Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Exalted By Humility

You know, one of the things that blessed me is that Chuck was sharing that a couple of the people said, "I heard all of the stories about the gymnasium, and the education building, and I wasn’t going to let it go by without me being able to do something, and put in some time and work." And Chuck said there were people up here until 3:00 in the morning painting. And it just sounded like the good old days of being able to give of ourselves, not just money, but to be able to give of ourselves. And those of you that contributed there, should the Lord tarry, it will be a blessing to you. You know it’s an amazing thing. I can still remember the years of… One morning, I guess it was probably about 4:30, 5:00 in the morning; I was hanging some of the final door closures up in the education building because the inspector was coming at 8:00 in the morning. The students had to wait outside for the inspector to finish his inspection and then came in for class. That’s how close we cut it. We were able to get it done, and so we were here finishing that up, and it’s just a blessing to be a part of that; and so all of you, I know, that labored, enjoyed that and those of you that have given, it’s a blessing. We’ve got a way to go. We’ve got a few things to do to finish it up; the new lights are coming; like I said, draperies, and some of the blinds that are coming, the new wall sconces and different areas. Let’s not forget what it is. This is the house of the Lord, amen?

You might wonder: why did we even remodel? What we had was nice, it was comfortable, but you know we all make changes at home, and there’s the principle that we’re living in sealed houses. Most of us here have very nice homes that we live in and we’re a blessed people. And we’re to never forget the house of the Lord and that this is the focal point. Your house should never be better than the Lord’s. Amen? And that’s something to keep in remembrance. We’ve always tried to stay away from an opulent type of approach to things; and we’ve tried to stay practical as it pertains to ministry and in these areas, but we always want to be able to give our best and to honor the Lord in all of those areas. And that was just part of why I think, just a way of focusing again on the worship of the Lord, and the honoring of His house, and that’s kind of what led us in the way. In prayer one day I thought, "We’ve had this, and it’s been nice all these years, but there’s some things that we can do just to honor the Lord, just as a form of worship to Him, and I’m sure that’s where your hearts were. That’s where mine was. The redecoration wasn’t "how we can we have a nicer place," it was "how can we worship the Lord?"

That was David’s heart. He wanted to build a temple for the Lord and he wasn’t allowed to because of the blood upon his hands, but that’s where his heart was. In fact, he said, "who am I, and who is my family that I could be involved in this worship of the Lord and be able to contribute our lives into Him. So that’s where the spirit was, and I just want to thank everybody that was laboring, it’s beautiful. Somebody even asked me, well what about the decor? What are you looking for? And I said. I have one thing that we want—bright! I’m tired of that dark paneling; I want bright. And the other thing that we were looking for in addition to bright, was the aspect of being able to understand that in this room are as many different tastes as there are people. Right? Can you imagine if we’d put it up to a vote? And everybody wanted their preference, and put in their preference. I want bright and as neutral as you can go to offend the least people because we all have to come in here a lot. If you get locked into somebody’s taste—and it’s not going to be offensive to where you’re trying to worship the Lord like this [indicating]—but what we’re talking about is the fact that neutrality—because this is a communal gathering place; this is someplace where we all come and worship, and so we’re looking for something that looks real nice. It’s bright and airy, and it’s neutral enough so that everybody can be free and not be caught into that because some of you like chartreuse and orange. (Well then, why do you dress like that?) So all of our different tastes are represented, and in this house of the Lord, that’s why we’re looking for—we could have gone with solid gold and marble, like the temple; that’s kind of neutral—earth tones, marble and gold. And so that’s the way they built the temple, but we went that way and I know it’s beautiful, and everybody’s labor is obvious here. So let’s just continue—we’ll be done here shortly and when we’re done—well we’re not even going to wait until we’re done—you all do know that we’re going to do the foyer, and the hallway, right? It’s going to be finished all the way down. I told them "just close the bathroom doors." But we want to do the foyer, the hallway, and the bookstore. And so we still have a little bit of work ahead of us, and a blessing to be able to—if you didn’t get to work in here then don’t despair, there’s going to be some work done.

