WEBVTT

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Let me show you this picture. If you can look up on the screen, somebody sent me this this week and I was like, man, I don't even need to explain it. It's self-explanatory.

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Like that is that is beautiful. It says the branch that bears the most fruit bows the lowest.

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I was like, man, I feel like I just need to share that and I don't need to preach. I just like boom right there. We're done.

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Drop the mic. We're done. It's a picture of a million words, honestly. And I just wanted to share that with you this morning.

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But thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, Nathan. Grant, thank you gentlemen so much. We are back to the phase two of lowliness of mind.

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Last Sunday we talked about, I should say, we started talking about the Lord and how he even created the world and how we see his nature of being lowly in that and even his birth and on and so forth.

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And some of that stuff I want to touch today again, because I want to go a little bit deeper in some things. And my beautiful wife pointed out some things.

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She said, man, you said this really good thing, but she said, you should really go a little deeper in that.

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I was like, all right, honey, thank you for the correction. I received it.

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But I want to quickly just explain again so that you guys are hearing this, that it's repetitive. Sometimes repetition is good, amen?

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Sometimes you need to hear things over and over and over and over again until you get it, honestly. Maybe that's just me. Maybe it's just me.

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But I want to say this. Why are we walking through the life of the Lord?

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And why are we doing this? Why am I bringing you from the time that he created the world all the way to his birth?

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The Genesis 1 God coming in the flesh, then growing up, then stepping into it. Why are we doing this?

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And there's a few reasons. I want to stress and show you the nature of our Lord and how lowly he is.

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The very lowliness of mind that our Lord literally walked in as he was here on earth, and even his creation.

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But I also want us to know him. That's why we're walking through the life of the Lord.

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I want us to know the Lord as a church, as a body.

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You know, there's a difference to know the things of God, which I will say majority of Christianity, majority of born again believers.

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They know things of God, but there is very few that actually know God.

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And to know him, you got to know the nature of who he is, and not even just know them.

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But then you got to measure yourself to those things and begin to walk as he walked.

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That's when you can say, yeah, I know the Lord. I don't just know of him. I don't just know the things that he does, but I actually know the Lord's characteristic.

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So I truly believe that supernaturally, I just feel it in my spirit, supernaturally as we're walking through the life of the Lord for these next few Sundays,

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as we're walking through his life, what ends up happening is we actually end up beholding him.

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Do you know what it means to behold? I talked about this the first time we were here at Open Heavens.

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I'll give you the short version of it. To behold something is to be captivated by it and unmoved.

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Like my wife was saying this morning, when she locks her eyes with the Lord, I've seen this actually.

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Not kidding you, I've seen this. She will lock her eyes with the Lord and she's in prayer and you see my wife, she's rocking.

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When she's in it, she's rocking, man. She's going at it.

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And the boys will be jumping all over her and unmoved, unwavered, doesn't even react.

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And I'm like, come on kids, let's go. And I'm pulling them away.

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So to behold the Lord is to literally be caught up with him.

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It's to be captured by him in such a way where nothing else matters.

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Literally nothing else matters.

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And I am believing that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, where I as a man am limited,

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I'm believing that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he will go deeper and he will cause you to behold the Lamb of God

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that takes away the sins of the world. That's why we're walking through his life.

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I want you to know him. I want you to know the Lord. I don't want you to know things of him.

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I want you as your pastor. I want you to know Jesus.

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The very nature of who he is.

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And after we begin to behold him, that which we behold, we become.

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Let me say that again.

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That which we behold, we actually become.

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Why does our modern-day church look so much like the world?

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Because it's not beholding the Lamb.

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That which we behold, we become.

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So if we can behold the Lord as we're walking through his life, if we can behold him,

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supernaturally, what occurs is exactly what I prayed last Sunday, Romans 829,

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to conform us into the image of Christ.

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If we can behold the Lord in the series and see that he's a very lowly God,

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I promise you, you will begin to measure yourself.

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You're looking at him and you're saying,

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man, that's what it means to be lowly.

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I got to change some things in my life.

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Three months will go by, six months will go by, a year will go by,

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and people will actually come up to you and people will tell you,

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man, why are you, why do you look so much like Jesus?

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Why are you so lowly?

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Why are you the way that you are?

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You're not even going to notice it, but supernaturally,

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the Holy Spirit is going to conform you into the image of Christ.

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You with me this morning?

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That's why we're walking through his life.

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I want us to behold him, measure ourselves to him in a sense of,

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okay, Lord, you are lowly.

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Let me measure myself onto you, not to each other, okay?

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We shouldn't measure ourselves to each other.

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Should we learn and glean and receive correction from one another?

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Yes, but to begin to compare ourselves with one another,

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we can fall into a snare of the devil.

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We can fall into a trap of the devil.

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If we begin to compare, oh, man, I'm not like Igor.

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Snap. Oh, man, I'm not like Pastor Vern.

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Oh, snap. Don't compare yourselves to us.

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Compare yourself to the Lord.

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Compare yourself to Jesus.

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Measure your lowliness.

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Am I lowly the way that my Lord was lowly?

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And can I tell you something here real quick?

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I want to underline this.

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Lowliness to be lowly or to be of a lowly mind

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is not a one-time thing.

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It's not all of a sudden a light bulb goes off in your head

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and you're like, all right, that's it. I'm lowly. Whoo-hoo.

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Don't work that way.

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And if it works that way for you, please, please teach me.

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Maybe I should be sitting down

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and you should be preaching and teaching.

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But to be lowly is a constant decision that we make

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day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year,

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decade after decade. It is a choice.

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What is lowliness our mind or what does it look like?

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I encourage you to go back to the series

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because I spoke a lot about this.

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I encourage you to go back and listen to some of this stuff.

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But in a nutshell, what does it look like to be lowly?

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It is to die to yourself.

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It is to lay aside what you desire.

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It is to... Let me give you another little facet.

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I feel like I need to give this to you.

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Oftentimes, I told this to my wife and she goes,

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oh, that's real good.

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I said, all right, if my wife approves, this is good.

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Oftentimes, we look at death to self

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as giving up things that we desire, which it is.

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It is. It's giving up things that I want.

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I'm giving them up.

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But what if I told you even the deeper realm

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of death to self is dying to things of anxiety?

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It's dying to things of fear?

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It's dying to things of condemnation?

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Because all those things can literally become our identity.

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We oftentimes look at death to self as like,

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well, I have to lay down all these good things.

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But what about all these other things

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that you're still holding on to?

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What about this anxiety that you're still holding on to?

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What about this thing that you're still holding on to, this fear?

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What if that's also death to self?

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And it is. But I'm just testing you.

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So what does it look like?

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It's denying myself.

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It's choosing, Lord, this is not of you.

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So I will not conform to this.

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I will not go to this.

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What is also lowliness?

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It's being submissive.

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It's submitting yourself onto the Lord first and foremost.

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And then if you're a part of a church

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or you're part of a house,

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you're submitting yourself under the leadership.

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You're pastors or whoever is over you.

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It's submitting yourself.

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Lowliness is constantly submitting yourself.

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Lowliness is repentance.

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It's repentance.

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Pastor Vern told me this,

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and I'm probably misquoting it,

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so if he hears me, he can re-quote it.

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But Brother Caseman told him this.

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He said, a humble heart is a quick to repent heart.

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I think I'm saying it right, Pastor.

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If you hear me, you can correct me later.

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Lowliness is being merciful.

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So these are literally...

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Think of it this way.

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These are the behaviors of what it means to be lowly.

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It's to constantly walking these things.

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It's righteousness.

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It's grace.

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It's showing grace where grace...

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I don't want to show grace there,

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but I'm going low, so I'm going to show grace.

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It's servanthood.

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It's serving others when they don't deserve to be served.

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That's lowly.

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It is humility.

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Kneakness.

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All these things and many, many, many more.

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But I also want to point out something that...

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To live, or let me put it this way.

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To live out lowliness.

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So the Lord did this.

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That's why I'm getting to it.

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I'm getting to it.

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Follow me here.

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To live out lowliness

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is to do exactly what James writes.

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Let me read it to you here.

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So you're understanding that I can elaborate from there.

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This is James chapter 1 verse 20.

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Let's start at verse 21.

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This is what he writes.

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If you have your Bibles,

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who here has their physical Bibles this morning?

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Hallelujah.

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Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

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If you don't have a Bible and you need one,

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we have Bibles free of charge.

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Won't even charge you for it.

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Freely I've received, freely I shall give.

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Listen to what James writes.

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He says,

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Therefore lay aside all filthiness

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and overflow of wickedness.

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It's a choice we make.

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We lay it aside. We cast it to the wayside.

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And receive with meekness

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the implanted Word which is able to save your souls.

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And verse 22.

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But be doers of the Word

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and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

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For if anyone is a hearer of the Word

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and not a doer,

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he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror.

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For he observes himself. This is verse 24.

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For he observes himself,

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goes away and immediately forgets

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what kind of man he was.

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Listen.

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To live a life of lowliness,

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or if you may be asking the question,

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how do I know if I'm living the life of lowliness,

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is when you actually begin,

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I like to say this phrase,

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when you actually begin to embody the Scriptures.

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That's what James is saying.

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That's how you know that you're actually living.

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That's how you can measure yourself to the Word,

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which is Christ.

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Is am I embodying submission?

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Am I embodying death to self?

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Am I embodying grace?

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Am I embodying mercy?

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Am I embodying meekness?

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All these things,

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all these things that we see that Jesus embodied.

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This is again, the Gospel of John.

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In the beginning was the Word.

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And the Word was with God.

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In verse 14, and the Word...

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Or I'm sorry, say it again.

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Somebody quoted it.

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And the Word was God.

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Jesus embodied the very Word that the Father spoke.

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It's not just for the Lord,

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it's for us too.

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If we are co-heirs with Christ,

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it is for us too to embody now the Scriptures

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and to walk them out.

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And you have many people that will sit in a service.

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They will say, amen, amen, amen.

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That was a good message.

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But they leave the service looking like a man

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who looked at himself in the mirror,

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said, man, I look good.

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That was great.

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Walks away and completely forgets what he even looks like.

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That is friends.

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Listen to me, listen to me.

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And I say this with all grace.

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I say this with all grace.

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That is the majority of the body of Christ in our day and age.

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That is a majority of the body of Christ in our day and age.

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We will look at ourselves in the mirror.

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We will listen to a message.

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We will say, yes, that was good,

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but yet we leave not embodying that which was taught,

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which was preached, which is gold.

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This right here, this right here, this is gold.

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This is precious.

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This is right here.

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This is not a chore.

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I've said this plenty of times.

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Let me say it again.

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This is not a chore of picking up your room

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and cleaning up after yourself.

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This is gold.

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And this is life and life in abundance.

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And this is life and life in abundance.

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So you can know that you are actually walking a lowly life

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when you begin to recognize

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or when others begin to recognize

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that you're actually embodying what the scriptures say.

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You following me still?

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Praise God.

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Open up your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1, verse 15, 16.

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I'm going to do a quick overview.

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Colossians chapter 1, starting at verse 15.

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Let me pray and then I'll read this.

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Father, we thank you.

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Father, we thank you for your word.

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And this morning, Lord, we are measuring ourselves

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not to a man, but to the man whose name is Jesus.

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Lord, we come before you.

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Humble, Lord.

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Pour in spirit.

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A contrite spirit trembling at your word.

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Father, we thank you that you have entrusted us

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with the things of you.

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Help us this morning as a body corporately.

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Father, I'm asking you.

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Help us this morning by the Holy Spirit

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to handle that which was given to us with care.

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Though we would not throw these jewels to swine, Lord,

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but we would handle it with care this morning, Lord.

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I'm asking you.

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We thank you, Lord, that you have already prepared our hearts.

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I'm asking as the seed is being sowed this morning, Lord,

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may it go deep, deep into us, Lord, deep into our hearts,

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that it would take deep root

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and that it would produce, Lord,

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that it would produce in its season.

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We thank you, Holy Spirit.

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We thank you, Holy Spirit.

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Jesus, we thank you.

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We thank you for the eye salve, Lord.

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We thank you for it.

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Let us see.

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Let us see you as you are.

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Let us behold you as you are.

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Help us, Holy Spirit, in that.

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Help us, Holy Spirit, in that.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Colossians chapter 1, verse 15.

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I'm doing a quick overview,

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and then I'll kind of be bouncing into a few things.

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But last Sunday we talked about,

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I started literally from Genesis 1.

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And I was stressing the image

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or the scripture of the same God

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that created the heavens and the earth

17:12.430 --> 17:14.930
is now the same God that stepped into creation.

