness of mind, first and foremost, because our Lord was lowly.
Jesus was lowly. After I come back and we get into the series, my plan is to literally walk us for a few Sundays,
to walk us through the life of Jesus to show you how much lowliness of mind was literally abiding in the Lord and everything that the Lord did was of a lowly mind.
So we're in these series because our Lord was lowly. We're also in these series because I believe, and if time is not against me today, towards the end of my notes,
I'll touch in a little more, but I believe that lowliness of mind is the blueprint for the end time revival. I believe that.
I am convinced that it is a blueprint of how the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit is to come.
On people that are desperate, on people that are dependent on the Lord, on people that are hungry and nothing satisfies them but the Lord.
This is all lowliness of mind. And we have a whole nother culture and thing preached off pulpits and churches these days.
We do. I'm telling you, we do. You don't believe me? Go visit some churches. Go visit some churches.
There is very few people that will hit something like this because it's unpopular.
People are excited to come to church to be encouraged and to be padded on the back and say you're doing great and those are good aspects of a church.
But if we're not being told the truth of things and we leave here unchanged or any church, if we go and we leave unchanged, we don't feel provoked.
We don't feel challenged. You know how me and my wife always measure churches? We traveled for many, many years and we would measure churches this way.
I would go to a church or I should say we would go to a church. We would sit in the service. We would listen to the sermon.
And at the end of the sermon when church was done, everybody's leaving. If that word or if that two hours or hour and a half, well now it's 60 minutes.
So you got to keep it under 60 minutes now. If that 60 minutes did not provoke me to go after the Lord more in private, then I think the preacher missed it.
That's how I measure myself when I preach. If I'm preaching and it's not causing you to go after the Lord more in private, then I'm missing it.
I consider all day long and tell you how beautiful you are and you guys are. You guys are very pretty by the way. I don't know if anybody's told you that.
Very pretty. Very. Yeah, I'm telling you. Your mom and dad did great.
But I also want to make sure that when I'm preaching as your pastor, I want to make sure that I'm preaching and you're going after the Lord more.
So a lowly life coming out of Matthew 20, a lowly life naturally produces a friendship with the Lord.
How exciting is that? How exciting is it that not only we are calling the Lord Jesus, you're my friend, but he makes it known just like he made it known about John the Baptist.
Jesus said that John the Baptist is the greatest prophet born of women and then he says an even more.
Do you know what the Lord is regarding to there? He's saying that that right there is a primary example of what it means to be my friend.
You still with me? Open up your Bibles to Luke chapter one verse 48. Yeah, Luke chapter one and I'll tell you what verse here in just a little bit.
We'll start at verse 46. I'm going to pray before we get in. Father, we thank you.
We thank you for your word. We thank you for your spirit that brings the word alive, Lord, as we read it, as we look at it, as we preach it.
Holy Spirit, I'm asking you this morning that you would unveil our eyes, that you would cause the scales that are on our eyes to fall off, that we would see Jesus once again through the Scriptures.
That we would see our risen Lord and Savior, that we would see the importance of this, my God.
Holy Spirit, convince us. Convince us just how important this is. Cause our hearts to see, Lord. Cause our hearts to see. Move on our hearts this morning, Holy Spirit. I'm asking you.
Move on our hearts. Sear our hearts with your word this morning as it is preached. Cause us to leave this place changed and never the same.
Looking at Jesus like we've never looked at him before.
Holy Spirit, I'm praying that you would simply bless the people this morning.
Bless them, Lord. Bless them, Lord, with your presence. Bless them, Lord, with your presence.
Let your presence move on their heart, Lord. Let the presence of the living God just move on their hearts, Lord, on the good ground.
On the seeds that have been sown, Lord. Let the water of the Spirit of God water those seeds today. And may you grow them, Lord. May you grow them.
I'm asking you in Jesus' name. Amen.
How many of you have your physical Bibles this morning? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Luke chapter one verse 46. This is a song of Mary and there's things here. This is Mary the mother of Jesus.
And there's things here that Mary, you could say, sings. It's a song is what the scriptures say.
But there's things here that she says that talk about the Lord that I want to emphasize and point out.
And then I want to talk a little bit about Mary's life. But let me start at verse 46.
It says in Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior.
For he, this is the Lord, has regarded the lowly state of his maid servant. Catch that. This is verse 48. You guys got to catch that.
For he has regarded the lowly state of his maid servant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
If you look at the life of Mary and you begin to study her life or even just read her life in the scriptures, you will find that Mary was a very, very lowly girl.
And I'm saying at that time, girl, she remained lowly her whole life. But specifically in the time, because what's happening here, the song that Mary is singing is after the visitation that she had of the angel.
The angel of the Lord comes to her and he basically says, you're going to conceive the son of God, the savior of the world, Emmanuel, God with us.
