Hello, and welcome to this
teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses this
message to reach people around the world with his love. If this message encourages you,
we'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. Humility is that slippery
quality that once you think you have it, you don't. Paul demonstrated how
Jesus' voluntary humiliation was compensated by the
father's lavish exaltation. In the message, be
humble or you'll stumble, Skip shares that though humility
comes at a price, without it there will be no unity. Now, please turn in your
Bible to Philippians chapter 2, as he begins. Would you please
turn your Bibles to the book of Philippians,
please, chapter 2? Philippians chapter 2. So there was five
guys on an airplane, a small little aircraft. There was a boy, and
there was a preacher. There was a doctor, a
lawyer, and the pilot. So they're flying this little
private airplane, and midway in the flight some
problems happen. So the pilot shouts
back mayday, mayday! This plane's going down! As you can tell, there's five
passengers aboard but we only have four parachutes. And so you guys
decide who's staying. But I'm out of here. And the pilot jumps
out with a parachute. So the doctor
immediately says, well I've saved so many lives in
my lifetime I deserve to live. So he grabbed a parachute
and the doctor jumped out. Then the lawyer said, well I'm
the smartest guy in the world, so I deserve one. He grabbed a pack
and jumped out. So now there's two people
left, and one parachute. There's the preacher and
there's the little boy. So the preacher says to
the little boy, look. You have your whole
life ahead of you. Me, I've lived a good long life. And when I die I know
I'm going to heaven. So you take the last
parachute and you jump. And the little boy
smiles, and said, relax Reverend, the
smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the
airplane with my backpack. [LAUGHS] What's the moral of that story? The moral of that
story is Proverbs chapter 16, which says pride
goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall. Be humble or you'll stumble. Be humble or you'll stumble. Be meek or you'll get mashed. Be selfless or
you'll get squished. That's the moral of that story. Pride is the oldest
sin in the universe, and it shows no signs of
growing weaker with age. It's been around a
long time and it's going to be with
us for some time. C.S. Lewis said pride
is the chief cause of misery in every nation and
family since the world began. Think of it. It was pride that took
Lucifer out of heaven. It was pride that took
Adam out of paradise. It was pride that took
Saul, King Saul, first King of Israel, out of the kingdom. It was pride that
took Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, out
of Babylonian society. It was pride that took Haman
out of the Persian court. It was pride that changed
angels into demons. It is pride that changes
friends into enemies. Pride ruins everything,
and here's why. Pride is the cancer of the soul. And if it's left
undiagnosed and untreated, it will destroy spiritual life. So the antidote is humility. That's the cure for this
age-long disease, humility. And that has been the theme
in chapter 2 of Philippians, as Paul writes to this church. It's been all about
staying humble. Verse 1 of Philippians
2, I'm bringing you back over what we covered. Therefore if there is any
consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, any
fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and
mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through
selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind. That's humility. Let each esteem others
better than himself. Let each of you look out not
only for his own interests, but also for the
interest of others. So sacrifice over self,
humility over vanity, preferring one
another over being prideful toward one another. You see, to get along with
people you have to adjust. You have to be
interested in them. You have to esteem
them as important. And if we dare to
shine the spotlight off of ourselves for just a minute,
and onto others for awhile, we will discover that unity
is the result of our humility. That's been the theme
of this apostle. Now after that principle,
he now gives us an example. Verse 5, let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Because Jesus, is as we have
seen, the ultimate example. He is God. But he entered time and
space in a human body. Jesus left heaven's magnificence
to come to earth's mess. He left glory to face gory. He went to the cross. That's where Paul
left us in verse 8. But now there is a change. Now Paul wants us to know that
all of that self-sacrifice and humility was
rewarded by God. That's also part
of his teaching. It was rewarded when
Jesus was exalted. So the theme was the
humiliation of Christ. Now it's the
exaltation of Christ. So look at verse 8 once again. You need verse 8 to
understand verse 9, because of the first word in verse 9. But let's look at verse 8. And being found in