17:15.190 --> 17:16.370
This is in Genesis 1.

17:16.610 --> 17:18.990
Let us, let us make, let us make.

17:19.130 --> 17:21.630
And he's creating all these things in the Father

17:21.630 --> 17:23.550
and the Son and the Spirit is there.

17:23.850 --> 17:28.230
And I just want to quickly read Colossians 1, verse 15 to 17.

17:28.330 --> 17:28.830
Listen to this.

17:29.330 --> 17:32.230
This is the apostle Paul talking about the Lord.

17:32.230 --> 17:33.230
He's talking about Jesus.

17:33.910 --> 17:37.410
He says, he is the image of the invisible God.

17:39.510 --> 17:42.130
The firstborn over all creation.

17:42.690 --> 17:44.630
Now here, catch this, what verse 16 says.

17:45.550 --> 17:47.950
For by him, this is Jesus,

17:48.770 --> 17:52.010
for by him all things were created

17:52.010 --> 17:55.550
that are in heaven and that are on earth

17:55.550 --> 17:57.550
visible and invisible,

17:58.110 --> 18:01.370
whether thrones or dominions or principalities

18:01.370 --> 18:05.930
or powers, all things were created through him

18:05.930 --> 18:07.890
and for him.

18:09.090 --> 18:13.190
All things were created through him

18:13.190 --> 18:15.010
and for him.

18:15.530 --> 18:18.470
That means, listen to me, listen to me.

18:18.870 --> 18:20.890
Don't listen to the lies of the devil.

18:21.310 --> 18:23.990
Even the devil was created by God.

18:26.590 --> 18:29.590
Even the devil was created by God.

18:29.590 --> 18:35.270
I say that to say that often times we believe the lies of the devil

18:35.270 --> 18:38.950
that he is far bigger, that he is this giant guy.

18:39.870 --> 18:43.470
Friends, even the devil was created by God.

18:46.290 --> 18:51.010
It is for him and through him Jesus Christ

18:51.010 --> 18:52.770
that all things were created.

18:53.510 --> 18:57.070
So I'm stressing this thing that the Genesis 1 God

18:57.070 --> 18:58.690
that created all things.

18:59.230 --> 19:01.770
All through him, all for him they were created.

19:02.270 --> 19:05.670
This same God is the God that now comes into earth.

19:07.310 --> 19:11.330
This is now the God that steps into his own creation.

19:13.110 --> 19:17.730
This is now the God that allows his creation to crucify him.

19:20.410 --> 19:21.530
That's lowly.

19:22.430 --> 19:24.190
Friends, that's lowly.

19:25.210 --> 19:26.990
I had a conversation with somebody.

19:27.190 --> 19:28.190
This is years ago.

19:29.050 --> 19:32.290
They were telling me how well every religion and this and that

19:32.290 --> 19:34.250
and they're trying to prove their point in something.

19:34.630 --> 19:37.590
And I asked this person because they were talking about how Buddhism is right.

19:38.030 --> 19:40.250
How Muslims and all that stuff.

19:40.430 --> 19:42.170
And they're naming off these different religions.

19:42.590 --> 19:44.750
And I simply asked this person one question.

19:45.230 --> 19:48.370
I said, tell me what other religion has a king

19:48.370 --> 19:52.310
that stood up from his throne, came and died for his people

19:52.310 --> 19:53.990
and rose from the dead to save him?

19:56.190 --> 19:57.610
There ain't no other religion.

19:59.410 --> 20:05.870
There is no other religion that the God of that religion stood up

20:06.750 --> 20:10.450
said, I'm going to die for these people to redeem them

20:11.370 --> 20:12.690
and then rise from there.

20:12.810 --> 20:14.830
There is no other religion in the world.

20:15.250 --> 20:16.410
You can't find it.

20:17.090 --> 20:19.550
That talks about the lowliness of our God.

20:20.950 --> 20:24.430
Our God is not too lofty or too high

20:24.430 --> 20:30.110
but he is willing to meet us in a place where we least expect to meet him.

20:30.630 --> 20:32.270
You got to catch this.

20:32.930 --> 20:35.810
And I'm going to be stressing this as I go with this series.

20:36.170 --> 20:40.890
We got to catch the idea that oftentimes God goes over our head

20:40.890 --> 20:44.170
because we think that we got to find him in these high places

20:44.170 --> 20:47.470
where God is saying, no, I am lowly

20:47.470 --> 20:51.930
and I will meet you in the place where everybody else is saying

20:51.930 --> 20:53.930
I'm not going to meet you, but I'll meet you there.

20:55.790 --> 20:58.310
God will meet you in your filthiness

20:58.310 --> 21:03.610
and by his mercy and his grace, he won't leave you there.

21:03.790 --> 21:06.990
He will actually take you and he will bring you to a place

21:06.990 --> 21:09.750
to cleanse you, to forgive you.

21:09.970 --> 21:12.810
He will bring you to a place that is a higher call.

21:15.010 --> 21:19.850
Don't think that Jesus is going to come and bathe with you in your sin.

21:19.950 --> 21:21.010
That's not what he's doing.

21:21.850 --> 21:24.670
Even when the Lord came, I'm getting ahead of my notes here,

21:24.690 --> 21:28.490
but that's okay, even when the Lord came to sit with the sinners,

21:28.870 --> 21:32.010
with the tax collectors, with the prostitutes, with the harlots,

21:32.150 --> 21:36.690
with the nobodies, even when the Lord came to sit and dine with them,

21:36.990 --> 21:39.970
the Lord was not sitting and indulging with them in the sin.

21:39.970 --> 21:43.390
No, the Lord met them where they were at,

21:43.490 --> 21:45.790
but then he said, now you've got to come up higher.

21:49.190 --> 21:53.230
The Lord will meet us in the places where we least expect it.

21:53.930 --> 21:56.210
Listen to me. I'm going to share with you a story.

21:56.370 --> 21:57.870
I have a friend of mine, a very close friend.

21:59.350 --> 22:01.230
This blew my mind. I'm like, what?

22:01.810 --> 22:03.950
This friend of mine, he listens to heavy metal music,

22:04.410 --> 22:05.570
Christian heavy metal music.

22:07.070 --> 22:10.010
All of you are like, whoa, dude, you want to hear something crazy?

22:10.670 --> 22:13.890
This friend of mine that listens to this heavy metal music,

22:13.890 --> 22:15.510
he was sharing with me recently.

22:15.910 --> 22:18.610
He said, man, he turned on a song and I played it for him,

22:18.630 --> 22:21.470
and I'm like, dude, how do you listen to that?

22:21.550 --> 22:23.910
Honestly. And he goes, man, he goes, I weep.

22:24.690 --> 22:26.250
He goes, I weep when I listen to that.

22:27.150 --> 22:30.450
And I'm like, what?

22:31.890 --> 22:33.410
He says, man, he goes, I weep.

22:33.410 --> 22:36.110
He goes, the Lord meets me and he goes, I weep.

22:37.210 --> 22:38.930
The Lord meets me where I'm at.

22:39.130 --> 22:41.430
And I weep when I listen to this.

22:42.450 --> 22:46.850
And if you actually take away the type of music that comes through,

22:47.010 --> 22:47.430
it's like, whoa.

22:48.830 --> 22:52.070
I'm like, dude, but if you actually take that part away

22:52.070 --> 22:55.590
and you listen just to the lyrics, wow.

22:56.310 --> 22:58.330
I don't understand anything they're saying because it's, whoa.

22:59.410 --> 23:03.810
I'm like, dude, our Lord is lowly, man.

23:04.570 --> 23:06.750
He's lowly. He'll meet you where you're at.

23:07.590 --> 23:09.670
He'll meet you where you're at, man. He will.

23:10.170 --> 23:11.610
He really will meet you where you're at.

23:12.630 --> 23:15.230
So here we have the God that creates all things Jesus.

23:15.710 --> 23:19.270
He creates all things through him and for him.

23:19.350 --> 23:22.110
We're all things made. This is again, Genesis one God.

23:22.230 --> 23:22.890
Now come into earth.

23:23.310 --> 23:26.410
Now this same God that comes to earth, I said this last Sunday.

23:26.410 --> 23:30.750
This same God that comes to earth, if you study the life of Jesus,

23:31.370 --> 23:35.930
everything, everything, I said everything that the Lord did

23:36.750 --> 23:39.030
progressively cause them to go lower.

23:40.050 --> 23:45.810
Every decision he made, every choice, everything that Jesus did,

23:46.170 --> 23:48.550
he constantly went lower.

23:49.410 --> 23:51.430
And he makes the statement when they came to him,

23:51.430 --> 23:55.050
I quoted this last Sunday where the teachers of the law,

23:55.050 --> 23:58.370
the scribes, all these fancy schmancy people, they came to him

23:58.370 --> 24:01.630
and they're like, show us a sign, Lord. Give us a miracle.

24:02.070 --> 24:04.750
And this is, by the way, after the Lord already did a bunch of stuff.

24:06.970 --> 24:10.050
It's like, you know what's funny for me sometimes is that

24:10.050 --> 24:12.890
I feel like we fall into that category and we don't realize it.

24:13.590 --> 24:16.830
We don't realize that we as Christians sometimes want to be entertained

24:16.830 --> 24:17.650
when we come to church.

24:23.070 --> 24:25.430
We want to be entertained when we come to church.

24:25.990 --> 24:28.690
If something exciting and exploding doesn't happen,

24:28.910 --> 24:31.310
ah, church was boring today. Nobody fell over.

24:32.410 --> 24:33.750
Nobody prayed in tongues.

24:35.130 --> 24:38.190
But this is truth, friends. This is truth. I'm preaching to you.

24:39.590 --> 24:43.210
We want to come to church sometimes and we want to be entertained.

24:44.830 --> 24:47.650
I'm sorry, I'm not somebody here that's to entertain you.

24:48.090 --> 24:49.790
Though I can say a joke here and there,

24:50.050 --> 24:53.810
I am not here to entertain you, nor is pastor, nor is the Lord.

24:55.890 --> 24:59.490
We're not here to be entertained, to be tickled in our ears.

24:59.870 --> 25:01.870
When something doesn't happen, that's exploding.

25:02.130 --> 25:03.390
We're like, yeah, God wasn't there.

25:03.670 --> 25:05.310
And that's when I say we miss him.

25:07.690 --> 25:09.130
That's when I say we miss him.

25:10.090 --> 25:13.290
That's the problem in our charismatic and Pentecostal circles.

25:13.790 --> 25:17.290
If something doesn't happen, that's exploding and exciting.

25:17.570 --> 25:20.310
Ah, God wasn't there, man. Nobody shouted.

25:20.950 --> 25:23.350
Nobody fell over. Nobody prayed in tongues out loud.

25:23.350 --> 25:26.210
Nobody prophesied. God wasn't there.

25:26.630 --> 25:30.370
We missed him. We missed him.

25:31.450 --> 25:33.970
Because when he talks about the gifts of the Spirit,

25:34.350 --> 25:36.670
those are the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

25:36.950 --> 25:38.470
That's not who the Holy Spirit is.

25:38.550 --> 25:40.370
Those are his gifts. He gives them.

25:40.730 --> 25:42.670
Who he actually is is Galatians 5.

25:43.630 --> 25:46.910
Those are the characteristics and the attributes of the Holy Spirit.

25:47.150 --> 25:49.870
That's who he is. The Holy Spirit is gentle,

25:49.870 --> 25:53.030
long suffering, kind, patient.

25:54.110 --> 25:56.410
That's the characteristics of the Holy Spirit.

25:56.750 --> 25:59.470
Now the gifts are the things that he does.

26:00.510 --> 26:01.330
You following me?

26:02.370 --> 26:04.110
So the Lord is very lowly,

26:04.470 --> 26:08.410
and he constantly, progressively, throughout his whole life,

26:08.610 --> 26:09.890
continued to go low.

26:10.370 --> 26:12.010
Open up your Bibles to Matthew.

26:12.670 --> 26:13.550
Let's go Matthew 11.

26:14.370 --> 26:16.050
And I'm going to pause on something here,

26:16.070 --> 26:19.010
because this is where my wife chimed in last Sunday.

26:22.810 --> 26:24.750
I'm going to read Matthew 11 here.

26:29.840 --> 26:32.800
Matthew 11 verses 28 to 29.

26:35.960 --> 26:37.420
Listen to what the Lord says.

26:38.160 --> 26:39.240
This is Jesus speaking.

26:39.400 --> 26:39.640
He says,

26:39.720 --> 26:44.120
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden.