The biggest cost for us has been the carpeting. Between the carpeting on the two floors and that building and this, we’re right at twenty grand ($20,000) and so most of what we had in the Joash offering that you all gave before we left, we had sufficient left over to pay for that building. And so everything we’re operating on now—the $12,000 for this auditorium and the hallway, and the remodeling that’s been done in here—we’ve been doing out of our general fund, and so be prayerful about that. If you want to contribute at this time—I’m just looking to the Lord to see where we are financially, and the emphasis we’re wanting to put on getting the guys back on the missions field, and in these areas—but anything that you want to go toward this effort at this juncture, just put Joash on it and it will all go into that which is ahead. Right now, as I said, what was in there paid for that carpeting. We’re in the process of doing this right now. Phenomenal. We shared with Jim LaRock what we had in it without the carpeting and asked him if we had just contracted this out, what would it have cost us? And what we’ve done for about $15,000 would have cost us about $75,000 to a $100,000. Can you say praise God for that? And so that’s what happens when God’s people have a mind to work. Praise God for all that you’ve done.

Don’t forget the guys are leaving Friday for Africa and so be sure to greet them tonight and let them know that we’re going to be prayerfully supporting them, as well as the finances. A lot of good things are going on. We don’t know—the enemy has tried to withstand us at every hand. I don’t know how many of you were aware that our visas were put on hold. I guess that was announced; and the Lord has opened that door up. This one man has—because of his hatred and the vileness of his heart, trying to oppose every move—has been able to put up some hindrances; but if God is for you nobody can be against you, amen? So not only are we going, there is some evidence that maybe our registration will be waiting for us when we get there, and so we say thank God for that. If it is, it would be a miracle and some more confirmation of the hand of God ordering our steps there. So just prayerfully support that and realize that, that which we’re going into needs to be done supernaturally and not naturally. So some exciting things ahead; but be sure to greet the guys before they get away tonight because some of you then won’t be able to have an opportunity.

Let’s go ahead and turn in our Bibles if you would—we want to take a look tonight at Micah the sixth chapter, verse eight. We’ll be able to… (It’s going to be nice Sunday to be able to see. I should have worn one of those little work lights for working on the car that you strap on your head, and I could have brought that tonight.)

Micah 6:8: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord requires of thee…" What is God requiring of us in our pursuit of Him and in our representation of Him? You know, we’re pursuing God and we’re representing God. And I think that the Lord really judges our hearts in both of those areas. There are a lot of people that have a great pursuit of God but not a representation of God. And there are a lot of people who want to go out representing God, ministering, and preaching, witnessing, who really don’t have a pursuit of God. They don’t know the Lord. They’re caught up in their own visions, revelations; their own perception of who the Lord is and they’re out representing that rather than the real image of God. And so as we look at out own lives, we have to say, "okay, how balanced is my life?" You know, we have the Mary and Martha comparison and in that particular aspect, we have Martha who is wanting to be about serving, and you have Mary, who’s sitting there and she wants to spend time at the Lord’s feet. These are the things that Jesus made very clear that there is a time and place for both of those. He emphasizes to us that the most important is the relationship with Him. Now He doesn’t go on in that particular teaching and share the consequence of that relationship, but the thing we do know is that if we are in fellowship with Him, we will represent Him and serve others. Amen? We’re going to love our neighbors as we what? Love ourselves. And we’re going to be able to fulfill then that second commandment when the first one is fulfilled to love the Lord with all of our hearts. And so with that in mind He says, "here’s what God requires of you," and in the midst of this He says, I want you "to do justly." Justice, do what’s right, not only in your personal life of holiness, but in the way you respond to other people. Are you responding in justice to those that are around you? "To love mercy." Can I be merciful; am I looking for opportunities to show the mercy of God? Aren’t you glad for the mercy of the Lord tonight? He’s merciful, and long suffering to a thousand generations, and that opportunity to represent His holiness, but at the same time for it never to be damning, judging, but to be able to be one that’s reconciling. The message we bring of holiness unto the Lord is not to put people off, it’s to bring them in and to see them set free from the power of the world system, the power of the flesh, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That pride is what we’re going to be dealing with in our study tonight on humility. "To walk humbly with [our] God." And we need to make sure that the message we bring of reconciliation, the message we bring of holiness is coming out of a heart of humility. And humility can never be expressed without a full understanding and appreciation of the mercy of God to us. God’s mercy will humble you. If you’re a partaker of the mercy of God there is no way that we can respond in any other way but humility, because we understand then that we are debtors. There is nothing we have done that has merited our position, so therefore we can do justly, and we can walk with mercy because of what? The humility of God in our hearts. That we’re out representing God and not our own representation.