appearance as a man, He, Jesus, humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death, even
the death of the cross. Therefore God has also
highly exalted him and given him the name
which is above every name that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven,
of those on the earth, and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We told you last
week that this was one of the first hymns
of the early church. Most scholars believe
this was the first creed of the early church, where they
would take theological truths, write them out, and then
the church would sing them. So that's my commission
to the worship team. Let's put-- let's put
these truths to music. I love this little creed, this
little hymn that was sung. So according to
this little hymn, they started with
Christ preexistent glory and went all the way down to the
low point, which is the cross. And then from the low point
to the post incarnation glory and dominion of Jesus Christ,
all in just a few versus. What I'd like to do in looking
at these verses with you, is show you three
fundamental facts about humility, three
fundamental truths. First of all, one
you already know, humility is sometimes painful. In fact, it usually is. You know, it's hard to
just humble yourself before a person. You've got to
swallow some pride. That hurt. It's going to put you out a
little bit, and it's painful. And that is part of the thought
in verse 8 concerning Christ being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient-- and watch this-- to the point of death, even
the death of the cross. Jesus' birth was miraculous and
Jesus' life was extraordinary. But it's Jesus' death
that is the epicenter of redemptive history. And I've noticed that when
people think about Jesus, worldly people I'm talking
about not Christians as much, but worldly
people, when it comes to thinking
about Christ they prefer the Jesus of Christmas. They like that Jesus. It's the little baby Jesus, you
know, the angels are singing. They shepherds are there. The wise men come. But that is not the focus
of the New Testament. The focus of, in
fact, the whole Bible isn't the manger, but the cross. It's not the Jesus of Christmas. It's the Jesus of Calvary. It's not the baby in the manger. It's the body on the cross. Even Jesus in Revelation
13 is referred to as the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. That is it was always in
God's mind from the beginning that the epicenter of all
history, all redemptive history would be the cross. Hey, even when Jesus
was born, remember they brought gold,
frankincense and what? Myrrh. That's embalming fluid. Did you know that? Myrrh is embalming fluid. So think about Mary
getting embalming fluid. Thanks, I guess. I mean it could be
sold and you could use the money for something. But embalming fluid, myrrh,
it was a very costly embalming fluid. We know that because
when Jesus died they took 100 pounds
of myrrh and aloes and placed that on Jesus'
body and buried him in a tomb. So even from his birth, it
was pointing to his death. And we always need to keep
that framed in our hearts. Did you know that if you
were to read the four gospels and count the chapters that
speak about Jesus' first 30 years of life on
Earth, you'd only find four chapters
that even mention what was going on in the
first 30 years of his life. But did you know also that 85
chapters speak of the last 3 and 1/2 years of Jesus' life? So what do you think
they're focusing on, last 3 and 1/2 years? Of those 85 chapters,
29 of them focus in only on the last week
of Christ on the earth. And of those 29
chapters, 13 deal with the final day of his life. So if you were to count up
verses Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; you'd find 579
verses that are focused in on and deal with the last
24 hours of Jesus' life as he goes to the cross. So all pre-New Testament history
looks forward to the cross. All post-New Testament history
looks back to the cross. Graham Scroggie, a
British commentator said, cut the Bible anywhere
and it bleeds. He's right. You could cut the Bible
in Genesis 22, Abraham sacrificing his son. It'll bleed right there. Because it anticipates
God sending his son on that same mountain. If you cut the
Bible in Psalm 22, which is a poetic description
of the crucifixion, it bleeds. If you cut the Bible in Exodus
12, speaking of the Passover, it bleeds. If you cut it in Leviticus 5,
the sin offering, it bleeds. Cut it in Isaiah
chapter 53, it bleeds. It's all about the sacrifice,
all about the cross, so much so that even
when John the apostle gets a vision of
heaven and looks at the lion of the
tribe of Judah, he said, and I looked and behold a
lamb as though it had been-- what, tell me? Slain. In heaven, you could
see marks on this lamb as though it had been killed. Have you ever thought of this? The only work of man
you'll see in heaven are the marks of crucifixion
on the body of Jesus Christ. And he'll wear that as a
badge of honor and glory because that's how you got
there, a lamb as though it had been slain. So for Jesus,
humility was painful. Because for Jesus it meant