He's basically saying, hey, the prophecies and the scriptures spoken about a savior coming to save Israel, you get to be the woman that gets to hold them in your womb.
Talk about being a friend of the Lord.
I mean, seriously, think about it.
Talk about being a friend of the Lord when the angel of God comes to you and says, blessed are you woman?
And I think scholars say she was like 14, 15, she was young, man.
She was young.
She was betrothed onto Joseph, but they weren't married yet. They were in the process.
And an angel of the Lord comes and says, blessed are you woman, you're going to carry the son of God, the savior of the world.
The prophecies that have been spoken of old for hundreds and hundreds of years now that prophecy gets to come in you, in your belly, and you get to carry him for nine months.
Now here's the question.
Why did the Lord choose Mary out of everybody else?
According to what Mary says, she says you have regarded the lowly state of your maid servant.
In other words, if we can live in a lowly mine, not only will it produce a friendship with the Lord, but the scriptures say that God regards the lowly in mine.
There is something there that actually attracts the Lord when somebody is living in lowliness of mind.
We're talking about the Genesis 1 God here. Remember, we're talking about the God that created the heavens and the earth.
We're talking about the God that spoke and breathed life into us.
This God that sits enthroned in heaven forever, this God regards and is actually attracted to those who are lowly.
Talk about having an honor from the Lord.
Mary lived such a lowly life.
Yes, she was low in society, all these things, but it's the internal being of Mary.
Remember part one of lowliness of mind.
Lowliness of mind has to do more with the internal state of a person than the external.
You can be riding a Bentley, yet still be lowly.
You can have a mansion, yet still be lowly.
Lowliness of mind has very little to do with the external, but everything to do with the internal.
So here Mary lives such a lowly life that God would choose this.
Let's say she was 14 years old.
God would choose a 14 year old girl and say, you are going to carry for nine months, you're going to carry the son of God Emmanuel within you.
And all generations, all generations will call you blessed.
And then later we read and we find out that he exalts those who are lowly.
He's all coming out of Philippians 2 as well.
Philippians 2 talks about it.
If we humble ourselves in due time, God will exalt us.
Look guys, it's been over 2,000 years now and we're still talking about Mary and how blessed she was.
To the measure that we have a denomination that prays to her.
Do you see what lowliness of mind produces?
Do you see what a lowly state of a person actually produces in the effect that it plays, not just on one individual,
but the effect that it plays on a generation and even more generations?
Yes.
We got a whole denomination praying to Mary.
Oh Mother Mary, da da da da da da.
Why?
Because a woman was found lowly and was entrusted to carry the Son of God.
Can I tell you something today?
You have the opportunity to be regarded by the Lord.
Yes, you won't be carrying Jesus in your womb, but you can be carrying the Spirit of God and a Word of God within you that then would produce a thing.
Because does not the Scripture say that he is the Word?
So you could carry the Word of God within you.
If you are lowly, if you could live in a lowly state and live in a lowly mind, God could entrust you and more than that he would be captivated and he would be attracted to you.
Has anybody ever heard of the saying, the favor of the Lord? Has anybody ever heard that?
Have you guys heard that? How many of you actually know what that means?
Pastor, can you enlighten them quick because I might elaborate on what you are saying.
What does it mean to have the favor of the Lord?
The word favor in the New Testament is the same word as grace.
And when the favor is on us, it is the same as having his grace on us.
And everything we receive in salvation comes by grace.
So when he does something in our life, he is putting grace on us or he is favoring us with who he is and what he wants for us.
And I had one more thought. If we will acknowledge that was the favor of God that did that in me, he will do more and more.
That's good. In other words, you could say this because it's really good. It's really good.
You could say this when he gives you the grace, you've caught his attention. Would you say that?
You see when we talk about, that was a really great description, when we talk about the favor of the Lord,
oftentimes people are like, what does that mean? Does that mean that God likes Sabrina more than he likes me?
No, that's not the favor of God. Does that mean that God loves somebody else more than he loves me?
No, that's not the favor of God. The favor of God is when you've caught the attention of God.
Can I give you a quick example to make it more practical? I have three boys. I have three boys.
All are awesome. I love them all the same. People have asked me, they said, Igor, who do you love more out of all your boys?
I said, what kind of question are you asking me? They're like, it's probably James, right? It's James.
I'm like, no, yes, he's mostly like me, but I can't say I love him more. But let me give you this example.
When three of my boys, when we're at home, and I say boys, go clean your room.
I'm just giving you one example here of many. I say boys, go clean your room.
And all of them say, yes, dad, we're going to go clean our room.
But all of a sudden I walk away and I come back and out of all three of them, let's say Noah is the only one that's cleaning the room.
Does that mean because I've paid attention to Noah more because Noah is obeying what I'm saying, does that mean that I love him more?
It doesn't. It simply means that he's caught my attention because I asked him to do something
and he's actually following through with it. He's caught my attention.