26:44.360 --> 26:45.900
And I will give you rest.

26:46.740 --> 26:47.820
Then verse 29,

26:48.000 --> 26:51.640
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

26:52.160 --> 26:56.140
For he says, I am gentle and lowly in heart.

26:58.500 --> 27:00.060
The Lord makes a statement.

27:01.460 --> 27:02.580
He says, Come to me.

27:03.640 --> 27:04.820
You've been heavy laden.

27:04.920 --> 27:05.520
You've been working.

27:05.840 --> 27:07.800
You've been, you've been seeking up here.

27:07.960 --> 27:09.600
You've been doing all these things.

27:09.740 --> 27:12.080
You've been running this way and running that way,

27:12.240 --> 27:13.920
from conference to conference,

27:14.160 --> 27:16.440
from one minister casting devils out of you

27:16.440 --> 27:18.500
to another minister casting devils out of you.

27:18.560 --> 27:19.740
To do in this, to do in that.

27:19.740 --> 27:20.820
The Lord says, Come to me.

27:21.740 --> 27:22.720
Come to me.

27:23.000 --> 27:26.280
I am gentle and I am lowly.

27:29.040 --> 27:31.100
If we would find and realize

27:31.100 --> 27:33.440
that the Lord is found in the low places,

27:33.760 --> 27:35.440
I'm not talking about geographically,

27:35.480 --> 27:37.240
where you've got to go to the basement of your house

27:37.240 --> 27:38.040
to find the Lord.

27:38.720 --> 27:40.700
I'm not saying it's a geographical place,

27:41.060 --> 27:43.060
but it's the nature of God.

27:44.020 --> 27:45.100
It's in a general sense.

27:45.260 --> 27:46.820
If we would go to the places

27:46.820 --> 27:49.640
where it's, it's, we're alone with Him.

27:50.240 --> 27:51.120
It can be in your car.

27:51.740 --> 27:52.880
It can be in your basement.

27:53.280 --> 27:54.620
It can be at your mama's house.

27:54.780 --> 27:55.440
I don't care.

27:57.280 --> 27:59.920
But the Lord is actually found in the lowly places.

28:01.740 --> 28:04.220
The lowly places where nobody else is seeing you.

28:04.480 --> 28:07.580
The lowly places where, where eyes are not peeled at you.

28:07.600 --> 28:08.700
It's just you and Him.

28:09.000 --> 28:10.640
He says, Come to me there.

28:11.140 --> 28:12.100
Come to me there.

28:12.780 --> 28:13.660
I am gentle.

28:13.940 --> 28:15.420
Which means if you come there,

28:15.420 --> 28:17.960
I'm not going to rebuke you and cast you away.

28:18.100 --> 28:19.180
I am gentle.

28:19.320 --> 28:20.240
I can care for you.

28:20.620 --> 28:22.160
I know what you've been through.

28:24.040 --> 28:26.420
Did you know that the Lord knows what you've been through?

28:28.700 --> 28:32.920
Did you know that the Lord knows what you've been through?

28:35.020 --> 28:36.280
Let me say that again.

28:36.560 --> 28:40.900
Did you know that the Lord knows what you've been through?

28:43.440 --> 28:47.440
That is why the scripture says He is the great intercessor.

28:48.460 --> 28:50.860
He can sympathize with us.

28:51.480 --> 28:55.880
He can have compassion and understand us in ways that your wife,

28:56.260 --> 28:59.720
your husband, your mom, your dad, your kids will never understand.

28:59.940 --> 29:01.120
But God says I can.

29:02.220 --> 29:02.700
Why?

29:03.080 --> 29:03.920
Because I'm lowly.

29:04.820 --> 29:06.080
I've been in every place.

29:07.300 --> 29:08.360
The Lord had the highs.

29:08.360 --> 29:11.500
The Lord had the mediums and the Lord went low.

29:13.560 --> 29:15.280
He can meet us anywhere you're at.

29:16.200 --> 29:18.500
You see, and some of us have lived a life and we're thinking,

29:18.740 --> 29:21.160
No, man, I'm too far gone, bro.

29:21.260 --> 29:22.180
You don't know my life.

29:22.280 --> 29:24.100
I am way too far gone.

29:24.660 --> 29:25.680
Do you know what I can tell you?

29:26.040 --> 29:27.880
You are simply believing alive the devil.

29:28.000 --> 29:28.780
That's all I can tell you.

29:29.500 --> 29:30.800
Can I tell you something else?

29:31.160 --> 29:32.740
If you're believing that lie of the devil,

29:32.900 --> 29:36.300
you're actually trampling the truth of the word of God

29:36.300 --> 29:37.060
underneath your feet.

29:38.020 --> 29:41.140
You're trampling what the cross actually is.

29:41.580 --> 29:43.520
You're trampling the blood of the Lamb.

29:43.920 --> 29:47.060
You're trampling the crucified flesh of Jesus.

29:47.400 --> 29:49.600
When you're believing in saying I'm too far gone,

29:50.040 --> 29:51.080
nobody understands.

29:53.140 --> 29:55.520
You're misunderstanding who the Lord is.

29:58.930 --> 30:00.970
Some of you are saying I'm never going to get healed.

30:02.770 --> 30:04.110
I'm never going to get delivered.

30:04.790 --> 30:06.570
I'm never going to have a restored marriage.

30:06.850 --> 30:07.970
I'm never going to have kids.

30:07.970 --> 30:10.110
And we use this word never again.

30:10.270 --> 30:11.610
My wife said this morning,

30:12.010 --> 30:14.250
there is life and death in our tongue.

30:15.270 --> 30:17.490
There is literally life and death.

30:17.650 --> 30:20.730
I can confess and say, yep, never, never, never, never.

30:22.130 --> 30:22.850
Where the Lord is saying,

30:22.990 --> 30:24.310
you're misunderstanding who I am.

30:24.690 --> 30:26.090
You're missing my nature.

30:26.950 --> 30:28.730
I am lowly by nature.

30:28.930 --> 30:30.370
It's not just something that I do.

30:30.790 --> 30:31.670
It's who I am.

30:31.730 --> 30:32.750
And he says, come to me.

30:33.310 --> 30:35.590
All who are weary and heavy laden,

30:36.310 --> 30:37.190
I'm gentle.

30:37.570 --> 30:38.530
And he says, I'm lowly.

30:38.970 --> 30:40.570
He says, I'm lowly in heart.

30:41.250 --> 30:43.430
The Lord makes a statement and he says who he is.

30:43.810 --> 30:45.590
Now watch this, Matthew 25.

30:46.790 --> 30:48.690
This is where I want to park maybe for a little bit.

30:48.910 --> 30:50.010
We'll see how far we get today.

30:52.290 --> 30:54.770
This is Matthew 25 starting at verse 31.

30:55.630 --> 30:58.590
And this is very interesting because when you read this scripture,

30:59.290 --> 31:02.290
what you find is actually talking about the end times.

31:02.890 --> 31:04.090
It's talking about the judgment.

31:04.990 --> 31:07.070
But I want to point out something here to you.

31:07.170 --> 31:08.070
Starting at verse 31.

31:10.010 --> 31:12.130
When the Son of man comes in his glory,

31:13.150 --> 31:15.110
in all the holy angels with him,

31:15.470 --> 31:18.510
then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

31:19.230 --> 31:20.190
Verse 32.

31:20.530 --> 31:23.290
All the nations will gather before him.

31:23.370 --> 31:24.730
This means every individual.

31:24.990 --> 31:26.810
Every individual will gather before him.

31:26.890 --> 31:29.150
All the nations will gather before him.

31:29.770 --> 31:33.910
And he will separate them one from another.

31:33.910 --> 31:35.470
Now I want you to pay attention to this,

31:35.570 --> 31:36.770
and I'm going to park here for a little bit.

31:37.810 --> 31:38.810
Let me read that again.

31:39.030 --> 31:41.610
He will separate them one from another.

31:42.230 --> 31:47.110
As a shepherd divides his sheep from his goats.

31:50.450 --> 31:51.870
So the Lord's going to come.

31:52.870 --> 31:54.710
He's going to sit on the throne of his glory.

31:55.070 --> 31:58.830
And he's literally going to separate who's a sheep and who's a goat.

32:01.330 --> 32:02.170
It's interesting.

32:03.270 --> 32:05.130
You ever noticed that the scriptures talk

32:05.130 --> 32:07.150
and refer to us as the saints as the sheep?

32:07.930 --> 32:08.930
You guys ever noticed that?

32:09.490 --> 32:11.430
It always refers to those believers as sheep.

32:11.730 --> 32:13.170
So I was like, oh, this is interesting, Lord.

32:13.250 --> 32:14.290
I said bring me summer with this.

32:14.370 --> 32:15.730
So the Lord began to bring me summer with it.

32:16.130 --> 32:16.970
So you know what I did?

32:17.070 --> 32:20.710
I did a study on the behaviors of sheep and goats.

32:24.500 --> 32:26.240
Now I don't want you to walk away this morning

32:26.240 --> 32:27.760
and say I'm never buying a goat again.

32:30.180 --> 32:31.400
Because goat milk is good.

32:32.840 --> 32:33.780
But listen to this.

32:36.340 --> 32:37.140
Where is it here?

32:38.280 --> 32:39.880
So I literally, I just did a quick study.

32:39.980 --> 32:41.280
I didn't spend hours in it.

32:41.340 --> 32:43.220
But you know, I spent a good enough time

32:43.220 --> 32:45.760
where I'm like, all right, this is a good way to look at it.

32:46.580 --> 32:49.900
Goats are very independent and curious.

32:52.040 --> 32:53.740
Do you know what I thought of when I was doing this?

32:53.880 --> 32:56.660
When I read that goats are very independent and curious?

32:57.640 --> 33:00.620
They're prideful and curiosity.

33:00.620 --> 33:01.660
It's playing with sin.

33:04.020 --> 33:07.460
When one is independent, there is a sense of pride

33:07.460 --> 33:08.220
that comes with it.

33:08.920 --> 33:09.560
Don't help me.

33:09.600 --> 33:10.440
I'm going to do it by myself, man.

33:10.500 --> 33:11.200
I'm going to figure this out.

33:11.560 --> 33:12.520
But bro, you're struggling.

33:13.160 --> 33:14.440
No, no, no, man, I got this.

33:14.640 --> 33:15.540
Bro, you're struggling.

33:16.000 --> 33:16.720
Let me help you.

33:16.940 --> 33:17.740
No, I got this.

33:19.340 --> 33:20.620
I had somebody once tell me this.

33:20.780 --> 33:21.920
This was some time ago.

33:22.620 --> 33:23.480
Somebody once told me.

33:24.780 --> 33:27.640
They said they were in a very deep place in their life.

33:27.640 --> 33:30.040
Very low and ministering to them.

33:31.340 --> 33:33.680
And they said, hey, bro, I don't need your help anymore.

33:34.220 --> 33:35.680
I'm going to do this all by myself.

33:36.360 --> 33:37.500
Do you know what I told this person?

33:37.960 --> 33:39.440
I said, you've been struggling by yourself.

33:39.600 --> 33:41.420
And now you're telling me that you're going to do this all by yourself?

33:43.380 --> 33:47.120
Oftentimes, oftentimes what we do in our independency is we say,

33:47.160 --> 33:49.040
nope, I'm going to figure this out all by myself.

33:49.980 --> 33:52.500
You got to come around a body of people and have people pray with you

33:52.500 --> 33:53.440
and pray for you.

33:54.060 --> 33:55.600
Seriously, that's what the body is meant for.

33:55.600 --> 33:58.460
So goats are very independent and they're very curious.

34:00.900 --> 34:02.740
Prideful, playing with sin, curiosity.

34:04.100 --> 34:05.020
What's that one saying?

34:05.160 --> 34:07.000
Curiosity can kill a cat or something like that?

34:07.240 --> 34:07.960
Am I saying it right?

34:08.280 --> 34:09.800
See, my English is still good.

34:12.320 --> 34:14.740
Goats follow their own way.

34:18.440 --> 34:22.380
Oftentimes, when you see a goat herder or somebody who herds goats,

34:23.340 --> 34:25.200
the goats aren't following the herder.

34:25.600 --> 34:27.040
The herder is actually behind the goats.

34:30.180 --> 34:31.720
Goats follow their own way.

34:31.880 --> 34:33.000
They make their own choices.

34:33.560 --> 34:37.260
This is a lack of denying ourselves and a lack of dying the self.

34:38.980 --> 34:41.900
We think that we can do this.

34:42.700 --> 34:44.600
We think that we can figure this out.