I was able to experience this in my own life this morning. As I was in prayer and seeking God, (I wasn’t on my face, I was on my stair master.) and as I was doing the stairs and believing God to heal my body, this leg that’s been harassing me for over a year now. I’ve not been bugged by anything physically like this for a long time, probably my whole life. I sit there and I think, "Lord, what a hassle" and then I look at Janet and I say, "Oh, it’s no big thing, but I’ll take the healing anyway Lord, thank you. I appreciate it." And as I was on the stair master, in prayer this morning, something that I heard yesterday just flooded into my heart and I thought, "Lord, it’s not right that this is happening in this situation, and is there something we can do, Father, to help?" And then I said, "Lord, is this the flesh, is this something just in myself that I’m wanting to do, and try to help? I want it to be out of the spirit, I want to move in Your heart." And God, said, "If you’re moving in mercy you’re moving in my heart." And you’ve got to understand—I want to explain this because what we’re talking about is contacting somebody who’s been marked in this fellowship. Now, you’ve got to understand that’s not for everyone of us in here to do if we feel God is necessarily speaking to us. You’ve got to understand that you can’t undo something that you didn’t do in the representation of the Kingdom, and as I was in prayer the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "I want you to do this." I said, "Okay." So I went up and got on the telephone and I called Luis Castro. The phone rang, he answered the phone and I said, "Is Luis there?" He said, "speaking." And I said, "This is Pastor Scott." And he said, "Who?" I think he thought it was a crank phone call possibly. And I shared with him, and I said, Luis, something was brought to my attention yesterday that’s been just grieving me since I heard it." And I said, "I understand that you’re in this situation right now, and if you are, and if you’re not receiving the biblical care of your natural family that you’re entitled to according to the Scriptures, then I want you to know that there are people who love you and will take care of you if you have a need." And his response was just one of, "Well, thank you." I said, "No, you don’t understand, we love you. Everything that was done was out of love for you and your family." And I said, "If you are in this situation and those that you chose to lend your support to are rejecting you and failing you, I want you to know that there are people who love you and you can come home any time you want." And I left him with that, and his response was, "I just want you to know this makes my day." And I said, "If you have need, you call." The mercy of God.

How does that work into humility? "Not nice" things have been said about us since this transpired. There’s nothing personal, there’s no personal animosity, there’s no "what they’ve said about me, what they’ve said about this ministry, what they’ve said about...." What’s that got to do with anything? And does our own natural perception ever get in our way of being able to represent the mercy of God, and the justice of God? "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk [how?] humbly with [our] God." We’re all about Father’s business; that’s what we’re doing here. We’re here representing Him, not ourselves. I want you to know beloved that this is my heart’s desire for every person that we’ve ever had to deal with in the chastening of the Lord. We’re going to actually go on from the study here on humility into the chastening of the Lord. How many of you know that you cannot receive the chastening of God with pride in your heart? If you’re a proud individual, if you’re a haughty individual, if you’re a self-willed individual, you are not a child of God, you cannot subordinate yourself to the purposes of God; receive the chastening that brings about that restoration. It’s what God requires of us. Why? Because freely we’ve received we’re to what? Freely give. So God has called us into that.

(Those of you who are having trouble breathing; it’s the glue, so if you die, we’ll raise you up. And we might even want to open the doors maybe and get a little ventilation. Is it strong for some? I know it affects some more than others and it might be a help to some that are. A lot of people are affected much more by that than others.)

And so we realize then that God has called us into this ministry. That’s nothing I would have ever done of myself, against what we knew to be the judgment of God. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I had to examine my own heart and say, "Is this me; is this natural compassion?" You’ve got to understand this is a man that we love. This is a man that was my child in the faith, and this is somebody that I poured my life into. There’s a natural desire for their good and for their care, and so you battle against all of those natural desires to do what is spiritually right for them just the same as you would with your natural kids. And so you examine and say, "Is this natural?" What I’m saying is that I would never do it against the principles of spiritual, biblical discipline. But we understand that there is a greater law, isn’t there? And that’s the law of the mercy of God. You see love is manifested in chastisement, and love is manifested in the mercy that relates to those who are in the process of being restored.

The prodigal is a case in point. Now the prodigal came to his senses, of course, and returned home to a loving father. The biblical example of that—we all know what is being illustrated there don’t we? Our ability to return to Father and there is no question as to the grace, the mercy of Father. I wish people knew me that well, but I don’t think they do, to know that the same heart is there. And in isolated cases such as this, there is the leading of the Holy Spirit to again let it be known—and I made it very clear—nothing is going to change from this side. What we did, I told him, was biblically correct and that won’t change. I just want you to know that if you made the wrong choice you can come home.