crucifixion, the most degrading, the
most embarrassing, the most excruciating form of
death at the time known to man. Crucifixion was invented
by the Persians. They were pantheistic. They believed the
earth was sacred. They didn't want
people to die on it. So they raised them
up on a pole that's how they invented crucifixion,
because of that belief. Later on the Romans
took crucifixion and they perfected it. What I mean by that
is they managed to let crucifixion
become the death that was preferred for capital
punishment for non-citizens. Because it deliberately delayed
death for hours and even days. So people got the maximum
torture before they died. Jesus was humble enough to
go to death on the cross. Why? Why such humility? Why? Why lower yourself
from heaven to earth, and then from
earth to the cross? Why go that low? Because it's that humility
that provides the one thing you and I need more
than anything else in the world, forgiveness. Forgiveness. Well, why would God go to
that extent to forgive us? Answer, love. Because he loves us. For God so loved the
world that he gave. You can still ask
questions like, why does God love us that much? That I can't answer. I don't have a good
answer for that. Because I know us. I certainly know me. And why God would
love me that much, I don't have a
good answer for us. It's just a decision he made. And I'm glad he did. One of my favorite hymns
is called The Love of God. Some of you have heard
of The Love of God by Frederick Lehman,
written in the 1800s. The love of God is greater
far than ink or pen could ever tell. It stretches to
the farthest star. It reaches to the lowest hell. But here's my favorite
line in the song. Could we with ink
the oceans fill, and were the skies
of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a
quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God would drain the oceans dry. Nor could this scroll
contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. The unfathomable love of
God in sending his son to pay the penalty for sin
so that we could be forgiven. For Jesus, humility was painful. Now let's apply that. For you and I, humility is going
to be painful, not as painful as it was for
Jesus, probably not. It says in the
book of Hebrews, we have not resisted to the
point of shedding blood. But it's going to
cost nonetheless. It hurts, as I said,
to swallow pride. It's going to cost you
comfort to be humble. It's going to cost you
perhaps your reputation if you humble yourself. It could cost you a whole
lot of misunderstanding. It's going to cost you time. It's even going
to cost you money. So humility is
sometimes painful. But here's the second
fundamental truth about humility,
and this is really the crux of these verses,
humility is always hopeful. Beginning in verse 9, it's a
complete reversal of verses 6 through 8. So verse 6, 7, and 8 it's
like, Jesus went down, down, down, down, death on the cross. Now beginning in verse
9, it's he went up, up, up to the highest
possible level, verse 9. Therefore, God has
also highly exalted him and given him the name
which is above every name that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven,
and those on earth, and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Notice the word, therefore. Therefore, in verse 9, refers
back to the thought in verse 8. So here's the thought. Because Jesus humbled
himself before the Father, the Father has exalted Christ. This is what the Father
has done for Jesus. What has he done? Highly exalted him,
highly exalted him. The words highly exalted,
it's one word in the Greek. It's huperupsoo, which
means hyper-exalted. Huper-- hyper or super exalted,
it means to lift up and over. So Jesus said, I'm
going low, low, low. And God says, I will
lift, lift, lift. I will hyper-lift, I
will super exalt Jesus. A thought struck me as I
was going through the study this week. I'm going through this. I'm looking at what
God's estimation of is of Jesus in exalting him. And this thought struck me. God the father's
treatment of Christ, view of Christ,
estimation of Christ is the polar opposite of the
world's estimation of Christ. For the most part it is. So here's an example. When Jesus came to
heal, the daughter of the ruler of the
synagogue in Luke 8, it says they laughed
him to scorn. When Jesus said, no man
can serve two masters. You can't serve God and money. We are told the
Pharisees sneered at him. When Jesus raised up
Lazarus from the dead, the leaders plotted
to put him to death. When Jesus stood before that
same crowd, the Sanhedrin in Matthew 26, they
spat in his face. They beat him. Others struck him with
the palms of their hands. And when Jesus was given
by them to the Romans, it says they struck him. They mocked him and they led
him away to be crucified. So how did the
world treat Jesus? With rejection
and extermination. How did God treat Jesus? With hyper-exaltation,
super-exaltation. Now the focus of Paul
is the upward trajectory after the cross, the upward
trajectory of being exalted. God highly exalted him. What I want to do is sort of