34:45.840 --> 34:47.740
I'll do this, God. Just wait.

34:48.120 --> 34:49.500
Let me figure this portion out.

34:49.740 --> 34:51.360
I'll give you this part of my life,

34:51.360 --> 34:53.580
but don't touch this part of my life,

34:53.700 --> 34:55.480
because in this part of my life,

34:55.580 --> 34:58.040
it's going to cause much inconvenience for me.

34:59.940 --> 35:01.820
It's going to cause me to pray more, Lord.

35:01.960 --> 35:02.680
Don't touch this part.

35:02.960 --> 35:03.740
You can have that part.

35:04.540 --> 35:05.160
That part's good.

35:06.000 --> 35:07.240
It's easy to give away.

35:09.740 --> 35:12.020
Goats are mischievous.

35:15.250 --> 35:19.070
I likened it to gossipers, slanderous,

35:19.370 --> 35:20.750
unrepentant, untruthful.

35:21.410 --> 35:24.110
To be mischievous is to get somebody else in trouble

35:24.110 --> 35:25.130
and walk away from it.

35:27.330 --> 35:29.010
I see my kids do it all the time.

35:31.190 --> 35:32.570
And happen in my house, man.

35:32.930 --> 35:33.550
Crucifier flesh.

35:36.010 --> 35:36.450
Browsers.

35:37.470 --> 35:38.810
They browse. They walk.

35:39.510 --> 35:40.310
Think of it this way.

35:40.790 --> 35:42.070
Goats are constantly there.

35:42.330 --> 35:43.230
They're very adventurous.

35:44.150 --> 35:48.130
They're constantly looking for a way out.

35:50.150 --> 35:52.610
It reminds me how often us Christians

35:53.410 --> 35:55.270
walk the fine line of sin.

35:56.190 --> 35:58.350
But if I have one beer, it's not that bad.

36:01.130 --> 36:03.810
But if I watch this one movie or this one show,

36:04.210 --> 36:05.130
it's not that bad.

36:06.190 --> 36:08.450
Though they just blaspheme the name of God in that movie.

36:08.550 --> 36:09.590
But it's not that bad, Lord.

36:10.190 --> 36:11.510
I mean, come on.

36:11.810 --> 36:13.790
Like, did you see the other movie that this actor was in?

36:14.430 --> 36:15.970
He was like in a Christian movie.

36:17.330 --> 36:19.090
So like, it's not that bad, Lord.

36:20.710 --> 36:21.990
We like to browse.

36:24.090 --> 36:25.530
Or I should say this way.

36:25.730 --> 36:29.710
A goat likes to browse and see how far it can get

36:29.710 --> 36:30.690
before it hurts itself.

36:32.770 --> 36:33.250
Seriously.

36:34.470 --> 36:36.390
And we as Christians do the same thing.

36:37.010 --> 36:37.830
Don't lie to yourself.

36:38.270 --> 36:38.750
Come on, now.

36:40.130 --> 36:44.350
We like to see how far we can push the line of sin

36:45.230 --> 36:47.030
until we actually step into it.

36:48.550 --> 36:49.630
You following me still?

36:49.790 --> 36:50.210
Is this still good?

36:51.270 --> 36:51.430
Okay.

36:51.910 --> 36:55.870
Now let me give you some behaviors of the sheep

36:55.870 --> 36:57.770
and why the Lord refers to us as sheep.

36:58.530 --> 37:00.450
I could be mispronouncing this word, but that's okay.

37:00.810 --> 37:01.590
You guys are used to that.

37:02.170 --> 37:03.330
Sheep are very docile.

37:04.950 --> 37:06.590
They're willing to accept control.

37:10.610 --> 37:11.710
Sheep are very docile.

37:12.250 --> 37:14.890
They will submit themselves to the shepherd.

37:14.890 --> 37:17.870
They are willing to be led by a shepherd.

37:19.050 --> 37:20.670
They're willing to be led by him.

37:21.970 --> 37:22.570
This is what?

37:22.690 --> 37:23.670
This is death to self.

37:24.110 --> 37:25.310
This is choosing submission.

37:25.890 --> 37:27.610
This is becoming a bond servant.

37:29.090 --> 37:32.730
Friends, this is becoming a bond servant.

37:32.990 --> 37:34.010
A bond slave.

37:36.290 --> 37:38.010
When Jesus died on the cross,

37:39.150 --> 37:40.150
you were set free.

37:41.050 --> 37:41.850
Go do what you want.

37:42.030 --> 37:42.870
Almost in a sense.

37:43.430 --> 37:44.270
Almost in a sense.

37:44.270 --> 37:45.570
I'm not saying go do what you want.

37:45.710 --> 37:47.430
He sets you free from sin.

37:48.070 --> 37:49.530
But now you have a choice.

37:49.650 --> 37:50.610
There isn't an in-between.

37:51.070 --> 37:52.250
You now have a choice.

37:52.570 --> 37:53.570
The Lord sets you free.

37:54.030 --> 37:55.170
But now the choice is yours.

37:55.670 --> 37:56.930
Who's going to be your master?

37:57.610 --> 37:59.850
Either the Lord or sin.

38:01.110 --> 38:02.370
Friends, there is no in-between.

38:02.570 --> 38:03.590
There is no in-between.

38:04.270 --> 38:05.150
There isn't.

38:07.190 --> 38:09.030
If you are your own master,

38:09.430 --> 38:10.310
can I tell you something?

38:10.310 --> 38:11.370
News flash.

38:12.430 --> 38:13.450
Sin is your master.

38:15.870 --> 38:18.070
If you're saying I'm making my own decisions,

38:18.310 --> 38:19.850
I am, you're living in sin.

38:20.090 --> 38:21.410
I'm going to be straight upon us with you.

38:22.810 --> 38:25.210
Because now you are actually feeding

38:25.210 --> 38:26.210
off of your flesh.

38:27.150 --> 38:27.890
You following me?

38:28.470 --> 38:29.330
So sheep are docile.

38:30.550 --> 38:32.390
Sheep are flock oriented.

38:34.430 --> 38:35.910
Sheep are flock oriented.

38:36.530 --> 38:39.130
First off, this is us depending

38:39.130 --> 38:39.890
on God.

38:41.130 --> 38:43.410
And also us depending on one another.

38:46.610 --> 38:47.850
I depend on you.

38:49.070 --> 38:51.630
Remember I said earlier that we have so many people

38:51.630 --> 38:53.650
that make this place run.

38:53.970 --> 38:56.210
If these people don't show up, man.

38:57.430 --> 38:58.530
That's going to be wild.

38:59.150 --> 39:01.150
If Jesse doesn't show up to play guitar,

39:01.350 --> 39:02.590
trust me, there ain't going to be no worship.

39:02.930 --> 39:04.050
It's going to be screeching in your ears

39:04.050 --> 39:04.970
if I'm playing that thing.

39:07.930 --> 39:09.670
If the ushers don't show up,

39:09.770 --> 39:10.730
you're not going to see me preach

39:10.730 --> 39:11.790
because I'm going to be running around

39:11.790 --> 39:13.330
trying to make sure everybody's safe,

39:13.550 --> 39:14.910
gathering your tides and offerings.

39:15.530 --> 39:17.450
If security doesn't show up, oh snap.

39:18.730 --> 39:19.570
I'll just land it there.

39:19.770 --> 39:20.130
Oh snap.

39:24.260 --> 39:25.640
Sheep are flock oriented.

39:25.860 --> 39:27.660
We depend on our shepherd, on God,

39:27.900 --> 39:28.640
first and foremost,

39:28.980 --> 39:30.600
but then we depend on each other.

39:30.740 --> 39:32.900
It is good to depend on each other.

39:34.380 --> 39:35.860
It's good to depend on each other.

39:38.160 --> 39:39.280
Sheep follow a leader.

39:40.240 --> 39:42.280
They always, if you look at the way

39:42.280 --> 39:43.800
that a shepherd leads,

39:44.100 --> 39:45.980
the shepherd goes and the sheep are behind him.

39:46.580 --> 39:47.780
It's not a goat herder

39:47.780 --> 39:49.520
that's chasing around his goats,

39:49.900 --> 39:52.360
but he's walking and the sheep follow.

39:52.840 --> 39:54.260
The sheep follow the shepherd.

39:54.440 --> 39:56.280
This is again, this is likening us

39:56.280 --> 39:57.360
to taking up our cross.

39:58.140 --> 40:00.090
This is denying ourselves daily.

40:00.740 --> 40:01.840
It's what the Apostle Paul says.

40:02.580 --> 40:03.380
Deny yourself.

40:03.620 --> 40:04.520
Crucify that flesh.

40:04.520 --> 40:05.260
Daily.

40:05.560 --> 40:07.980
This is again, choosing to go low.

40:08.240 --> 40:08.680
Daily.

40:09.420 --> 40:10.440
It's what the Lord did, friends.

40:12.060 --> 40:13.740
A sheep are easily stressed

40:13.740 --> 40:14.900
when separated.

40:17.620 --> 40:18.760
Sheep are easily stressed

40:19.040 --> 40:19.980
when separated.

40:20.220 --> 40:20.740
Do you know that?

40:21.140 --> 40:22.240
When I read that,

40:22.860 --> 40:24.620
this thought came to me right away.

40:25.060 --> 40:26.280
It's like the Lord was talking to me.

40:27.200 --> 40:27.640
And it's like,

40:28.460 --> 40:30.320
when I begin to sense

40:30.320 --> 40:32.400
that the Lord is not near me,

40:32.940 --> 40:34.260
or when I begin to sense

40:34.260 --> 40:35.980
like a distance of the Lord in my life.

40:36.180 --> 40:37.000
Oh, my goodness, man.

40:37.360 --> 40:38.520
Ask my wife how I act.

40:39.700 --> 40:40.800
Is no bueno, señor.

40:43.160 --> 40:44.580
When I begin to recognize,

40:44.820 --> 40:45.840
whoa, Lord, where are you?

40:46.840 --> 40:48.740
Why am I not hearing your voice?

40:48.900 --> 40:49.720
Why am I not

40:50.900 --> 40:51.820
experiencing your presence?

40:52.000 --> 40:53.100
Why are you not talking to me, Lord?

40:53.480 --> 40:54.200
What's going on?

40:54.720 --> 40:55.680
I begin to be like,

40:55.740 --> 40:56.740
okay, what's going on?

40:57.240 --> 40:58.580
And I begin to backtrack.

40:59.400 --> 41:00.780
How did I get to this place?

41:03.700 --> 41:05.100
We have to listen.

41:05.440 --> 41:08.200
We have to mature to a level

41:08.200 --> 41:10.000
of where we can be aware

41:10.000 --> 41:11.400
when the Lord is here

41:11.400 --> 41:12.700
and when the Lord is not here.

41:15.580 --> 41:17.760
We have to be able to be mature

41:17.760 --> 41:20.620
to recognize, Lord,

41:20.960 --> 41:22.400
let us experience you

41:22.400 --> 41:24.180
and let us recognize that you are here.

41:24.340 --> 41:25.760
And when you're not here, Lord,

41:26.060 --> 41:27.800
let us understand why you're not here.

41:29.080 --> 41:30.300
Let us backtrack out.

41:30.600 --> 41:31.640
Where did we miss you?

41:31.640 --> 41:33.520
So that we can figure it out and say,

41:33.540 --> 41:35.620
okay, you actually wanted me to go this way

41:35.620 --> 41:36.720
and not that way.

41:37.480 --> 41:38.440
You following me?

41:39.800 --> 41:41.420
See, in both of these animals,

41:42.400 --> 41:43.820
the Lord shows us something.

41:43.940 --> 41:45.640
And I'm going to continue reading Matthew 25

41:46.200 --> 41:48.040
of why I'm saying we find the Lord

41:48.040 --> 41:48.720
in the low places.

41:49.040 --> 41:50.380
In these two animals,

41:50.620 --> 41:51.520
a sheep and a goat,

41:51.640 --> 41:52.560
the Lord shows us something.

41:53.620 --> 41:55.180
He says, here's one animal

41:55.180 --> 41:57.580
that the behaviors of this animal

41:57.580 --> 41:58.560
are very lowly.

41:58.740 --> 41:59.700
And that's the sheep.

42:00.580 --> 42:02.320
They're very lowly like behaviors.

42:02.680 --> 42:05.240
Depending on God, depending on the flock,

42:05.800 --> 42:06.920
crucifying our flesh,

42:07.220 --> 42:08.300
we're doing all these things.

42:08.560 --> 42:10.100
Actually, goats even eat.