Justice looks for the legal application of mercy. What we can do lawfully. What we can do for the good. What we can do to bring life instead of allowing the enemy to bring death is the expression of the heart of God. Now when we begin to move in the letter of the law we begin to move in a way that is opposite of humility. What was it, you remember, that bugged Jonah? Jonah was moving in his ministry you remember, and God spoke to him and said, "I want you to go and to preach in Nineveh and bring them the message of judgment. And Jonah said, "I’m not going down there, those are people that kill preachers, they skin them. (If you study historically, these people were barbaric in the way that they would treat their enemies, and they literally would skin people and this kind of stuff) and Jonah said, "I’m a thick-skinned preacher but not that thick-skinned. And I just flat out don’t want to go down there. First of all, I don’t like those people. Second of all, they don’t like me. I’m not going." And he takes the easy road to Tarshish, he thought, and we all know the story, and the next thing you know he’s overboard, in his own will, and the great fish swallows him, spits him up on the shore, and he gets the point. "God wants me to go." Doesn’t that help you in spiritual guidance? How many of you worry about, "Man, I just don’t know if I’m in the will of God?" He still has fish. God will do what it takes to get you about His business. But no fish swallowed me up and spit me onto the stairs of Sprint’s corporate office and said I want you to be an executive. God’s not real concerned about your vocation to send great fishes as He is about y our ministry. Each of us having a ministry, the things that are eternal. God cannot be opposed, His will cannot be thwarted. Do you believe that tonight? See, I believe that. I believe the steps of a good man are ordered by God. If I’m off, God will get me where He wants me. Big fish, it doesn’t make any difference, audible voices, and talking donkeys. God’s got some neat ways of accomplishing His eternal purposes.

So Jonah finally says, "Okay, okay, I’m going to humble myself to do the will of God." Humility, as we get ready to look at this study, humility really is nothing more than recognizing the greatness of God and the inability of yourself. Pride is what? Thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. How many of us deal with pride do you think? All of us. Pride is thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. How many of us think we can do something, anything. How many of you think you can do something? I can do something, I can eat. I won’t get into all of the ramifications of this, but in and of yourself you can’t do that. God created the system. He created all of the digestive juices. He created the ability to assimilate and distribute through your bloodstream. He developed all of the motor operation to be able to bring that Big Mac to your mouth (since we’re talking health food). There’s nothing that we can do of ourselves; everything is a gift of God. Now we don’t all sit around thinking of that at all times, "What a gift." [Taking a deep breath and letting it out] that’s a gift, involuntary [thump, thump, like a heart beat] athlete. [thump, thump, thump—fast] somebody in love. That’s a gift, too. And so we realize that these things that are gifts. We don’t think about all of this, but if we would think about it more, it would humble us, because we think we can do quite a bit. We think we know how to be husbands; we think we know how to be plumbers; we think we know how to be managers of the store; we think that we know how to raise our children; and we think we know how to do whatever it is that you think you can do. And all of that, beloved, without understanding that it’s the glory of God and for the glory of God, can bring to us this rush of the most damning power that we contend with and that’s pride. Self-reliance, self-trust, this assurance of one’s own ability is the opposite of biblical faith. Because biblical faith is what? One of the words for faith is what—Trust, reliance, and assurance—in whom? God. In what? His word. So pride is self-assurance; humility is trusting God. It’s not saying, "I can’t," it’s saying, "greater is he that is in [me], than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4) "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Phil 4:13) And so a humble man is the one who realizes he is on the mission of God and cannot be opposed. The greatest humility you will ever have is when you are experiencing the supernatural power of God manifesting through you. The greatest humility you will ever experience is when you pray and see the dead raised, you lay hands on the sick and see them recover, you cast out devils, the blind see, the lame walk; and you stand there and say, "This isn’t me." And the thing that brings a lot of people down is thinking it is them. You can’t do that, and the minute you begin to take credit for it, you’re an enemy of God, and that becomes obvious to us in those realms. And I want to tell you something else, the minute you think you can be a husband you’re an enemy of God. The minute you think you can be a good wife, the minute you think you can be a good parent, the minute you think you can do anything without Him.