Do I still see the other two? I most definitely do. I most definitely do.
But my son that obeyed me and is following through with what I've asked him to do, he will catch my attention.
He will catch my attention. See, the scriptures say that God looks to and fro.
He is seeking. He is seeking. But in Isaiah 66, and we're going to read that here shortly, God says on this one, I will look.
That's the favor of God. The favor of God is when you've caught the attention of God.
And now God is paying attention to you a little bit more than he's paying attention to maybe your neighbor.
Not because your neighbor is any less. It's simply because your neighbor is choosing, is choosing not to follow through with the things of God.
That's it. And we have the opportunity to walk in a favor of the Lord.
We have the opportunity to catch the attention of God, the attraction of God and walk with it every day of our life.
How do we do that? We live in a lowly life.
We live in a lowly life. Let's open up to Isaiah 66.
I want to read this to you here real quick.
Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2.
This is actually literally this scripture right here, Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2 has been a prayer of mine for years.
This has been a prayer of mine that I've prayed to the Lord for years. And I'll even show you briefly how I do it.
But let's start with verse 1.
He says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me?
And where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made and all those things exist, says the Lord.
Now towards the end there are verse 2. Catch this. He says, but on this one will I look?
God is saying, on this one will I look?
In other words, God sees us all. He's looking at all of us right now.
But the favor of the Lord comes on this one. And let me read you some of the things of what causes God to look at somebody.
And say, on this one I will look. There's three things here. And all three of these things literally describe lowliness of mind and living a life that's lowly.
Listen to this. On him who is poor, end of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.
Those are three things that catch and attract the attention of God.
God says, yes, I see everybody. I see what man does. I see what women do. I see it.
But on this one I will look who is poor of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word.
Now let me explain real quick what it means to be poor. This is not necessarily talking about being poor in society.
In your financial aspect. Of well, okay, I'm poor. You know, if I'm a millionaire, oh man, my pastor said I can't be a millionaire anymore because God's not going to look at me.
That's not what he's talking about being poor. What the, what the prophet is regarding to here or what I should say, the Lord is speaking through the prophet Isaiah.
What he's saying is, if you are poor in spirit, if you are poor in spirit, do you know what it means to be poor in spirit?
Is to have a dependency on the Lord like no other. Let me take it even more further. Let me take it even more further.
It is to be only satisfied by him. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. Lord, there is nothing that's going to satisfy me.
There is nothing that's going to satisfy me, God, unless you meet with me.
There is nothing that will quench my thirst, Lord. There is nothing that will fill me, Lord, the way that you fill me, Lord. I need. I need. It's not just a want. It's a need.
Do you know that God supplies needs? We sometimes ask for things thinking that it's a need, but actually if you step back and you look at it, it's a want more than a need.
And then we question, well, why didn't you answer me, Lord? Why didn't you give me this, Lord? Because you were not in need of it. You wanted it.
God will supply a need. So someone who is poor in spirit, if they are actually poor in spirit, they say in their heart, God, there is nothing that will satisfy me.
There is nothing that will satisfy this hunger, Lord, but you.
Ever been so hungry and you've desired or you've had an appetite, let's say, for sushi? Ever been so hungry that you've desired to eat sushi
and the week goes by and the wife says, we're not going to sushi this week and you're like, man, I'm eating, I'm eating, but I'm not satisfied.
I have a hunger and a craving for sushi. Another week goes by. The wife says, we're not going. It's too far. We live in North Branch now. It's like, okay, I heard you, Lord. We're not going to sushi.
A third week goes by and finally you convince your wife and you say, can we go to sushi?
And when you eat that sushi, all of a sudden, not only are you fed in full, but there is this satisfaction that fills your belly.
You understand what I'm saying? That's what it means to be poor in spirit. It's to be so dependent on the Lord that, Lord, unless you touch me, unless you move on my heart, I won't be satisfied.
Unless your spirit comes and breathes on me and breathes on the scriptures that I would understand them, that I would behold the Lord, unless that happens, Lord, I won't be satisfied.
I won't be satisfied, Lord. That's what it means to be poor in spirit.
Now you want to hear the reality and the truth? A lot of us leave thinking we're satisfied when we really aren't.
A lot of us think that we are poor in spirit, but in reality we are satisfied by things outside of the Lord and thinking that's good.
And we've compromised, we've come to complacency, we've come to a place of comfort, and it's okay. That's fine.
Next time. Next time.
But what if we could be a Christian people? What if we could be a house that would remain here until the Lord actually came and moved on our hearts?
What if we could be that kind of house? What if we could be a people that would remain in private with God until the Lord met us and moved on our hearts?
What if we could sit in stillness and wait and say, my God, ain't nothing going to satisfy me, Lord, unless you come and you meet me?
But we give ourselves excuses, and we say next time. I'm sorry friends, that's not living poor in spirit.
According to what the scriptures say, that's not living poor in spirit.