expand your knowledge of that and let you know that
the exaltation of Christ came in four phases. First of all, there
was the Resurrection. Jesus died at the
hands of sinful men. But it says in Acts
chapter 2, Peter says, this Jesus whom you crucified
God has raised up to new life. Resurrection, first
phase of the exaltation. Second phase, his
ascension into heaven. The disciples were
there when it happened. They stood on the
Mount of Olives. They're standing
there with Jesus. And suddenly he starts
like floating up and they're watching him. Bye. He vanished out of their sight. He left. He ascended up into
heaven where he sits at the right hand of God. Which takes us to the third
phase after the resurrection after the ascension,
his dominion. Jesus after the
resurrection said, all authority in heaven and
on earth is given to me. So Jesus took his
rightful place of dominion with the Father in heaven. And the fourth phase
was a new position for Jesus, intercession. Intercession, here's what
I want you to think of. Jesus is not inactive. He's not just sitting around
heaven looking at the Father going, so what do we do today? Are we just going to
hang out together? No. He's very busy. He's very active. Jesus died on the cross. He acted as savior by
becoming the sacrifice. Today he is playing the role
of the great high priest. So this is what the book of
Hebrews says in chapter 7. He, Jesus, always lives to
make intercession for us. You know what
intercession is, right? He's praying for you. How does that make you feel? Jesus Christ is praying
for you, speaking about you to his Father. Can you lose with that? I mean I don't know how you
feel when somebody goes, hey, I've been praying
for you lately. You go, thank you. That makes me feel really good. Jesus is saying to you, I've
been praying for you lately. He ever lives to make
intercession for us. So his work of
redemption is over. His work of
intercession is ongoing. He is our heavenly attorney,
no lawyer jokes here. You can't get a better attorney. Mary is not your
heavenly attorney. The saints are not your
heavenly attorneys. Jesus himself is
the one who talks to the Father on your behalf. Humility is always hopeful. Look at verse 9 again. God has super exalted him,
huperupsoo, he has highly exalted him, and given him-- does it say a name? It says the name. Thank you. The name, definite article. He has given him the name,
which is above every name. In other words, God the
father has given Jesus a designation,
not a common name, but some superlative
name that marks Jesus far and above all others,
all comparison. Now what is the name that
is above all other names? Well, you could say,
well it says in verse 10, it's at the name of Jesus. Yes, but that was
his name at birth. And that was-- I mean when you
hear Jesus today, everybody knows who
we're talking about. But 2,000 years ago
if you say Jesus, you know what they're
going to say to you? Which one? It was such a common
name that Jesus had to be called Jesus of Nazareth. Because there was Jesus of
Cana, Jesus of Capernaum. There were so many different
people named Yeshua, Jesus was such a common name. So when Paul says God
has given him a name. The name above all names. We're told what that name
is, but not until verse 11. It's not the name of Jesus,
his common earthly name. It says, and every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. That's the name. Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God, the Father. Here's what I want you to see. Here's what Paul is saying. God the Father, is calling
Jesus Christ the Lord. This is monumental. In the New Testament, there
are two uses of the term Lord. The first term is sort
of a term of respect. It's the equivalent of
sir, small l for lord. So you might say to a
master of a house, lord. But you use it in the
small lower case l. It's a term of respect, sir. The second and most common
usage is God the Lord. Because the term Lord
was a typical Jewish term for referring to God. And here's why. Jews had long believed that
the name of God was ineffable. That is unpronounceable. You, as a human being, should
never utter the name of God. And because of
that, we still don't know how the original name
of God is to be pronounced. We only have four letters
in Hebrew, four consonants. That's all they left us. And that is the equivalent
of Y-H-V-H, or Y-H-W-H. Some might say Yahweh or
Yahveh, or Yahuwah, or Jehovah. We don't really know
how it's pronounced. Because when they got
to the name of God, they didn't pronounce it. They would either bow and say,
Hashem, which means the name. Or they substituted it
with the Hebrew term Lord, Adonai, Adonai. So much so that even today
the English translation of your Old Testament,
most modern translations, will render the Hebrew
tetragrammaton, the YHVH, as Adonai or the Lord. It says in English
the Lord, the Lord. So the Lord was there
designation for God. So God is giving Jesus
the Supreme divine title as the Lord of all. Now this was predicted. This isn't something that should