And so Jonah goes, he preaches this message of repentance. The people repent and does Jonah rejoice? What does he do? He gets ticked off. What is this? First of all I get all bleached out in this fish’s stomach—I just got a great tan, here I am laying around on the beaches over there, laying around down there near Tel Aviv, just laying on the beach. (They’ve got some really nice resorts down there.) Jonah was lying out on the beach. (We don’t know that for sure, I’m just kind of…) And now he’s bleached out white, lost his tan, tells them that God’s going to judge them, bring them down and God says, "I’m not going to." And Jonah says, "Now they’re not going to believe anything I say. Here I am preaching judgment, preaching hell fire. God is going to bring condemnation, and now You said You’re not going to do it. Man, I look like a fool." I want to tell you something, humility will make you sometimes look weak, look inconsistent, because the natural mind cannot discern the things that are spiritual. The natural mind will never understand true love, true humility, true compassion, mercy and grace. It will either take it for granted and try to take advantage of it, or those who are legalistic will think that it’s weakness and bring about judgment. But the spiritual heart and mind, because of the humility and the desire for the mercy of God to be manifested, can see the end of God’s grace and has no concern for the natural perception of the moment. Jonah was more interested in his reputation than he was in the restoration of a people that were in bondage.

And so God is calling us into the walk of humility. That’s a long introduction, isn’t it, just saying that pride is trusting in ourselves and humility is trusting in the unseen methods, the methods of God, the ways that are foolishness to man. Biblical humility will always make you look weak in the eyes of natural man. Weak to the point that some people will look down on you, and weak to the point where other people think they can take advantage of you. Now most of us don’t like to be misunderstood, taken advantage of. A lot of guys like myself, who have a little too much self-perceived macho in them—(singing "macho, macho...." No, not that one)—don’t like to be seen as weak, and because of that, so often there is over reaction to this macho image, the tough guy image, and that’s tragic. I think many of us who were raised in 1950’s homes experienced that from fathers that didn’t really know how to show love other than what they were able to contribute in the natural. It’s understandable. Look at who these people were. These were people that went through the depression; these were people that fought the wars. A lot of you who still have trouble, who resent your parents, maybe you need to step back and see where they’ve been, to see the wars that they fought, some of our fathers literally. We live in such a weak society today. You know one of the things that never cease to amaze me, my understanding is—I don’t follow the things real close—but my understanding is that out in Colorado, the Columbine school, somebody told me they closed that down. Is that correct? Somebody was saying that they were shutting it down because the kids psychologically, having to go back to the place and they were transferred to other schools, or were allowing children to be transferred to other schools because of the psychological effect. What’s that all about? Deal with it. Weakness being bred. Everyone is put off by the different horrors that we speak of. Men who came through the wars, who came home and had nightmares, whether it’s World War II, Korea, Vietnam, whichever it might be, and have seen the heinous things that were done—man’s inhumanity to man—and then we expect them to come home and be tender and take up the babies. It’s not always easy to make a transition. I’m just saying all that to say in the natural, it’s what we contend with, but in the spiritual we’re called to humble ourselves. The natural man has all of these self-defense mechanisms, things that we do to protect ourselves psychologically, emotionally and all these different areas that we’re watching out for ourselves. Humility is absolute trust in God—God to protect me emotionally, God to protect me psychologically, God to protect me physically, and most of all, God to protect me spiritually.

When you humble yourself you are able to be vulnerable enough around those people to minister to what their needs are, to the point of even being crucified by them. Case in point: Jesus, who humbled himself and became what? A servant. What we want to address tonight, the main point that we’re looking for is how bound are you tonight in self-preservation? It’s pride. If you’re trying to preserve your emotions; if you’re trying to preserve your possessions; if you’re trying to preserve whatever it is—your image, whatever it is—it’s pride. It’s fear that’s governing your life, and you need to learn how to humble yourself and trust God. Because if God is for you, nobody can be against you. Now do you believe that? Then why this compulsion to always want to protect ourselves? It comes naturally to us; my natural tendency is to be very guarded. I’m one of those people who like to eat in a restaurant with my back to the wall. Why? Because I know there are people like me that aren’t saved that are out there, and you’ve got to watch these folks. And so I have that tendency, and I’m guarded in a number of areas of being very suspicious of people, trying to discern what the real motive is. And those things are in me, and if I’m not walking properly in the spirit, they dictate the way I respond. It becomes to me an evidence of "you really need to fall on the rock, you need to be broken, you need to refresh yourself again in the dependence of Father." And so I can kind of judge where I am spiritually by how unguarded I am in the relationships around me and the pursuit of whatever venture I’m engaged in, and it allows me to be able to—James 4:10—turn over there, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, [and trust that He’ll do something, what is it?] and he shall lift you up." How many of you would rather be up than down, the head than the tail, above and not beneath, blessed and not cursed? If you didn’t say amen, you’re stupid. And so we realize that this is what God has called us to, and there is a fine balance of thinking that we deserve these things and understanding that they have been promised to us. Let me tell you something; you don’t deserve the promises. "It’s a promise!" Yeah, but you don’t deserve it. It is a promise but you don’t deserve it, it’s the mercy of God, it’s the grace of God. You’re not worthy, you didn’t earn it, you’re a debtor. "But I’m a Son of God!" Yes, you are, but I want to tell you, you’re a son who was in the pigpen who has been restored by the mercy of God. You are legally a son, you are loved, you have rights, but you’re a dog. And you’re fully restored, there’s no question; but you can’t say you never failed Him. You can’t say you earned it; it’s a gift; and that humbles you. And the minute you lose sight, the minute you think you deserve—"I deserve an answer to prayer, I deserve a peaceful life, I deserve the blessing, I deserve..." then pride is beginning to evidence itself in your life again. "I deserve that fellowship. I merit that care people are taking of me." And it’s pride, it’s damnable, and the Scripture makes it very clear concerning God’s perspective of humility needed in our lives.