42:10.540 --> 42:12.060
They feed off of the grass

42:12.060 --> 42:14.080
that the shepherd brings them to.

42:14.920 --> 42:15.780
Did you know that?

42:16.220 --> 42:18.200
Where a goat, a goat will oftentimes

42:18.200 --> 42:19.060
scatter somewhere.

42:19.400 --> 42:20.300
It will go up on a tree

42:20.300 --> 42:21.620
and it will eat from a twig or something.

42:22.140 --> 42:24.560
But sheep eat where the shepherd

42:24.560 --> 42:26.260
brings them to, to the pasture.

42:26.460 --> 42:28.040
I said to the pasture

42:28.040 --> 42:29.800
that the shepherd brings them to.

42:31.200 --> 42:32.220
Know what that tells me?

42:33.320 --> 42:34.340
We have food.

42:35.240 --> 42:36.260
We have food.

42:36.420 --> 42:37.500
Just like Jesus said.

42:37.920 --> 42:39.140
They said, Lord, when did you eat?

42:39.500 --> 42:41.060
He said, I have food you do not know of.

42:41.940 --> 42:44.140
We have food that the world

42:44.140 --> 42:45.220
does not know of.

42:48.120 --> 42:49.440
I said, we have food

42:49.940 --> 42:52.060
that the world does not know of.

42:52.440 --> 42:52.740
Amen.

42:56.320 --> 42:57.720
I want to say something right now

42:57.720 --> 42:58.780
and I feel like I need to say it.

43:00.380 --> 43:01.480
Why do we starve ourselves?

43:04.980 --> 43:06.720
Why do we starve ourselves, friends?

43:07.500 --> 43:08.740
I'm saying this with complete love.

43:09.340 --> 43:10.460
Why do we starve ourselves?

43:14.110 --> 43:15.350
Why do we starve ourselves

43:15.350 --> 43:15.850
from the word?

43:18.090 --> 43:19.210
Why do we negligate?

43:21.630 --> 43:23.270
Would you ask the Lord to renew

43:23.270 --> 43:24.950
your mind to not look at this

43:24.950 --> 43:26.030
as a chore anymore?

43:27.410 --> 43:28.990
Would you ask the Lord this morning

43:28.990 --> 43:30.410
and we'll have a time of prayer at the end?

43:31.170 --> 43:32.390
But would you ask the Lord,

43:32.730 --> 43:34.190
Lord, renew my mind that I would not

43:34.190 --> 43:35.830
look at your scriptures as a chore?

43:37.310 --> 43:38.530
But I would look at it

43:38.530 --> 43:40.710
as food to my spiritual man.

43:40.990 --> 43:42.690
That I would not starve myself.

43:44.690 --> 43:47.030
That I would mature and I would grow

43:47.030 --> 43:49.150
past the elementary things, Lord.

43:49.650 --> 43:50.930
I want to go to the higher things.

43:53.670 --> 43:55.350
If we believe this is food,

43:55.350 --> 43:57.190
if we believe our shepherd

43:57.190 --> 43:59.850
has led us to green pastures,

44:00.170 --> 44:01.970
why are we starving ourselves?

44:05.920 --> 44:06.440
Why?

44:08.840 --> 44:10.940
Because we are filling our bellies

44:10.940 --> 44:13.160
with other things not recognizing

44:13.160 --> 44:14.840
that those things that we eat

44:14.840 --> 44:17.220
are actually causing a greater void

44:17.220 --> 44:18.140
within us.

44:20.340 --> 44:21.940
Yes, we fill ourselves.

44:22.140 --> 44:23.660
But it's like eating McDonald's

44:23.660 --> 44:25.480
one way in, one way out real quick.

44:26.600 --> 44:28.360
But when we feed ourselves

44:28.360 --> 44:29.360
on the Word of God,

44:29.760 --> 44:31.040
it sustains us.

44:32.520 --> 44:33.980
It sustains us.

44:34.240 --> 44:35.760
It nourishes us.

44:37.300 --> 44:39.360
The nourishment comes by knowing

44:39.360 --> 44:40.280
who he is.

44:41.460 --> 44:42.580
That's how we're nourished.

44:44.460 --> 44:45.900
When we are nourished

44:45.900 --> 44:47.120
by the Word of God,

44:47.400 --> 44:48.900
when we feed on the Word of God

44:48.900 --> 44:50.060
and we nourish on it,

44:50.240 --> 44:52.560
those small things that the devil

44:52.560 --> 44:53.900
drips in our mind,

44:54.100 --> 44:55.720
they will no longer stick

44:56.340 --> 44:57.660
because we are nourished.

44:57.760 --> 44:59.840
We have a Word of God just like David writes,

45:00.140 --> 45:02.440
I hide the Word of the Lord

45:02.440 --> 45:03.420
within me.

45:03.860 --> 45:05.540
Why? Because it nourishes me.

45:06.280 --> 45:07.760
Because it feeds me.

45:08.200 --> 45:10.020
Because it sustains me.

45:10.520 --> 45:13.020
Because it causes me to keep going.

45:13.340 --> 45:14.460
It gives me strength

45:14.460 --> 45:16.540
and the ability to keep going.

45:20.020 --> 45:21.260
Somebody told me this once

45:21.260 --> 45:22.640
and I feel like I need to say it.

45:23.640 --> 45:24.840
Somebody told me this once.

45:24.960 --> 45:26.640
Either a pastor or somebody else told them.

45:27.260 --> 45:28.220
But this one pastor,

45:28.660 --> 45:29.680
when he would go up to preach,

45:30.320 --> 45:31.560
now I could be butchering this story

45:31.560 --> 45:33.360
but just have grace on me, don't quote me on this.

45:33.860 --> 45:35.500
When a pastor would go up to preach

45:35.500 --> 45:36.160
this one guy,

45:36.880 --> 45:38.860
he would constantly read so much Scripture.

45:39.040 --> 45:40.320
He would just read. He would read.

45:40.460 --> 45:41.220
He would read. He would read.

45:41.780 --> 45:44.540
And somebody once asked him or someone like that,

45:44.540 --> 45:45.080
he would read so much Scripture.

45:45.720 --> 45:47.860
People get bored by what you read

45:47.860 --> 45:50.340
and he said that could be the only Scripture

45:50.340 --> 45:51.180
they read that week.

45:55.470 --> 45:56.330
We have Christians

45:56.330 --> 45:58.650
that the only time they actually hear

45:58.650 --> 46:00.030
the Word of God is from pulpits.

46:00.890 --> 46:02.030
They don't read it at home.

46:03.490 --> 46:04.830
So you fasted

46:04.830 --> 46:05.910
for six days.

46:06.230 --> 46:07.530
You come on a seventh day.

46:09.130 --> 46:10.670
God never asked us to fast

46:10.670 --> 46:11.550
from our spirituality.

46:12.030 --> 46:14.250
To fast from the Word. Let me say it that way.

46:14.250 --> 46:15.970
God never...find it in the Scriptures.

46:16.910 --> 46:18.470
I haven't found that verse yet.

46:18.850 --> 46:20.250
Please find it and give it to me.

46:21.970 --> 46:24.190
I have not seen the Lord when he asks

46:24.190 --> 46:26.230
us to fast. That he says fast

46:26.230 --> 46:27.550
from without reading my Word.

46:28.510 --> 46:29.850
I don't know what God you serve.

46:30.030 --> 46:31.110
I found that in the Scriptures.

46:32.650 --> 46:34.310
So listen to this. Continuing down

46:34.310 --> 46:35.310
in Matthew 25.

46:37.870 --> 46:38.830
Verse 33.

46:39.810 --> 46:41.870
So he talks about the separation of the goat

46:41.870 --> 46:43.770
and the sheep. I explained to you the behaviors.

46:44.350 --> 46:46.110
That's why the Lord separates

46:46.110 --> 46:47.450
the sheep to his right

46:47.450 --> 46:48.870
because they're lowly.

46:49.770 --> 46:51.790
Remember I just showed you the behaviors. I explained to you.

46:51.950 --> 46:53.730
Sheep are lowly. Goats

46:53.730 --> 46:56.050
to say it nicely, they ain't so lowly.

46:58.310 --> 46:59.690
So he says I will separate

46:59.690 --> 47:01.850
the sheep to my right and I will separate

47:01.850 --> 47:03.770
the goats to my left. And then he continues

47:03.770 --> 47:04.830
to talk. Listen to this.

47:05.310 --> 47:07.450
He says and he will set the sheep

47:07.450 --> 47:09.710
on his right hand, but the goat

47:09.710 --> 47:11.810
is on his left. Then the king.

47:11.950 --> 47:13.630
So this is Jesus. Then

47:13.630 --> 47:15.850
the king will say to those on his right

47:15.850 --> 47:17.710
hand. So he's talking to the

47:17.710 --> 47:19.490
sheep. He says come

47:20.470 --> 47:21.410
come to me

47:21.410 --> 47:21.970
come

47:23.350 --> 47:25.750
you blessed by my father.

47:26.510 --> 47:27.790
So if we're lowly

47:27.790 --> 47:28.990
just think of this.

47:30.010 --> 47:31.990
If we can live a lowly

47:31.990 --> 47:32.510
life.

47:33.450 --> 47:35.290
Jesus says you're blessed by the father.

47:37.590 --> 47:38.430
If

47:38.430 --> 47:39.250
we can live

47:39.250 --> 47:41.330
lowly. If we can make

47:41.330 --> 47:43.150
choices that would cause us to go

47:43.150 --> 47:45.390
low. If we would live by behaviors

47:45.390 --> 47:47.490
that actually are evidence

47:47.490 --> 47:50.070
of lowliness. Jesus says

47:50.070 --> 47:51.330
you are blessed

47:51.330 --> 47:53.190
by my father.

47:54.130 --> 47:54.530
Wow.

47:56.290 --> 47:57.870
I said wow.

47:59.630 --> 48:01.170
Blessed by my father

48:01.170 --> 48:02.090
if we're lowly.

48:04.930 --> 48:05.870
Inherit the kingdom.

48:06.290 --> 48:07.290
So if we're lowly

48:07.290 --> 48:08.170
we get what?

48:09.370 --> 48:10.130
We get the kingdom.

48:11.830 --> 48:13.070
Blessed by my father

48:13.070 --> 48:14.570
you inherit the kingdom

48:15.130 --> 48:16.710
prepared for you from the

48:16.710 --> 48:18.350
foundations of the world.

48:18.930 --> 48:20.270
So again Jesus is saying listen

48:20.270 --> 48:22.290
I was there. Genesis one I created this

48:22.970 --> 48:24.230
and you get to inherit it.

48:24.310 --> 48:25.170
Why? Because you're lowly.

48:25.890 --> 48:27.630
I'm saying all this to say to get to

48:27.630 --> 48:28.710
someone here. So follow me here.

48:30.410 --> 48:31.590
For I was hungry

48:31.590 --> 48:32.810
here's where the Lord begins to

48:32.810 --> 48:34.210
really talk. And this is where

48:34.210 --> 48:36.710
I want to stress the thought that

48:36.710 --> 48:38.570
the Lord is found in the low places.

48:39.470 --> 48:40.510
When we're seeking him

48:40.510 --> 48:42.650
stop seeking him in these high places

48:42.650 --> 48:44.570
begin to seek him in the low places

48:44.570 --> 48:46.410
and you shall find him. Listen to this.

48:47.190 --> 48:48.950
He says for I was hungry

48:49.450 --> 48:50.910
and you gave me food.

48:52.710 --> 48:53.830
I was thirsty

48:54.490 --> 48:55.890
and you gave me drink.

48:56.870 --> 48:58.080
I was a stranger

48:58.550 --> 48:59.890
and you took me in.

49:01.010 --> 49:01.830
I was

49:01.830 --> 49:03.910
naked and you closed me. I was

49:03.910 --> 49:05.890
sick and you visited me.

49:06.330 --> 49:07.890
I was in prison and you

49:07.890 --> 49:08.630
came to me.

49:09.670 --> 49:11.890
I want you to pay attention to everything

49:11.890 --> 49:13.410
that the Lord just stated there.

49:13.810 --> 49:15.610
All those things are

49:15.610 --> 49:17.630
attributes of being low.

49:21.200 --> 49:22.770
I was hungry. You fed me.

49:25.010 --> 49:25.430
You know

49:25.430 --> 49:26.750
it's very inconvenient. Let me

49:26.750 --> 49:27.790
just give you one example.

49:28.470 --> 49:30.470
It's very inconvenient when you

49:30.470 --> 49:32.610
go to a restaurant and you got little kids

49:32.610 --> 49:34.670
that are running around and you see somebody that is hungry.