And if we want to capture the attraction and the attention of God, we must, we must develop a poor spirit.
My prayer for years have been, cause me God. Cause me God to be poor in spirit.
For years I've prayed that and I still pray it. Say God, cause me.
I don't want to leave this place until you touch me. See, that's lowly. See, that's lowly.
That's living a life of lowliness. Because the majority of people will leave and they won't even wait for the Lord.
Where the scriptures say, wait on the Lord and he will strengthen you.
The second thing that it says is to have a contrite spirit.
That means to be humble. It refers to a feeling of deep remorse and sorrow for wrongdoing.
Often, often, my goodness, I can't read that word, accompanied by a desire of making amends.
It's a state of humility and repentance, recognizing one's fault and seeking forgiveness.
Let me elaborate on a contrite spirit. I want us as a body to think deeper.
I want us to have a renewed mind to think deeper, to go past the shallow and swim in some deeper waters.
That's what I'm after. Listen, to have a contrite spirit is to have great remorse and sorrow.
And right away we can apply that to sin. Can I tell you how majority of Christians think when it comes to sin?
You ready for this? This is how majority of Christians think when they cost sin in their life.
Oh man, I'm not going to make heaven. Oh snap, I just sinned. I just cost. I just did something.
Oh man, I'm not going to make heaven. What if a contrite spirit could think a little bit deeper?
What if having a contrite spirit means that if you do a wrong thing, the great sorrow and the great remorse is not even just about you,
but it's the fact that you hurt the Lord? What if we could think of sin that way?
What if we could look at sin and not worry, are we going to make heaven or not?
But what if we could look at sin and say, if I do that thing, it's going to hurt my Lord and Savior?
It's going to hurt him. Do you know how I battle temptation in my life?
When temptation comes my way, do you know how I battle it? I look at the Lord and I say, Lord, I know if I do this, it's going to hurt you. Help me.
Help me Lord, I don't want to hurt you.
There is a deep remorse in us of having a contrite spirit.
And it's looking at him. It's not looking at, oh, man, I just sinned and then we get into this cycle. We get into this routine of things.
What if we could look at it and say, God, I don't want to do this because it's going to hurt you?
And I don't want to hurt you, Lord, because I love you.
What if we could look at our marriages that way?
What if we could look at our marriages and the way that we respond to our spouses, we would think before we said something
because knowing that if I said this thing, I know how it's going to make my wife feel.
I'm talking to marriages, friends.
To have a contrite spirit is to have deep remorse. Paul writes in Corinthians. He says, Godly sorrow brings about repentance.
So a contrite spirit, it's okay to have sorrow. Did you know that?
We always pin sorrow to a negative thing. That's demonic.
Sorrow is actually a godly thing too because Apostle Paul writes, Godly sorrow brings about repentance. That's a contrite spirit.
That's a contrite spirit. That's me being remorse inside. It's being sorrowful. Lord, why did I respond to that?
That way. Lord, why did I say that? Lord, why did I act that way?
Lord, forgive me. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. Repentance is not just me saying, oh, forgive me, Lord.
Repentance is making a choice and changing the way that I view and do things. That is biblical repentance.
People ask me questions. They say, well, how come people always are repenting and nothing's changing?
I say because true repentance is when somebody actually makes a choice.
You can come up to the altar and you can be prayed for hundreds of times. Ain't nothing going to change until you choose.
I said, ain't nothing going to change until you choose.
You can have Billy Cram. You can have Benny Hinn. You can have Ray Harbonke lay hands on you.
You can have the Lord himself lay hands on you unless, unless you have a contrite spirit and you are repenting of it and choosing ain't nothing going to change, my friends.
I said ain't nothing going to change.
A contrite spirit. Deep remorse, Lord, I don't want to hurt you.
That's how I battle temptation in my life.
When I'm tempted with different things and the realness be it, we're all tempted with things.
Don't you sit here and tell me, I'm not tempted, Igor. Dude, I'm perfect. Yeah, right. Stop lying to yourself.
You were just tempted yesterday not to cut somebody off on the highway, huh?
I'm talking to somebody.
And then we do Minnesota nice. I'm going to cut you off. God bless you, brother.
So when I pray this to the Lord, I say, Lord, cause me to be poor in spirit.
I say, Lord, cause me to have a contrite spirit. Cause me, Holy Spirit, supernaturally.
It's not just a want. I am desperately in need to walk in these. Why?
Because if I can do this, that means that the Lord will pay attention. He will look on me according to the scriptures.
That's what he says. He says, on this one, I'll look who is poor in spirit, contrite spirit and trembles at my word.
He makes a promise and says, I'll look at that one.
He'll catch my attention and I'll give him favor, not just with me, but I'll even give him favor with man.
Can I tell you something? You can't have the favor of God without the favor of man. Did you know that?
If you have a favor of man, but don't have a favor of God, you know what that tells me?