Turn to the Proverbs for just a second and let’s look at a couple of passages. (Hmmm, I see the clock is missing. That will be the last thing we put back in.) Proverbs 16 verse 19. "Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." Does this say that if you’re humble you can never have spoil? No, because Proverbs 22:4 says, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life." Now some people have the misconception that if you’re humble, you’re going to be poor, you’re going to be downtrodden, you’re going to be beneath, and people are going to take advantage of you, and God will just so love you because you’re just beat down and really exhibiting a true meekness, and ultimately then, you will inherit the earth. That’s not what the Scripture says. Proverbs 22, one of my favorite scriptures. You say, "How come?" Because I’m into "riches, and honor, and life." I really am, I like riches, and honor, and life. Anybody here in for riches, and honor, and life? If it comes by humility and fear of the Lord it won’t kill you. The deceitfulness of riches, the lust for things, will kill you. It will choke the Word of God out of your life and you will die pursuing self-gain. It’s damnable. It brings, Timothy tells us, a snare. The love for money is the root of all of the evils of that sixth chapter that cause us to focus on the temporal instead of the eternal. It’s the root of all of that, that love of money, the root of these evils. But by [Proverbs 22:4] humility, and the reverence of God, the pursuit of God first, are riches, and honor, [victory, prestige, exaltation] and life [Zoë, fullness, happiness, a purpose for living, enjoy life.] You all having a good time? "Nobody knows…" [singing] The joy of the Lord, the peace, the purpose for living. It doesn’t mean you don’t have trials. Who doesn’t have trials? It doesn’t mean things aren’t hard. But humility will bring you the understanding of God’s presence, and the excitement of living a life for Him, and the ability to touch others, and an ability to preach the gospel, and to experience His presence, and to be able to worship in the beauty of holiness, and all of these things that are the gifts of God that come through humility. It comes when you begin to seek the kingdom first. A life of absolute reliance upon God.

Proverbs 29:23 says, "A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." Pride, self-trust, will bring you down. Maybe not in this life, but in the final judgment. But I want to tell you what humility will give you right now, it’s a beautiful passage in Isaiah 57:15. Do you want me to show you one of the greatest benefits of humility? It’s not the riches and the honor, the life, the things that we partake of in the natural, that I believe God wants us to have, but it’s the greatest of all blessings, the presence of God.

We just got back from an enjoyable time out west, and as we were in Tahoe, it was beautiful. And as you were getting snow here, we were keeping track of the snow that you were getting. We arrived on Saturday out there and between Saturday and Tuesday, it snowed eleven feet, and so we had a little snow, also. Then it snowed a couple of other flurries; we got fourteen inches one evening. Star and I—when we were first out there, we hadn’t been out skiing, this was years ago. I think Star was about twelve or whatever, and we were listening to the radio. We were hoping for some fresh powder and it said, flurries tonight, and we said, "oh man," hoping it was going to snow, and we woke up and there was seven inches of flurries. That’s a flurry, you know. So we learned their terminology. And we just had a great time. I couldn’t ski, my leg was so swollen I couldn’t get my boot on. So we were out there, and I couldn’t ski, I couldn’t even attach the buckles, much less fasten them, and so I got to enjoy the beauty; the scenery was phenomenal. We were at the very highest point in this resort there, and we were on the top floor. In the mornings I was able to get my cup of coffee and my book, and sit there on the sofa and look at the snowflakes just sparkling like diamonds, the sun glistening off Lake Tahoe down below—rough life, man, but somebody’s got to do it. I mean, they didn’t build that place for nobody to come so somebody has got to go over there and do that, so we were there, and just thoroughly enjoyed the view.