49:34.750 --> 49:36.770
I'm just giving you one example. And you see somebody

49:36.770 --> 49:38.770
that is hungry and you feel the Lord telling you

49:38.770 --> 49:39.670
to go and pay for them.

49:40.190 --> 49:41.750
But you're like, ah, but I got all these kids

49:41.750 --> 49:44.410
and I'm doing all this. But in those moments

49:44.410 --> 49:47.350
we can actually find the Lord. Listen, listen, listen.

49:47.990 --> 49:48.750
We can actually

49:48.750 --> 49:49.710
find the Lord

49:50.410 --> 49:51.890
by stilling ourselves,

49:53.310 --> 49:54.370
quieting the noise that's

49:54.370 --> 49:55.390
around us, going

49:56.270 --> 49:57.670
and paying for somebody.

49:59.290 --> 50:00.510
In those moments

50:00.510 --> 50:02.090
we can actually find the Lord.

50:05.190 --> 50:06.490
Let me tell you a story.

50:07.330 --> 50:08.130
A friend of mine

50:08.130 --> 50:10.630
when he just came to the Lord years, years ago

50:10.630 --> 50:11.830
when he just came to the Lord

50:12.870 --> 50:14.290
he was on fire for God

50:14.290 --> 50:16.310
and then there was a time in his life where everything

50:16.310 --> 50:18.230
was chaotic. And he began

50:18.230 --> 50:20.370
to recognize that he wasn't sensing the Lord.

50:21.090 --> 50:21.830
Do you know what he did?

50:22.990 --> 50:24.190
He backtracked all the way

50:24.190 --> 50:26.270
to the place of every time he felt God

50:26.270 --> 50:28.090
is when he would go to McDonald's

50:28.090 --> 50:29.510
and he would pay for the people behind him.

50:30.470 --> 50:31.670
That's where he found the Lord.

50:33.430 --> 50:34.250
That's where he found

50:34.250 --> 50:34.610
the Lord.

50:36.110 --> 50:37.750
So when he was in all this chaos

50:37.750 --> 50:40.170
and this noise and all these things happening

50:40.170 --> 50:42.290
he backtracked. He stilled

50:42.290 --> 50:44.050
everything. He backtracked and he

50:44.890 --> 50:46.230
intentionally went to McDonald's.

50:46.730 --> 50:48.490
I think he got into the drive-thru

50:48.490 --> 50:50.830
and he paid for somebody behind him

50:50.830 --> 50:52.910
because that's where he was finding

50:52.910 --> 50:54.970
God. And he kept doing that.

50:56.830 --> 50:58.230
Because he found the Lord there.

50:58.530 --> 50:59.330
Very lowly.

51:00.050 --> 51:02.030
You would think that's weird. Why would God be there?

51:02.910 --> 51:04.070
That's what the Scripture says.

51:04.670 --> 51:06.630
When I was hungry, you fed me.

51:07.890 --> 51:08.670
Listen to this.

51:09.130 --> 51:09.570
He says

51:10.710 --> 51:12.850
when I was thirsty, you gave me a drink.

51:13.670 --> 51:14.930
All these things are tying in.

51:14.930 --> 51:16.810
When I was a stranger, you

51:16.810 --> 51:17.710
took me in.

51:18.810 --> 51:20.630
You took me in as a stranger.

51:24.560 --> 51:25.960
Oh man, I'm gonna... yeah.

51:29.100 --> 51:29.940
Thank you, Lord.

51:30.440 --> 51:32.740
Thank you, Lord, that you are found in the places.

51:36.140 --> 51:38.360
Thank you, Lord, that you are found in these

51:38.360 --> 51:38.980
low places.

51:44.650 --> 51:45.950
Forgive us, Lord, that we

51:45.950 --> 51:46.610
miss you.

51:48.430 --> 51:50.670
Forgive us, Lord, that we miss you.

51:52.770 --> 51:54.810
Draw our eyes, Lord, and our hearts

51:54.810 --> 51:56.770
to the low places where you are at.

51:58.550 --> 52:01.030
Where a people are desperate to be fed

52:01.030 --> 52:03.010
by your word and people are thirsty

52:03.010 --> 52:05.290
and longing for a drink

52:05.290 --> 52:06.730
like the woman at the well, Lord.

52:07.890 --> 52:09.130
Forgive us, Lord,

52:09.970 --> 52:11.350
that we do not give drink

52:11.350 --> 52:12.690
to those who are thirsty.

52:13.130 --> 52:15.170
Forgive us, Lord, because we find

52:15.170 --> 52:15.830
it inconvenient.

52:21.040 --> 52:22.180
Forgive us, Lord.

52:24.140 --> 52:24.940
Then the righteous

52:24.940 --> 52:26.240
will answer him.

52:27.340 --> 52:28.820
This is after Jesus says all these

52:28.820 --> 52:30.460
things. And he says the righteous

52:30.460 --> 52:32.100
will answer him saying, Lord,

52:32.580 --> 52:34.160
when did we see you hungry

52:35.520 --> 52:36.820
and feed you

52:36.820 --> 52:38.540
or thirsty and give you

52:38.540 --> 52:40.640
drink? When did we

52:40.640 --> 52:42.000
see you a stranger

52:42.420 --> 52:44.120
and take you in? Or

52:44.120 --> 52:45.480
naked and close you?

52:46.920 --> 52:48.160
Or when did we see

52:48.160 --> 52:49.540
you sick or in prison

52:49.880 --> 52:50.900
and come to you?

52:52.080 --> 52:54.140
And the king will answer and say to

52:54.140 --> 52:55.980
them, assuredly

52:55.980 --> 52:58.120
I say to you, and as much

52:58.120 --> 52:59.040
as you did

53:00.300 --> 53:02.180
and as much as you did

53:02.180 --> 53:04.060
it to one of the least of

53:04.060 --> 53:05.660
these. Let me use another word for that.

53:06.200 --> 53:07.840
Least of these into one of the

53:07.840 --> 53:09.580
lowly of these

53:11.340 --> 53:12.380
that society

53:12.380 --> 53:13.660
counts a nobody

53:15.280 --> 53:16.460
that their parents

53:16.460 --> 53:18.400
have put a period on their life and said

53:18.400 --> 53:20.620
they're done, man. They're done.

53:21.420 --> 53:22.520
God said, if you do

53:22.520 --> 53:24.420
it for one of these, he says

53:24.420 --> 53:25.340
you've done it for me.

53:29.270 --> 53:30.230
The Lord has found

53:30.230 --> 53:31.470
in the lowly places, friends.

53:33.330 --> 53:34.210
We think

53:34.210 --> 53:36.370
that we need to be up at pulpits

53:36.370 --> 53:38.070
to be accepted and

53:38.070 --> 53:40.190
experience God. I'm

53:40.190 --> 53:42.310
going to tell you the truth. I've said this before.

53:42.310 --> 53:44.430
There's things of God

53:44.430 --> 53:46.430
that I've experienced when I'm

53:46.430 --> 53:48.470
tucked away with him that I don't think

53:48.470 --> 53:50.250
I will ever experience at a pulpit.

53:51.410 --> 53:52.610
It's in the lowly

53:52.610 --> 53:53.810
places that God has found.

53:54.490 --> 53:56.310
It's in the places that nobody sees.

53:56.670 --> 53:58.270
You see, nobody sees you

53:58.270 --> 54:00.230
when you go and you pay for somebody.

54:00.970 --> 54:02.010
That's lowly.

54:03.090 --> 54:04.510
Nobody sees you

54:04.510 --> 54:06.170
or knows that you literally

54:06.170 --> 54:07.870
just accepted a homeless guy

54:07.870 --> 54:09.950
to live in your house for three days.

54:10.710 --> 54:11.890
Nobody sees it

54:11.890 --> 54:13.810
but only one and his name is God.

54:14.530 --> 54:15.830
His name is Jesus.

54:17.330 --> 54:18.210
And I guarantee

54:18.210 --> 54:20.190
you, if you were to ask anybody

54:20.190 --> 54:21.850
in this place, what did you

54:21.850 --> 54:23.830
experience when you had a homeless

54:23.830 --> 54:24.970
guy come and live with you?

54:25.410 --> 54:27.470
What did you experience when you

54:27.470 --> 54:29.090
paid for somebody? What did you

54:29.090 --> 54:30.930
experience when you went to prison

54:30.930 --> 54:32.790
and preached the gospel to somebody?

54:33.230 --> 54:34.610
You know what these people would tell you?

54:34.810 --> 54:36.530
They would say, we felt the Lord on it.

54:38.570 --> 54:39.330
They would say

54:39.330 --> 54:40.430
I felt the Lord on it.

54:40.530 --> 54:42.550
I felt the pleasure of God

54:42.550 --> 54:44.030
when I was doing what I was doing.

54:45.870 --> 54:46.710
The Lord says

54:46.710 --> 54:48.310
if you do it to the least of these

54:48.310 --> 54:49.730
the scum of the world

54:50.610 --> 54:52.370
the ones that nobody wants

54:52.370 --> 54:54.150
to hang out with. They smell.

54:54.390 --> 54:55.770
They're dirty. They look funny.

54:56.270 --> 54:58.210
But God says if you do it to them

54:58.210 --> 54:59.790
He says you've done it to me.

55:00.010 --> 55:02.450
In other words, if you do it to them

55:02.450 --> 55:04.390
there you will find me

55:04.390 --> 55:06.170
in my nature of lowliness

55:06.170 --> 55:08.150
and you will experience me

55:08.150 --> 55:10.470
in ways that you may not experience me

55:10.470 --> 55:11.750
when you're in high places.

55:13.110 --> 55:14.490
The Lord is found

55:14.490 --> 55:15.850
in the lowly places.

55:18.010 --> 55:19.670
Maybe you walked in this morning

55:19.670 --> 55:22.350
and you're thinking, oh man, the Lord does not see me.

55:22.790 --> 55:24.170
Friend, I want to tell you something

55:24.170 --> 55:26.430
this morning. The Lord sees you far

55:26.430 --> 55:27.890
more than you even recognize.

55:28.790 --> 55:30.150
The unfortunate part

55:30.150 --> 55:32.390
is that his saints have disobeyed

55:32.390 --> 55:34.750
over and over

55:34.750 --> 55:36.170
and over again.

55:39.530 --> 55:42.230
The Lord sees you far more

55:42.470 --> 55:44.310
than you even recognize it.

55:44.470 --> 55:46.270
Why? Because he's lowly.

55:47.390 --> 55:48.150
He's lowly.

55:48.570 --> 55:49.970
He is not too lofty

55:49.970 --> 55:52.250
to overlook you. Oh, I don't see you.

55:52.590 --> 55:53.910
God has been in places

55:53.910 --> 55:55.630
that we have not yet been.

55:55.750 --> 55:57.370
You know where that is? That's hell.

55:57.990 --> 55:58.770
That's Sheol.

55:59.690 --> 56:01.130
And you're trying to tell me

56:01.130 --> 56:02.810
that God doesn't see you here?

56:03.130 --> 56:04.930
Friends, you're believing a lie of the devil.

56:06.870 --> 56:08.950
You're trying to tell me God doesn't notice

56:08.950 --> 56:10.330
what you're going through?

56:11.030 --> 56:12.770
Stop throwing yourself a pity party

56:12.770 --> 56:14.970
and recognize that the God,

56:15.130 --> 56:16.950
the Genesis 1 God, went

56:16.950 --> 56:18.930
into every realm and down

56:18.930 --> 56:21.050
to the depths of hell to Sheol.

56:22.110 --> 56:23.550
That's why David writes

56:23.550 --> 56:24.970
in the Psalms. He says

56:24.970 --> 56:27.350
where can I go from your presence, oh God?

56:27.870 --> 56:28.970
Where can I go, Lord?

56:28.970 --> 56:31.270
Where can I flee? If I go west,

56:31.450 --> 56:32.870
you're there. If I go east,

56:32.990 --> 56:34.990
you're there. If I go up to the highest,

56:35.130 --> 56:36.810
Lord, you're there. If I make

56:36.810 --> 56:38.970
a bed in hell, he says, God, even

56:38.970 --> 56:39.950
there you are.

56:41.250 --> 56:42.910
Because he is filled all

56:42.910 --> 56:44.790
in all. This is Jesus

56:44.790 --> 56:47.070
we're talking about. This is the nature

56:47.070 --> 56:48.710
of our Lord that has gone

56:48.710 --> 56:50.810
so low to the depths that

56:50.810 --> 56:52.690
no man, no God has ever

56:52.690 --> 56:54.970
thought of going. But he says, I'm going.