That you're pleasing man, not God.
But if you have the favor of the Lord, you have the favor of man.
And we can find that through the scriptures.
All of a sudden we see one person, doors are opening in their life.
God is doing things in their life. And somebody else is like, well, how come that's not happening to me?
They must be doing something that you're not doing.
There must be something happening that God is looking at them and doors are opening in their life.
You still with me?
The third one is trembling at his word.
Signifies a profound awe and reverence for God's teaching, leading to obedience and a humble contrite spirit.
It is not merely a physical trembling, but a spiritual response characterized by humility, fear of disobeying God
and a desire to be led by his word.
To tremble at the word of God, though I've had moments where you read the scriptures and there's a scripture that comes out in such a way that you're physically shaking.
Has anybody ever had that before?
Were you reading the scriptures and you're physically shaking?
To tremble at the word of God is to have such a love for the scriptures.
Follow me here.
To tremble at the word of God is to have such a love for the scriptures that you take it with you even when you go to the bathroom.
You're laughing at me.
To tremble at the word of God is to have such a love for the scriptures.
And anything that you read and that you feel the Lord emphasizing, you're saying, I have to obey that.
There is a fear of disobeying what a scripture says.
To tremble at the word of God is to do exactly what James writes, is to be a doer of the word.
Not just a hearer.
Add a conversation with somebody.
It's a while ago.
And we were talking about some of the things that are going on in the church, not just our church, in the church as a whole.
And I said, you know, for decades now, for decades now, we have great sermons preached out of pulpits, fiery sermons, the spirit of God moves, things are done.
Yet there is a people that leave. They felt and they experienced the Lord, yet when they leave, they're still the same.
Do you know why?
Because what is preached from these pulpits are not applied to your lives.
To tremble at the word of God is to apply the scriptures to your life.
To tremble at the word of God is to literally embody the scriptures and live what it says.
That's what it means to tremble at His word.
To tremble at His word is to have such a high awe and honor towards it that you can't put it down.
To tremble at His word is to open it up and cry when you read it.
Friends, when is the last time that we cried when we read the scriptures?
You're saying, Igor, why are you hanging on crying? Why does it have to be crying?
Because when we cry, it's an emotion of love towards something.
We look at reading our scriptures as a chore.
We look at this as a chore. Well, Pastor said, I have to read it.
That other televangelist said, I have to read my scriptures.
If we could renew our minds and not look at this holy word as a chore,
but look at this as a love letter of what God is speaking to us.
If we could look at it that way, we would change our perspective on the scriptures.
There would be a trembling and a love for the word of God once again.
I've said this before, if we could read the scriptures and stop looking for ourselves.
If we could look for Jesus in these scriptures, I promise you it won't be a chore for you.
We read the scriptures and we're like, well, where do I fit in there? Nowhere.
Stop looking for yourself. You're simply part of the storyline.
It ain't about you. The gospel is not about you.
You simply fall into the storyline of the gospel, of a God that has loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son.
For who? For us. That's where we fall into it.
If we could look at the scriptures and we could say, Lord, show me yourself.
If we could look at the scriptures more than just good morals to live by.
If we could look at them knowing that this is Jesus, the word that dwelt among us.
He came in the flesh. He walked among us. We beheld his beauty.
If we could look at the Bible that way, friends, it would change your perspective in how you read your Bibles.
It would change you. It would change the way that you would approach the holy word of God.
You would develop a trembling at his word.
That's what it means to tremble at the word of God.
I told my wife the other day.
I said, I said, thank you so much for loving Jesus.
I said, thank you so much for loving Jesus in the way that you do.
I said, thank you so much for having such a love for the word that it sharpens me.
When I look at my wife and how much she loves the word, oh man, it provokes me.
I said, my God, I want to love the word the way that my wife loves the word.
For over 10 years that we have been married, not once, friends, I'm not over exaggerating.
Not once has my wife gone to bed before reading the Bible.
It's been over 10 years that we've been married.
Not once that I ever see my wife go to bed until she read the scriptures.
And more than half the time, she's falling asleep reading them.
I said, my God, I want that Lord.
I want that Lord.
See, that's what it means to tremble at his word.
It's to have a love and a yearning, knowing that right here.
In this is life. In this is life. In this is life.
In this is where I can figure out how to go about the decisions to make in my family, in my business.
It's all right here.
It's a manual for your life.
The manual you have in your compartment of your car.
This right here.
If you could blow the dust off of your Bibles and actually open them and read them.
If you could do that.
If you could at least start there.
All friends.
Then that allows the Holy Spirit to step in.
We got to give an avenue for the Holy Spirit in our lives to work in us and work through us.
And you say, what do you mean by giving him an avenue?
It's simply saying, I'm going to do what I know how to do and relying on you, Holy Spirit, to do the rest.
To give an avenue is saying, Lord, I'm going to do what that Ukrainian preacher said this Sunday.