We went down for dinner at the char house that looks through all of the ponderosa pines over Lake Tahoe, and the sun was setting down over the mountains, and they brought filet mignon that you could cut with a fork, literally, lobster tails that big [indicating], garlic potatoes. You know it’s nice the salad bar has caviar and all of the things, so we were eating, and just enjoying that. Somebody’s got to do it, you know. And so we were enjoying dinner, and I really enjoyed that. We got to go to the races, to the Winter Nationals, just before we came home, and watched the opening races of the year, and thoroughly enjoyed that. I’m going somewhere with this. I was talking to the guys yesterday. I said, "In the last couple of years we’ve gotten to really enjoy a number of things; the different races that we’ve won with the cars; and the opportunities to enjoy that, and I’m talking about all these physical, secular things that are going to burn up, and I enjoyed all of it, I really did. But it does not satisfy. And I shared with them, I said, "I enjoy that, and I thank God for it, and as long as it’s available I’m going to partake, but there’s two times in these last years that I can point to and say, of all the things that we’ve done, the filets that we’ve eaten, the nice facilities we’ve stayed in, I’ve been at my happiest right over there [pointing to the area by the platform where he kneels in prayer] and in India, supernaturally watching God open doors that no man could open. Watching hearts break as men of God were changed for eternity, and the Kingdom affected by the message that was brought to them as God’s servant in going and bringing a message that was making people free. Beloved, that’s what it’s all about, that’s what we live for, and that’s what Isaiah is speaking about here. See, the Proverbs passage—if we’re not careful—we’re going to think that humility that brings riches, and honor, and life is the focal point, and it’s not. It’s the consequence of this Isaiah passage. Nothing is wrong with those things if God is the source of them. The blessing of the Lord makes what? Rich, and adds no sorrow. The blessing of the Lord. If God is the source. If we have to compromise God’s principles to get "blessed," then it’s not God. If you have to be a part-time husband, it’s not God. If you have to be a part-time mom, it’s not God. If it’s your kingdom and not God’s first, it’s not God. If it’s the temporal and not the eternal, it’s not God. But if outside of seeking the kingdom first you have time to do these other things and enjoy them, that’s the blessings of God, and it makes rich, and you enjoy it, and it adds no sorrow; you know that you’re partaking but not robbing God.

And so that’s what we’re looking for in our lives. And Isaiah says this, Isaiah 57—we’ll end with this, even though we don’t have a clock. (The cookie jar says it’s five after ten; that’s a personal family thing; I can remember it was in 1961. There was this old guy over at our house visiting my folks, an older—he may not have been that old now that I look back at it—but here’s this old guy over there at the house and he looked up, and he said, "It’s late, I’ve got to get out of here, it’s five after ten!" And he took off out the door, and he’d looked at our cookie jar. We had a cookie jar that had a clock face on it, and so it always causes me to look twice.) And since the old cookie jar on the wall says it’s five after nine we’ll end with this. Isaiah 57:15, "For thus saith the high and lofty One…" Don’t you love some of the writing of Isaiah? "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, [that’s a great phrase] whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, [not alone] with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." You’re never more content than in the presence of God. You’re never safer than being in humility, brokenness, openness, dealing with your own heart truthfully, knowing who you are, and knowing that God loves you just like you are. Where does the Scripture say this place is, where is this located? It’s where He inhabits eternity, high and lifted up. You can’t get any higher than being in the presence of God. There’s no greater achievement than the presence of God, but it’s with the humble ones. You don’t get there because you prayed twelve hours last night, nothing wrong with that, you might have needed to pray twelve hours. You get there by contrition. You get there by the self-awareness of how dependent we are on Him, that in us, in our flesh, there is no good thing. We come into that dependence of walking humbly with our God. If we humble ourselves, chapter five of Peter, if we’ll clothe ourselves with humility [Clothe yourself.