56:55.350 --> 56:56.850
Why? Because God

56:56.850 --> 56:58.630
so loved the world that he gave

56:58.630 --> 57:00.490
his one and only son that whoever

57:00.490 --> 57:02.330
shall believe in him shall not

57:02.330 --> 57:04.110
perish but have eternal life.

57:04.450 --> 57:06.650
This is the God that we

57:06.650 --> 57:07.530
serve.

57:08.110 --> 57:10.610
This is the nature of Jesus.

57:11.410 --> 57:12.630
He is lowly

57:12.630 --> 57:14.090
in everything that he does.

57:15.110 --> 57:16.490
The decisions, his

57:16.490 --> 57:18.710
thinking, his motives, they're

57:18.710 --> 57:20.890
lowly, not self-promoting

57:20.890 --> 57:22.410
of let people see me.

57:22.710 --> 57:24.670
I don't care. I'm doing

57:24.670 --> 57:25.950
it for the least of these.

57:27.890 --> 57:28.810
That's our God.

57:29.650 --> 57:30.790
And he is found.

57:31.290 --> 57:32.670
You've been seeking him in the wrong

57:32.670 --> 57:34.570
places, friends. You've been

57:34.570 --> 57:36.250
seeking him in the wrong places.

57:36.630 --> 57:38.570
Start seeking the Lord in the

57:38.570 --> 57:40.510
low places and I guarantee you

57:40.510 --> 57:42.690
not because I said it but because

57:42.690 --> 57:44.710
the scripture says it. If you

57:44.710 --> 57:46.550
do it for the least of these, you've done

57:46.550 --> 57:48.710
it for me. In other words

57:48.710 --> 57:50.410
if you go there, you will find

57:50.410 --> 57:50.690
me.

57:53.350 --> 57:54.350
That's our Jesus.

57:55.370 --> 57:56.270
Very lowly.

57:56.770 --> 57:57.930
Very lowly.

57:58.170 --> 57:59.870
Of a lowly nature.

58:00.090 --> 58:01.690
That's our Lord.

58:02.870 --> 58:03.830
Even in his

58:03.830 --> 58:04.870
youth days.

58:05.870 --> 58:07.850
When the Lord was young, friends, the

58:07.850 --> 58:09.210
very little, listen to this. I need

58:09.210 --> 58:10.830
to draw your attention to something

58:10.830 --> 58:12.670
before we come to a pause.

58:13.450 --> 58:15.150
Even in the days

58:15.150 --> 58:17.270
of our Lord being young, the

58:17.270 --> 58:19.610
very little, the very little

58:19.610 --> 58:21.490
that the scriptures tell us about

58:21.490 --> 58:23.410
Jesus in his young adult

58:23.410 --> 58:25.570
teenage years. Do you

58:25.570 --> 58:27.510
know that when we read even the very little

58:27.510 --> 58:29.050
that we have, do you know what we find there?

58:29.750 --> 58:31.510
We find one characteristic of

58:31.510 --> 58:32.990
the Lord. He was lowly.

58:34.610 --> 58:35.690
Let me read it to you

58:35.690 --> 58:37.690
here. Open up your Bibles

58:38.290 --> 58:39.350
to Luke chapter

58:39.350 --> 58:41.530
2. Let me read it to you here.

58:41.650 --> 58:43.590
I'm trying to... I want us

58:43.590 --> 58:45.550
to behold Jesus. And I

58:45.550 --> 58:47.550
want us to see just how

58:47.550 --> 58:49.390
lowly he is. And now measure

58:49.390 --> 58:50.330
ourselves to him.

58:52.330 --> 58:53.770
And now measure ourselves

58:53.770 --> 58:55.370
to him. And if we don't find

58:55.370 --> 58:57.370
ourselves yet meeting a standard, then

58:57.370 --> 58:59.650
we ask and we say, Holy Spirit, conform

58:59.650 --> 59:01.570
us. Conform

59:01.570 --> 59:02.990
us into the image of Christ.

59:03.330 --> 59:05.370
That I be lowly. Listen to this.

59:05.570 --> 59:06.310
Luke chapter 2.

59:07.630 --> 59:08.990
Let me open it up here quick.

59:11.810 --> 59:13.350
This is Luke chapter 2

59:13.350 --> 59:14.710
verses 39 and 40.

59:19.880 --> 59:20.940
So when they

59:20.940 --> 59:22.260
had performed all

59:22.260 --> 59:24.040
things according

59:24.040 --> 59:25.740
to the law of God,

59:26.720 --> 59:28.060
they returned to

59:28.060 --> 59:30.260
Galilee to their own city

59:30.260 --> 59:32.040
Nazareth. And the

59:32.040 --> 59:33.440
child, this is Jesus,

59:34.520 --> 59:36.280
grew and became strong

59:36.280 --> 59:38.080
in spirit, filled

59:38.080 --> 59:40.340
with wisdom, and the grace

59:40.340 --> 59:42.280
of God was upon

59:42.280 --> 59:44.300
him. Listen, listen, listen, listen.

59:44.700 --> 59:45.980
You're saying how was that lowly?

59:45.980 --> 59:48.420
When you read James 4 and 6,

59:48.980 --> 59:50.120
do you know what James writes?

59:51.140 --> 59:51.660
For God

59:51.660 --> 59:53.940
to grace us, we have

59:53.940 --> 59:54.660
to be what?

59:57.180 --> 59:57.700
Really?

59:58.020 --> 59:59.680
James 4 and 6. For God

59:59.680 --> 01:00:02.020
to grace us, we must be humble.

01:00:04.500 --> 01:00:06.040
What is humility? What does

01:00:06.040 --> 01:00:08.060
it mean to be humble? It is to go low.

01:00:10.320 --> 01:00:12.060
It's to go low. So even

01:00:12.060 --> 01:00:14.060
in the young age of Jesus

01:00:14.060 --> 01:00:15.780
what we find the scriptures

01:00:15.780 --> 01:00:17.560
telling us about him is that

01:00:17.560 --> 01:00:19.960
the grace of God was upon him. Why?

01:00:20.360 --> 01:00:21.340
Because he was humble.

01:00:23.200 --> 01:00:24.120
And to be humble

01:00:24.120 --> 01:00:25.140
you got to go low.

01:00:26.180 --> 01:00:28.000
You got to be able to bite your tongue

01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:29.980
on and so forth. Because in James 4

01:00:29.980 --> 01:00:31.300
6 it says that God

01:00:32.180 --> 01:00:33.840
gives grace to the humble

01:00:33.840 --> 01:00:35.520
but does what? Oppose the proud.

01:00:36.540 --> 01:00:38.120
He opposes the proud. He

01:00:38.120 --> 01:00:39.920
gives grace to those who are

01:00:39.920 --> 01:00:41.280
humble. Now follow me here. Luke

01:00:41.940 --> 01:00:43.280
still Luke chapter 2

01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:45.220
verse 46 and 49. I want

01:00:45.220 --> 01:00:46.160
to show you something more.

01:00:48.060 --> 01:00:48.780
Now it was

01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:51.180
now so it was that after

01:00:51.180 --> 01:00:53.120
three days they found

01:00:53.120 --> 01:00:55.200
him in the temple. I'm trying to show you

01:00:55.200 --> 01:00:57.440
these things that explain the nature

01:00:57.440 --> 01:00:59.360
of our Lord even in his young age

01:00:59.360 --> 01:01:00.900
that he was very lowly.

01:01:02.600 --> 01:01:04.320
Let me read that again. Verse 46.

01:01:05.020 --> 01:01:07.280
Now so it was that after three days

01:01:07.280 --> 01:01:08.760
they found him in the temple

01:01:08.760 --> 01:01:10.460
sitting in the midst

01:01:10.460 --> 01:01:12.500
of the teachers both

01:01:12.500 --> 01:01:14.760
listening to them and asking

01:01:14.760 --> 01:01:15.780
them questions.

01:01:16.820 --> 01:01:18.180
He was listening

01:01:18.760 --> 01:01:20.780
and then asking questions

01:01:22.440 --> 01:01:24.680
and all who heard him were astonished

01:01:24.680 --> 01:01:26.440
at his understanding and answers.

01:01:27.300 --> 01:01:28.240
So when

01:01:28.680 --> 01:01:30.660
they saw him they were

01:01:30.660 --> 01:01:32.740
amazed and his mother said to

01:01:32.740 --> 01:01:34.520
him son why have you

01:01:34.520 --> 01:01:36.700
done this to us? Look

01:01:36.700 --> 01:01:38.220
your father and I sought

01:01:38.220 --> 01:01:40.460
you anxiously. Verse

01:01:40.460 --> 01:01:42.020
49. And he said to them

01:01:42.600 --> 01:01:43.960
why did you seek me?

01:01:44.360 --> 01:01:46.320
Did you not know that I must be about

01:01:46.320 --> 01:01:47.540
my father's business?

01:01:50.260 --> 01:01:51.560
Let me pause there.

01:01:52.460 --> 01:01:54.260
Do you know what the father's business

01:01:54.260 --> 01:01:56.100
is? Since

01:01:56.100 --> 01:01:58.240
Genesis 1 it was to show

01:01:58.240 --> 01:02:00.500
his lowliness by saving

01:02:00.500 --> 01:02:02.640
a people. You following me?

01:02:03.280 --> 01:02:04.040
Are you following me?

01:02:04.040 --> 01:02:06.080
Since the Genesis 1

01:02:06.080 --> 01:02:08.060
the father's business it was

01:02:08.060 --> 01:02:09.780
always plan A

01:02:09.780 --> 01:02:11.600
for God the father to send

01:02:11.600 --> 01:02:13.840
his son. It wasn't plan B

01:02:13.840 --> 01:02:15.860
in the book of God where he's like oh snap

01:02:16.880 --> 01:02:18.160
Adam and Eve sin now

01:02:18.160 --> 01:02:18.740
what do we do?

01:02:19.900 --> 01:02:20.560
Oh snap.

01:02:21.380 --> 01:02:22.580
Goats, bulls and

01:02:23.420 --> 01:02:25.300
all these other things they're not

01:02:25.300 --> 01:02:27.080
washing away the sins of the people now

01:02:27.080 --> 01:02:28.940
what do we do? Well I guess Jesus

01:02:28.940 --> 01:02:30.000
now you gotta go down.

01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:32.880
That wasn't what God was about.

01:02:34.440 --> 01:02:35.680
That wasn't God.

01:02:36.860 --> 01:02:38.160
The father's business

01:02:38.160 --> 01:02:40.200
has always been very lowly.

01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:41.540
It was

01:02:41.540 --> 01:02:44.100
it pleased. Actually the scripture says

01:02:44.100 --> 01:02:45.720
it pleased the father

01:02:45.720 --> 01:02:47.220
to bruise his own son.

01:02:50.700 --> 01:02:51.820
Genesis 3

01:02:51.820 --> 01:02:53.040
we find the first

01:02:53.350 --> 01:02:55.360
in Genesis chapter 3 we find

01:02:55.360 --> 01:02:57.380
the first few verses that talk

01:02:57.380 --> 01:02:59.760
about the Lord and him dying on a cross. Did you know that?

01:03:00.320 --> 01:03:01.360
Read Genesis 3

01:03:01.360 --> 01:03:03.400
I'm not even gonna give you the answer. It's found

01:03:03.400 --> 01:03:05.120
in Genesis 3. I'm not gonna tell you where it is

01:03:05.120 --> 01:03:07.600
just in that chapter. You find your own verse.

01:03:08.780 --> 01:03:10.160
But in Genesis 3

01:03:10.160 --> 01:03:11.040
we find

01:03:11.800 --> 01:03:13.740
that our Lord it was always

01:03:13.740 --> 01:03:15.120
the plan A of God the father

01:03:15.120 --> 01:03:17.800
for the Lord to die on a cross. Always.

01:03:18.780 --> 01:03:19.800
So the father's

01:03:19.800 --> 01:03:21.760
business he's saying why are you looking

01:03:21.760 --> 01:03:23.940
for me? I'm about my father's business. In other words

01:03:23.940 --> 01:03:25.480
I am to be lowly

01:03:25.480 --> 01:03:26.860
as my father is.

01:03:27.800 --> 01:03:28.720
I am the

01:03:28.720 --> 01:03:30.720
I am the visible image

01:03:30.720 --> 01:03:32.340
of the invisible God.