I'm going to do it and then I'm going to rely on you to do the rest, Holy Spirit.
That's what it means to give the Lord an avenue in your life.
God says on this one, I will look.
Poor, contrite spirit and trembles at my word.
Watch this.
Open up to Psalms 34.
Psalms 34.
Verse 18.
I'm just trying to give you more scriptural evidence of how much the Lord appreciates and loves this type of lowly life.
I mean, all three of those things, friends, describe lowliness.
It does.
It literally describes lowliness.
Psalms 34.
Man, is it me or is it hot in here?
It's me, huh?
Okay.
I might take the suit coat off and swing it around like Benny Hinn here in a little bit.
Verse 18.
And the Lord is near.
This is Psalms 34.18.
And the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.
In other words, a poor heart.
He is near, friends.
He is near those that not just like, well, I need God.
Yeah, yeah, I need God.
Yeah, that would be good to have somebody that's have a higher power in my life.
It's more than just speech.
It's more than just, oh, I'm confessing this.
I'm saying this with my lips to actually have a broken heart, to actually be poor
and have a contrite spirit and tremble at his word.
Friends, we have deceived ourselves.
Listen to this.
We in America have deceived ourselves with our own speech.
You say how?
Because we tell ourselves, I need that, Lord, I need that, but there is no follow through.
Do you know how you know when one is lowly?
Do you know how you know when one is poor and contrite and trembling at his word?
There is an action and a choice that follows that.
You can tell yourself all day that I need God, but you're only lying and deceiving yourself
if you're not following through with it.
So we have a Western world that has actually deceived themselves with their own words.
And we say, oh, the devil's a deception.
Friends, you're deceiving yourself with your own lips.
You're confessing one thing, Monday rolls around, ain't nothing changed.
Do you actually need him or do you want him as an accessory?
We wear him as an accessory when it's convenient to us.
That's what Christianity has come to.
We have become so high and lofty that we'll put on jewelry and necklaces to show off.
We do that with the Lord.
We do that with God. We wear him when he's convenient for us.
But what about when it's inconvenient for you?
What about when it's inconvenient for you? Will you choose him?
What if the church could once again come back to that root of how it even began?
And they would choose him when it's inconvenient.
Lord, I'm in the middle of something. He says, but I need you to be with me.
But I'm in the middle of something. God, I'll do it later.
I'll do it in the morning. Morning rolls around, you don't even do it.
We've deceived ourselves in America by our own speech.
We're calling he and she and the other false prophets.
Do you not realize that you can become a false prophet unto yourself with your own lips?
We're calling other people wolves.
Look at that. That's a wolf in a sheep clothing.
Look at that. Friend, do you not realize that you yourself are a wolf?
You're deceiving yourself.
We got people that think they're called to, oh, let's identify who's a false prophet.
People believe that's an actual calling on their life.
And they will spend decades and years trying to figure out who's a false prophet.
Who's the real prophet? Who is of the Lord?
And they'll spend their whole life, yet miss the mark.
They miss the Lord. They miss him.
How about we stop deceiving ourselves by saying I need God?
How about we stop deceiving ourselves by saying we want more of you God?
Monday rolls around and nothing happens in our life.
We continue on as mundane.
We continue on doing what we think is best, what's convenient for us.
Can I encourage you to start with the small things?
Don't go home today feeling condemned.
Oh my goodness, I got to change my whole life around.
Don't worry about that. Don't worry about the big picture.
For many years I used to stress and I used to look at the big picture.
God, that's where you want me to go. How am I going to get there?
Do you know what he told me? He said, son, just do the small things.
Choose the small things.
It's like a puzzle. It's like a thousand piece puzzle.
You look at it before you open it and you're like, dude, how am I going to get that done?
How am I going to get that done, Lord?
How am I going to organize this ministry? How am I going to do this conference, Lord?
How am I going to lead my family, God? I know I need to change, Lord.
How am I going to change?
Think of it as putting together a thousand piece puzzle. How do you do it?
Piece by piece.
Sometimes it takes you a week and if you're my wife's family, her and her sisters can get a puzzle done in like two days.
When we have family gatherings, they get together.
My mother-in-law, Tanya and her sisters, they get together and that's all they do around the table.
And they talk and they're doing a puzzle. I said, how can you do that? That's not even fun.
And you're looking at me, Natasha.
The Lord is not expecting you to do everything and this and that.
Start with the small things. Make a choice.
Lord, today I want to start not ending my day until I read your scriptures.
Start there.
Read a few verses.
Don't take a big piece of the pie. Don't bite into it. You're going to choke.
You're going to choke. I've tried. It's not fun.
Psalms 34, verse 18. Let me read that again.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
What David is saying, there is the same thing that the prophet writes in Isaiah 66.
Let's open up to Psalms 51. I'm going to give you more biblical evidence here.