throw you, like really, God, the Lord is calling Jesus. God the Lord, yep. It had been predicted
back in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel gets a vision of the
son of man, the son of man was a title Jesus
called himself, right? Listen to the vision. To him was given dominion,
glory and a kingdom. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion. His kingdom is the one
which will not be destroyed. That's a description
of lordship. That's a description
of sovereign control for the son of man. It had been predicted. It was also preached,
Peter in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, says
this Jesus, God raised up being exalted to the
right hand of God. Therefore, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God has
made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. Not only that, but it
will be proclaimed. It will be proclaimed. John gets taken up in a
vision and sees heaven. And he hears all the angelic
hosts, and all the people who are in heaven praising God. And we are told in
Revelation 5, they say, worthy is the lamb who
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is
in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and
such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them I heard saying, blessing and honor
and glory and power be to him who sits on the
throne and to the lamb forever and ever. It is the wholesale worship of
the Father and the Son as Lord. Now when Jesus comes
back, Revelation 19, he's coming with a sign. He's coming up with
his own name that is written on him
like in a banner, and you remember what
it's going to say? King of kings and-- Lord of Lords. Lord of Lords. So, I just want you to get this. The reward for Jesus' humility
is being super exalted by God the Father with this
designation as the Lord of all. In fact, you know this
verse really well. You know if you were out on
the street you could finish it if I were to say, hey, that
at the name of Jesus every, and you go, knee shall bow
and tongue shall confess. You know this verse. What you may not know is
Paul is quoting this verse from the Old Testament. This isn't new material. He's not saying here's something
cool, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. Let's sing that. He's quoting Isaiah 45. Now listen to it
in the original, from the Old Testament,
Isaiah, chapter 45. I am God. Here's the quote. "I am God and there is no other. Unto me every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess." So here is God with that name,
giving it to Jesus Christ. That is the name of
Jesus, every knee will bow, every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. Now as amazing as
this passage is theologically that really
isn't Paul's point. Paul's point is
ethically he's using Jesus as an example for us. So what Paul is trying to say
is look, here's the principle. God exalts the humble. God exalts the humble. 1 Peter chapter 5, humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you-- you-- in due time. Humble yourself under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt
you in due time. Humility is sometimes painful. But humility is always hopeful. You're going to
be raised up when? In due time. What time is that? I've been down here in
humility-ville for a long time and it hurts. In due time, God knows just
the right time to raise you up, to lift you up. Here's the grand point. Trust God enough with
your life that you don't live for
people's affirmation, but you wait for
God's exaltation. You see, some people just
live to be affirmed by people. Pat me on the back. Tell me I'm nice. Tell me I look good. I need that all the time. I need that. But I'm saying trust God
enough with your life rather than having to live
for people's affirmation, you will wait for God raising
you up, God's exaltation. That's Paul's grand point. Humility is sometimes painful. Humility is always hopeful. It will be rewarded. Here's the third
and final truth. Humility is ever needful. Now could we just step back
from this whole passage and understand that what
Paul has been saying is that this is how we
ought to treat each other, we ought to treat each other a
certain way, back to verse 3. Let nothing be done through
selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness
of mind humility. Let each esteem others
better than himself. Let each of you look not
only on his own interests, but also on the
interests of others. That's verse 4. Then it says let this mind be
in you, which was also in Jesus. He got really low. God raised him up really high. Now I want you to
think about this. Here's the fun. I'm kind of boiling-- each time I'm just boiling
this down a little further. If Jesus Christ
can humble himself, you can humble yourself. What do you mean? You know, somebody
gets in our face. We kind of puff ourselves. You know who I am. Hey, reality check here. If Jesus Christ
can humble himself, you can humble
yourself, buckaroo. What do you mean Jesus? Yeah, if he's Lord of
all and God the Father designates him as Lord
over all, so much so that every knee will bow and