01:03:33.100 --> 01:03:34.740
I am the very image

01:03:34.740 --> 01:03:36.780
of my father. The disciple

01:03:36.780 --> 01:03:39.020
said well show us the father. He says if you've seen

01:03:39.020 --> 01:03:41.200
me you've seen the father. Everything

01:03:41.200 --> 01:03:42.960
everything that

01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:44.860
our Lord Jesus did was only

01:03:44.860 --> 01:03:46.400
what the father does speaks

01:03:47.120 --> 01:03:48.200
on and so forth.

01:03:51.080 --> 01:03:52.560
And they did not understand

01:03:52.560 --> 01:03:54.160
the statement. This is now verse 50.

01:03:54.160 --> 01:03:55.880
But they did not understand

01:03:55.880 --> 01:03:57.660
the statement which he spoke to them.

01:04:02.330 --> 01:04:03.150
So in the

01:04:03.150 --> 01:04:04.950
teen years of our Lord what we find

01:04:04.950 --> 01:04:06.270
he was lowly.

01:04:08.070 --> 01:04:09.570
Graced by God the father

01:04:09.570 --> 01:04:11.110
why? Because he was humble.

01:04:11.910 --> 01:04:13.570
Later in the scriptures it says how

01:04:13.570 --> 01:04:15.430
Jesus went back to the

01:04:15.430 --> 01:04:17.450
house of his father Joseph

01:04:17.450 --> 01:04:19.410
and Mary and the scripture says

01:04:19.410 --> 01:04:21.310
he submitted himself

01:04:21.310 --> 01:04:22.550
onto them.

01:04:26.120 --> 01:04:27.160
In the young

01:04:27.160 --> 01:04:28.420
years of our Lord

01:04:29.060 --> 01:04:31.260
we find that he's lowly.

01:04:33.840 --> 01:04:35.060
He comes in. The Genesis

01:04:35.060 --> 01:04:36.160
1 God comes in

01:04:36.780 --> 01:04:38.760
into his creates the world

01:04:38.760 --> 01:04:40.400
steps into his creation

01:04:41.260 --> 01:04:42.800
birthed through a virgin Mary

01:04:43.460 --> 01:04:45.080
stepfather Joseph. Birth is

01:04:45.080 --> 01:04:46.820
a scandal. We talked about this last time.

01:04:47.880 --> 01:04:48.940
Low status

01:04:51.240 --> 01:04:53.020
Joseph was known as a carpenter

01:04:55.320 --> 01:04:56.360
born in a manger

01:04:56.360 --> 01:04:57.040
born in a manger

01:04:57.040 --> 01:04:58.320
among animals

01:04:59.520 --> 01:05:01.200
in a city of Bethlehem

01:05:01.200 --> 01:05:02.760
sought to be killed

01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:04.060
at an early age

01:05:04.060 --> 01:05:06.680
and now we read our Lord is growing up

01:05:06.680 --> 01:05:08.240
and even in his growing up

01:05:08.240 --> 01:05:09.460
our Lord is going low.

01:05:12.710 --> 01:05:14.690
Time is against me so maybe next Sunday

01:05:14.690 --> 01:05:15.950
I want to talk a little bit about this.

01:05:16.350 --> 01:05:17.550
We often times

01:05:18.270 --> 01:05:19.730
let me just give you a little sneak peek

01:05:20.190 --> 01:05:21.670
can I get somebody at the keys please?

01:05:22.830 --> 01:05:24.410
We often times

01:05:24.410 --> 01:05:25.810
picture Jesus

01:05:26.610 --> 01:05:27.990
as this poor

01:05:27.990 --> 01:05:29.290
weak man

01:05:30.350 --> 01:05:32.590
that's what a lot of Christians picture Jesus has.

01:05:35.090 --> 01:05:36.490
We think of him as well

01:05:36.490 --> 01:05:37.970
he was this weak poor man look

01:05:37.970 --> 01:05:39.770
he was born in a family that was

01:05:39.770 --> 01:05:41.330
poor on and so forth

01:05:41.330 --> 01:05:43.430
did you know that though Joseph

01:05:43.430 --> 01:05:45.670
was a carpenter I'm not saying Joseph

01:05:45.670 --> 01:05:47.510
was this huge wealthy guy

01:05:47.510 --> 01:05:50.050
but he was known for his trade

01:05:50.750 --> 01:05:52.130
I don't know about you

01:05:52.130 --> 01:05:54.070
but for you to be known

01:05:54.070 --> 01:05:55.870
for your trade that means

01:05:55.870 --> 01:05:57.270
that you have a lot of work

01:05:57.270 --> 01:05:59.030
and if you have a lot of work

01:05:59.030 --> 01:06:01.410
that means that you got a lot of Benjamins coming in.

01:06:04.710 --> 01:06:05.770
I had a business

01:06:05.770 --> 01:06:07.690
and I was more focused

01:06:07.690 --> 01:06:09.630
on building a reputation

01:06:10.930 --> 01:06:12.570
than collecting the big check

01:06:13.550 --> 01:06:14.630
and my nephews

01:06:14.630 --> 01:06:16.270
that I've mentored in the business

01:06:16.270 --> 01:06:17.490
and I brought them up in the business

01:06:17.490 --> 01:06:19.010
I'm stressing this to my nephews

01:06:19.010 --> 01:06:21.290
I said don't worry about making

01:06:21.290 --> 01:06:23.830
all the money because you're never going to make all of them

01:06:23.830 --> 01:06:25.350
what's important for you

01:06:25.350 --> 01:06:26.910
is to build a reputation

01:06:26.910 --> 01:06:29.510
because that reputation will shoot you

01:06:29.510 --> 01:06:31.350
far longer

01:06:31.350 --> 01:06:32.450
than the money coming in

01:06:33.970 --> 01:06:35.570
so Joseph was known

01:06:35.570 --> 01:06:37.630
as a carpenter which tells me

01:06:37.630 --> 01:06:39.450
that they weren't this poor family

01:06:40.150 --> 01:06:41.490
yes they were not of high

01:06:41.490 --> 01:06:43.250
status but they had enough money

01:06:43.250 --> 01:06:44.810
listen they traveled

01:06:44.810 --> 01:06:50.930
They traveled from Nazareth before the birth of Jesus. They traveled from Nazareth all the way to Bethlehem.

01:06:51.010 --> 01:06:54.990
Do you know how long that journey was? Anywhere from 70 to 90 miles.

01:06:55.650 --> 01:07:01.210
It's about a four to five-day journey. Joseph, being a good man, as the Scripture says,

01:07:01.790 --> 01:07:06.790
I'm sure Joseph came prepared with the money to feed them.

01:07:07.270 --> 01:07:11.250
I'm sure Joseph had the money to pay for the inn.

01:07:11.250 --> 01:07:15.610
And the Scripture tells us it's not that they couldn't afford the inn.

01:07:15.810 --> 01:07:17.810
There was no room in the inn.

01:07:20.170 --> 01:07:24.910
I'm sharing this to simply tell you, though the Lord had an opportunity

01:07:24.910 --> 01:07:29.070
to be born in a nice room, in a nice comforting bed,

01:07:29.430 --> 01:07:33.590
the Lord chose to go low and to be born in a manger

01:07:34.250 --> 01:07:37.490
among cattle in the city of Bethlehem.

01:07:39.370 --> 01:07:40.710
That's how lowly he is.

01:07:43.070 --> 01:07:46.470
And then on top of that, let me just finish it off here. I'll make it quick.

01:07:46.950 --> 01:07:51.550
And then on top of that, we got to pay attention to who came to visit our Lord.

01:07:52.510 --> 01:07:55.770
When he was born, who was the first people that came to visit him?

01:07:56.870 --> 01:07:59.530
Shepherds. Who are shepherds? Very lowly.

01:08:01.710 --> 01:08:06.510
The Lord had an opportunity to choose the high people of society

01:08:06.510 --> 01:08:09.010
to come visit him first when he was born.

01:08:09.310 --> 01:08:11.810
But no, because he's lowly.

01:08:13.570 --> 01:08:19.370
I said because he's lowly, he chose shepherds which are considered low of society

01:08:19.370 --> 01:08:23.450
for them to have a privilege to come and visit him when he's born.

01:08:24.250 --> 01:08:26.490
Don't you dare tell me our God is not lowly.

01:08:27.650 --> 01:08:30.570
Don't you dare tell me that he doesn't see what you're going through.

01:08:31.730 --> 01:08:34.210
He sees it far more than you even recognize it.

01:08:34.210 --> 01:08:36.170
Why? Because he's lowly.

01:08:37.890 --> 01:08:42.050
And then this God, the next people who come to visit him are wise men.

01:08:42.950 --> 01:08:45.550
Did you ever pay attention to the gifts that they gave him?

01:08:46.690 --> 01:08:50.870
Scholars said if you take all the gifts that were given to the Lord,

01:08:51.210 --> 01:08:55.510
it is literally over four million dollars in our modern time.

01:08:57.150 --> 01:09:00.190
So Jesus wasn't this poor, weak and broken person.

01:09:00.190 --> 01:09:04.770
But yet even in the status of him having this wealth, so to say,

01:09:05.730 --> 01:09:07.130
he chose to go low.

01:09:07.730 --> 01:09:12.070
It's not that he couldn't. He chose. It's not that somebody made him.

01:09:12.370 --> 01:09:14.750
He chose to go low.

01:09:16.130 --> 01:09:18.750
Pontius Pilate tells him, he says, do you understand

01:09:18.750 --> 01:09:22.630
that I have the authority to either crucify you or to set you free?

01:09:22.890 --> 01:09:24.390
Do you know what the Lord tells him?

01:09:24.850 --> 01:09:28.410
He says, listen to me, no authority would have been given to you

01:09:28.410 --> 01:09:30.270
unless my Father gave it to you.

01:09:31.270 --> 01:09:34.330
Ain't nobody forced the Lord to die. He chose to die.

01:09:34.850 --> 01:09:37.650
He chose to go low in everything that he did

01:09:37.650 --> 01:09:40.670
from the time of his creation to the time of his birth

01:09:40.670 --> 01:09:43.250
to walking in life to even his death.

01:09:43.750 --> 01:09:45.270
The Scripture says he died.

01:09:46.250 --> 01:09:50.190
And he was obedient to death and even death on the cross.

01:09:52.010 --> 01:09:55.350
Don't you sit here and tell me that God doesn't see me.

01:09:56.130 --> 01:09:59.790
Don't you sit here and tell me God doesn't know what I'm going through.

01:10:00.090 --> 01:10:01.290
You're missing him.

01:10:04.970 --> 01:10:07.950
Don't you sit here and tell me God can't help me.

01:10:08.010 --> 01:10:10.570
He hasn't been where I've been. Oh yes, he has my friends.

01:10:10.790 --> 01:10:12.870
And he's been in places you've never been.

01:10:13.590 --> 01:10:16.890
And he desires for you to never even go into those places.

01:10:18.990 --> 01:10:22.670
Our God is lowly, so lowly that we miss him.

01:10:24.070 --> 01:10:26.610
We miss him more often than we think.

01:10:28.270 --> 01:10:29.810
And we're looking for him.

01:10:30.070 --> 01:10:32.090
Oh God, why don't you hear me?

01:10:32.450 --> 01:10:33.670
He says, come to me.

01:10:34.250 --> 01:10:36.230
All who are weary and heavy laden.

01:10:36.610 --> 01:10:39.190
Come gentle, lowly in heart.

01:10:39.890 --> 01:10:42.730
If you would just pause for five minutes

01:10:42.730 --> 01:10:45.710
and silence your mind that voices are in it.

01:10:47.370 --> 01:10:48.430
Come to me.

01:10:49.910 --> 01:10:51.270
And I will give you rest.

01:10:52.670 --> 01:10:55.170
I will give you rest over the feeling of defeat.

01:10:55.410 --> 01:10:57.290
I will give you rest over the anxiety.

01:10:57.470 --> 01:10:59.150
I will give you rest over the fear.

01:10:59.250 --> 01:11:01.210
I will give you rest over your problems.

01:11:04.850 --> 01:11:11.110
Friends, our Jesus is very, very, very lowly.

01:11:12.810 --> 01:11:15.270
And would we measure ourselves to him?

01:11:16.950 --> 01:11:19.410
Would we measure ourselves to him

01:11:19.410 --> 01:11:22.170
and recognize how prideful we are?

01:11:26.150 --> 01:11:28.470
Would we measure ourselves to the Lord

01:11:28.470 --> 01:11:30.670
and look at ourselves and say, my God,

01:11:31.630 --> 01:11:33.710
this wretched flesh of mine, it's prideful.

01:11:38.500 --> 01:11:39.660
Oh, he's lowly.