Do you want to know how to be clothed with humility? David showed us. You become clothed with humility by taking off your royal garments, the ones you want everybody to see, the ones that show who you are, how cool you are, how important you are, how strong your are, how able you are. You become clothed with humility when you remove your self-appointed royal garments and dance before the Lord, and humble yourself in the garment that money can’t buy that Revelation speaks of—the garment of righteousness, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. "Be subject one to another, [I Peter 5:5] and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud [and enables the humble] and giveth grace to the humble." As long as we’re moving in self-trust, God is going to be resisting us. And that is going to bring us into our next session, I believe, on the chastisement of the Lord. You see the chastisement is God’s resistance of our flesh, our self-will. All of the chastening that we go through is for the purpose of humbling us, of breaking us. We’ve got to come to contrition, brokenness, and an awareness of our rejecting the need to be dependent. "I’m a little more comfortable over here if I have my hands on the steering wheel. I trust the Lord, just not fully. I mean, I really trust God, but I do have this retirement account, and this insurance policy." I’m not saying anything is wrong with that. I want to tell you something. There is only one time in your life that there will be anything wrong with savings accounts, insurance policies, all of those different things; it’s when God looks at you and says, "get rid of it all and follow Me," and you drop your head and go away sorrowfully. If God hasn’t told you to get rid of it, then there’s nothing wrong with it; but in many of our lives over the years God has told us to do that very thing. To have no insurance, and to not have two nickels to rub together. And you go, following Him, who is invisible, looking for a city, and you’re walking into the realm of the miraculous, and you can only get there with the spirit of humility. In those areas where Father will dictate to us this move from self-reliance, is the move into the realm of the miraculous, and it will come many times through the resistance of God. "Everything looks like it should be working, I thought I had everything figured out, and it’s not going." And God is resisting the proud. Are you ready to step back, humble yourself and say, "maybe I’ve got my own agenda; not my will, Thy will be done."

Father, make it real to us and help us in this pursuit of the walk of humility. We’re so guarded Father; we want to protect ourselves; we’re so afraid of being hurt, of failure, of being alone, of being misunderstood. And Jesus, you experienced all of those things as the great captain of our salvation. You humbled yourself, the Scripture says, by becoming a man—not just a man, the greatest man that ever lived—but for You that was humility; it was an emptying of self-trust and self-reliance, of being able to do things like speaking universes into existence; have an eternal perspective rather than a time and space limitation. You humbled yourself, and you became a man, and you walked among us in trust of the Father and the Holy Spirit; and you lived victorious over sin. The humble are not the losers; the meek inherit the earth. Make it real, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand before the Lord.

As Gary plays and as we just believe the Lord in the next few minutes that we don’t have respiratory damage. The Holy Spirit has spoken to us and we see that the circumstances we’re in may not be the opposition of the devil; it may be the resistance of God because of self-will and self-reliance. The circumstances we’re in may just be the consequence of living in a world of sin and people around us are experiencing the consequences of a world overrun by this force of sin, and disease, and death. We might be being opposed on the job—not because of our light shining—but just because the dude’s ornery; none of that is the issue. Am I going to rely on God to express His glory through me, to love the unlovely, to stand firm when I’m afraid. Heroes are not the people who aren’t afraid, heroes are the people who are afraid, but do it anyway. We’re all afraid. Are we going to obey? That’s a humble heart. And so as the Lord is speaking to you tonight, let me just remind you that you make a lousy God. Pride is self-reliance and humility is casting all of our care upon Him knowing that He cares for us. Do you want God for you? If you humble yourself, He’ll lift you up. He’ll lift you up into that holy place. He’ll bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He’ll make you rich and add no sorrow with it. By humility and fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life. Our trust is in You, Father. Let’s just sing this together before we go and worship Him tonight. "Lord you are." Lord, you are more precious than silver; Lord you are most costly than gold; [oh, we thank you Jesus;] Lord, [you are Jesus] you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you." Just sing it one more time; let Him speak to your heart tonight. Lord, you are more precious than silver; Lord, you are more costly than gold; Lord, you are [thank you, Jesus] more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you." Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Lord, we just thank you tonight for your presence in our lives, that you’ve called us into that holy place that Isaiah has spoken of. Lifted up, Lord into a realm that only the privileged, the holy, can enter from this highway of holiness; the fool can’t even wander on this path, but you’ve ordered our steps into your presence, and what it gives us is a wisdom beyond natural wisdom, a strength beyond natural strength, a hope when all is lost in the natural, a boasting of our God when failure is all others can see. The humble man who will stand up and say, "Our God is able and He will, and even if He doesn’t, I’m not bowing my knee." Our faith is the victory, Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Hallelujah. Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "Humble yourself." Amen, go in peace, God’s love go with you.

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