Psalms 51, verse 17.
Psalms 51, verse 17. Let's start at verse 16.
Can you put verse 16 on the screen there for me?
For you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it to you.
That reminds me of Hebrews where the scriptures talk about Jesus,
bull offerings, goat offerings, you were not satisfied in, but a body you have prepared for me.
A body you have prepared for me. In other words, to be lowly and to be willing to listen to you and to obey you.
Do you know that the Lord loves obedience over sacrifice?
The Lord would rather have you listen to him than to give a million dollars.
For you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it.
You do not delight in burnt offering.
Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.
These, O God, you will not despise.
The sacrifices of God, in other words, when you read the Old Testament, when they would bring lambs and put them on the altar, what happened?
A fire would come down, right? And it would eat up the lamb.
You could look at that and you could say they caught the attention of God.
Because if you didn't bring the right sacrifice, the fire didn't come down and eat it up.
So a sacrifice of God is to be what? Let's read it here.
A broken and contrite heart.
That's a sacrifice of God. We actually catch the attention of God and the fire of God can come on our lives.
And we can walk in the fullness of the Lord if we could live lowly, if we could tremble at his word, if we could be contrite and broken.
God says on this one, I'll look.
You see, to live a life of lowliness is a different way of thinking.
It's different.
To live a life of lowliness is a different, even perspective, the way that you perceive things.
You got a majority of people that are looking at a situation this way, but when you are lowly in mind, you look at situations differently.
You do.
Because you have a renewed mind when you are lowly.
You still following me?
Let me go into this quick.
And then we're going to pray.
First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 and 31.
First Corinthians.
Let me say this here before I read this.
First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26.
Let me come back because I feel like I need to say this.
I said that trembling at the word of God is to actually be a doer of the word.
It is to apply the very scriptures and live by them.
It is to embody the scriptures.
That's what it means to tremble at his word.
You guys remember that.
Now let me tell you something.
You can have all the best preachers and all the best speakers.
But unless you choose to apply that ain't nothing going to happen.
Let me give you an example.
In the book of Revelation, we read the seven churches that Jesus addresses.
One of the churches, the Ephesus church, was the Loveless church.
Do you know who established that church?
Bible scholars, and I've heard other pastors say this.
This is where I learned it.
Do you know who established that church?
Some of the high-ranking people.
We're talking about John the Beloved.
We're talking about the Apostle Paul.
We're talking about Mary Magdalene.
We're talking about Mary the Mother of Jesus.
And all the other apostles played in to the factor of establishing that church, the Ephesus church.
Yet it's to them that God said you're Loveless.
You would think, but they had all the people.
How could they be Loveless?
Because you can be preaching and have some of the highest people up here walking closely with the Lord,
giving you a message, yet God will still call you Loveless,
because you're not applying what's being preached and taught.
He addresses the church as we would think, these are like the people, man.
This is the Beloved. This is John the Revelator.
He wrote the book of Revelation, all these things.
And you're telling me his church?
God called a Loveless church? Yes.
It's his church that God called you are Loveless.
To tremble at his word is to be doers of that word.
It's to not be satisfied.
It's to have deep remorse and a thinking of the Lord.
Lord, I don't want to hurt you.
That's lowly, friends.
Now watch this, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 26, chapter 1 verse 26.
Let me read it here and then we'll come to a wrap.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called.
Pay attention to what he's writing here.
Verse 27.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.
And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen.
And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.
That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
That as it is written he who glories let him glory in the Lord.
Do you remember I said that lowliness of mind is the blueprint of the end time revival?
Do you know why?
Because God chooses the low things of this world.
I said God chooses the things that are low to bring about his glory.
God chooses the foolish things.
God would choose a man from Ukraine that's a dropout out of high school.
Never went to no Bible college.
God would choose me to come and speak at pulpits.
God would choose me who actually as a baby was sold.
You want to hear my story I can tell you my story.
We think that people that are preachers they come from these high places.
God chooses the foolish things the things that are low.
He regards them the things that are in a contrite spirit trembling at his word and our poor in spirit.
He chooses those things he pulls them up and he brings them to places to lead a people.
That's what the Apostle Paul is writing.
I said that's what the Apostle Paul is writing.
It's the things that are weak.
That's why in 2 Corinthians when Apostle Paul is writing when God spoke to the Apostle Paul and he said my grace is sufficient for you.
So the Apostle Paul says I will more so boast in my weakness.
I will boast in my infirmities.
The word that's used there is actually infirmities.
Now let me quickly debunk an argument.
People say that in 2 Corinthians that the Apostle Paul the thorn in his side was a disease or infirmity.
Can I tell you something? It was not a disease. It was not an infirmity.
Do you know what it was? It was the weakness of the Apostle Paul.
Because in that scripture Apostle Paul says infirmity.
In the Greek do you know what that word infirmity translates?
It's only in that place that it translates that way.