every tongue will confess. If that guy humbled
himself, guess what. I think you can give
up a little pride. And the other
point complementary that if God the
Father in due time exalted Jesus, and has stated
the principle over and over again, five times in
the New Testament, he will exalt the humble. Then he'll exalt you. If God can exalt Jesus,
he can exalt you. So here's the principle. The way up is down. The way down is
always the way up. Hey, fastest way to get down--
and I don't mean get down with your bad self-- I mean you want to go down,
just puff yourself up. It might not be today,
but you're going down. And if you want to be
raised up, you go low. You humble yourself before it
happens to you, and it will. So the way up is down, is way
down is always the way up. Jesus said, Luke
chapter 18, whoever exalts himself will
be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be
exalted, principle of scripture. Question, how do I know when
I've arrived at humility? Well, that's the
thing about humility. You never do. Because what you think
you have, you haven't. Right? Humility is that thing. The day you think
you have humility that's the day you lost it. So you're walking
around and going, man I'm really getting
good at this humble thing, out the window. So following Jesus will cost
you sacrifice and service. But following Jesus,
and obedience, and humility also pays. God will reward humility,
and it will bring unity. It will improve the lives
of people around you. When you and I look out for
other people's interests, it makes a dramatic impact. I want to close with
this true illustration. It happened just this last week. So at the beginning
of the service, you saw the little
video announcement of Feed New Mexico Kids, right? Holly was on the screen
talking about it. So what that showed
me is that there is a lot of self-sacrificing,
loving people here, who are willing when
they go to the grocery store to spend a little
bit extra and think of kids who don't
have something, and make sure they
have something. And God has so
blessed that and so rewarded that that last week
she gets a call from a ministry leader here in town
saying, I want to give. I've been given a huge
donation of cookies. I want to give. I want to share this
donation with you. She goes like, how many
cookies are you talking about? He says, I want to give
you 350 pounds of cookies. She goes, OK. I'll take them. So she gets a truck
and brings the cookies, picks them up and drives
them here to the church. When she gets to the church a
staff member comes up to her and says, hey you came
at just the right time. Somebody heard about feed
New Mexico kids on the radio and they just donated
160 quarts of milk, stable milk, shelf-stable milk. The expiration date
hasn't arrived. It's good milk. So she just thought about that. She goes, what
kind of a God is it that we serve who is that
merciful that he sees-- you know, New Mexico as the
number-one state in the United States for childhood hunger. But he thinks that
kids this year ought to start their school year
off with some milk and cookies. I love that. It makes a dramatic
impact in people's lives. How much is God into humility? How much is he
drawn to humility? Well in Job 22, we are
told God saves the humble. In Psalm 10, God
listens to the humble. And in Isaiah chapter 57, God
says, I dwell with the humble. I think he's into it. I think he responds to
it quicker than just about any other attribute. When you're humble,
broken, needy you go low. God says, I like that. He's drawn to that. One final thought,
I mentioned Adonai is the Hebrew word for Lord. But it's uniquely written. Adonai has a personalized
ending and it just doesn't mean the Lord it
means my Lord or the Lord who is my Lord. Adonai, he is my Lord,
sovereign over my life. So when Thomas saw Jesus
after the resurrection, he said, my Lord and my God. He personalized it. The first step toward God, if
your life is not in his hands yet, the first step toward
God is humility, never pride. You never walk up to a guy
and go, do you know who I am? I work really hard at getting
you to like me, [BUZZER SOUND].. Wrong approach. I am sincere, devout, deeply
religious; [BUZZER SOUND].. Not a good approach,
not a good tact. If you go, God,
I've got nothing. Ah, what's that? I got nothing. I'm broken. I'm a sinner. I need you. I need forgiveness. I have nothing to offer. But I will receive what
you want to give me. God says, now I'm
all about that. He'll respond to that. God saves the humble. He listens to the humble. He dwells among the humble. Because he knows the truth. And that is the truth. He is the Lord and you are not. You need him. And if you have never
personally asked Jesus to be your Lord, your
master, your savior; that's what you need. You can't say, I was raised
in the church all my life. I went to church. I went to mass. I have people in my family
who are in the ministry. Have you personally
surrendered your life to Christ is the issue, is the issue. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the Kingdom of God. You come humble. You come broken. You come needy. You ask for forgiveness. Bible calls that repentance,