That word in the Greek infirmity in 2 Corinthians translates as weakness.
Other times it translates as diseases and other things, sicknesses.
But in that specific place where the Apostle Paul is saying I will boast in my infirmities.
He's not talking about I'm going to boast in my cancer.
He's talking about I'm going to boast in the weakness of this flesh.
Because when I do that then the glory and the power of God manifests.
When I talk about my weaknesses then God will step in.
When I live a life that's lowly then God will step in.
Then a measure of power is accessible on to me when I'm lowly.
Can I tell you the truth and we'll pray here soon.
There is a realm of God's power that we as a church have not yet accessed.
Because we haven't got lowly yet.
I long for that day. You're going to hear me say this for years until it happens.
I long for the day that I can walk in such lowliness before the Lord.
And I would attract the face of God in such a measure that when I preach people would get up out of wheelchairs.
I long for that day.
Because my hands won't even be laid which means no credit be done on to me.
But I'll be done on to him.
I long for that day.
I long to see people delivered coming into services.
I long to see people baptized and healed without even laying hands on them.
I long for that day.
And I'm going to boast in my weakness.
I'm going to boast in my shortcomings and say Lord I know that your grace is sufficient for me.
I know God that I may not be grammarly proper.
I may not even use the correct words.
But Lord in that, in that I am not showing my eloquent speech but simply demonstrating the power of God.
We have people that go for years to Bible colleges and they learn the proper English.
I'm sorry I don't have that.
I don't have it cool.
See I can't even pronounce that word.
I don't have it.
And I'm fine with it.
Lord as long as you're showing up and your power is coming I'm satisfied my God.
I'm satisfied my God.
God regards the lowly and he says he says that he will use the lowly.
He says he will use the lowly in the time even now and the time that's to come.
This is the blueprint of the end time revival.
We say come Lord but are we actually meaning it?
We say come Lord we want you but are we actually wanting him?
This is Jesus speaking.
He said I have made myself vulnerable to you.
You know what's interesting I think many times we don't understand that Jesus has feelings too.
And he comes and offers and he says I've got something for you and we reject him.
And we reject him and we reject him.
That could be part of what he's saying here.
Hey I'm making myself vulnerable here.
Don't reject me.
I've got feelings too.
I have come here seeking you and your acceptance.
You can accept or reject.
Isn't that interesting?
Because many times we come from the perspective we want to be accepted by God which we do.
But God wants to be accepted by us.
Or this relationship never establishes.
I've come here seeking you and your acceptance.
You can either accept or reject.
For you to have more of me you must decrease.
Only one of us can inhabit this space.
And I am presuming the space he's talking about there is our temple.
We're living in.
Increase only comes by decrease or with decrease.
So he's on a theme here.
You cannot do this only by you cannot do this.
Only by me can things or this be done.
You must present your bodies a living sacrifice.
There's a theme flowing through this whole thing which is to not reject him but to accept him.
There's things in our lives that need to decrease or become less and less and less.
Can't do it on our own we can only do it by him.
But we have to present our bodies a living sacrifice for him to increase.
So the question is simple.
What is he talking to you about that needs to go?
He's been talking to us this morning about things in our life that need to decrease until they're gone.
What is it?
Because we say okay I got I want more more more.
Well to get more more more of him we have to be less less less of us.
So I think this is a personal question for all of you myself included.
If we want him to increase what is he talking to us about that needs to decrease?
Because until that thing goes he said this space can only be occupied by one of us.
So there's areas in our life we are occupying and he's just standing back going well I can't occupy that you're in that spot.
Now if you'll get out and let it go I'll move in.
That's what I hear them saying here.
Lord we love you.
We want to be a house Lord that is lowly.
That attracts you.
We want to be a house Lord that attracts you.
That you would look at us.
And you would say on this one I look.
Cause us as individuals and as a corporate house Lord.
To be poor in our spirit.
To have a contrite spirit and trembling at your word.
Don't pass us by Lord.
Son of David don't pass us by.
Let us not be ones that are distracted by the things around us that we miss when you walk by Lord.
But may we hear the cry of John the Baptist as you cried and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
May we be a people that would forever hear that cry of John the Baptist.
And we would look on to Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith.
The finisher of our faith.
Son of David don't pass us by.
Let us forever hear the echo of the cry of John the Baptist.
May we not be caught up in the signs and the wonders when they come.
But may we always be caught up with you Lord.
Looking on to you the Lamb of God.
The Word of God who became flesh.
May we thank you for the outpour and the signs and the wonders.
But may our attention and attraction always be caught up and locked in with you Lord.
May we not be like Peter when we step out of our boats.
And are distracted by everything and begin to sink.
But we would be those that would be caught up with the eyes of Jesus.
Let the love of God captivate us.
Embrace us.
Sear our hearts.
Mark us.
Never the same.
Let the love of God cause us to be never the same.
The Word of God.