and you'll be saved. Father, we just want to close,
bowing heart and head, mind and body, pushing out
distractions, focusing in on you for these last few
seconds, these few moments, and we think about
us before you. Right now we're not thinking
about the person sitting next to us. We're thinking
about us before you. And we're making
self-examination in the light of
what we have read. We just read about the God
who existed before incarnation coming to this earth,
taking on humanity and going to the
death of a cross, humiliating, degrading,
excruciating. But from there, you Father,
exalting Jesus as the Lord to have dominion,
the king of kings and the lord of lords,
this Jesus highly exalted. And we wonder is this lord
our lord, our personal savior. Have we personally
received Jesus? It's a transaction
that must take place. As Jesus said to a religious
man, unless you are born again you will never see
the Kingdom of God. New birth is given upon
faith, trust, belief in Jesus. So with your eyes closed for
a moment, your heads bowed, I want to ask you a question,
is he your Lord, personally? Not your mom's,
not your dad's, not your uncle's, not somebody
else you know; is he yours? Not husband, not wife,
not child; is he yours? Is he your Lord, your
master, your savior? Have you asked him? Do you walk with him? Do you believe in him? If not, why not? Why not now? Why not turn to him? Why not make an admission? I need you, God. I need you. I need your forgiveness. I need your love. I need your help. If you're willing to do
that, I want to pray for you. I need to know who
I'm praying for. I want you to raise
your hand up in the air if you're willing at
this point to give your life to Christ, maybe
for the first time sincerely. God bless you, and
to you to my left. Thank you for that. Raise it up high
enough so I can see it, and I'll acknowledge you. God bless you to my right. Who else? Who else? Raise your hand up. Raise it up high enough
so I can acknowledge you. If you're in the balcony,
raise your hand up. Place it up. And you're saying, I need God. God bless you right up here
in the front, on the side, on my left side, right
up here in the front. If you're in the family
room, put that hand up. God bless you. Right over here, right over
there, I see your hand. Thank you. Thanks. And right there, in
the middle, yes ma'am. If you're outside,
there's a pastor outside. Raise your hand up out there. He'll acknowledge you. We have a team in the hub
if you're in the overflow, raise your hand up as well. Well, Father I am praying
for not these hands but these humans, these people. Each life so precious,
so unique, but they have one thing in common. You love them. And Father, you sent Jesus, the
exalted Lord to die for them, to bring them into
your kingdom forever. As you reveal yourself to them,
Lord, I pray in this surrender they would find peace, in this
surrender of their lives they would find a level of joy that
is deep in their core that is transforming to them. I pray, Lord, that
they will leave today knowing as they receive
Christ and invite him into their hearts, they
would know they're forgiven. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand. We're going to close
with a final song. And as we do, I'm
going to ask those of you who raise your
hands to do something else. And that is get up from
where you are now standing and find the nearest
aisle and walk right up here to the front, where
I'm going to lead you in a prayer to receive Christ. We're going to get this
transaction done right now. And we don't do this
to embarrass you. We do this to celebrate with you
and to come alongside of you. So if you raise your hand,
you're in good company here. You're with God's people. You come up and I'll lead you
in a prayer receiving Christ into your heart. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come stand right
up in the front. If you're in the balcony,
come down the steps. If you're in the family
room, come through the door on the right side. If you're outside,
he'll bring you inside. If you're next door,
they'll bring you over here. If you're in the front, there
are only 3, 4, or 5 steps for you to take. If you're in the middle,
in the middle of an aisle, just say, excuse me. This is our favorite time
right now, right now. God bless, you guys. Lay down your heart
and come as you are. Come as you are. Glad you came, welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Please come all the way up,
all the way up, awesome. So lay down your hurt. Lay down your heart. And come as you are. Yeah, it's party time right now. This is celebrate time. God bless you. Thank you. Come right on up. Awesome. It's great to see you. Come as you are. Anybody else? Maybe you didn't
raise your hand. That's OK. Some of you are looking at
this and you're out there and you know you
need to be up here. You know deep inside
that life hasn't produced what you hoped it would by now. And it's left you empty. It's left a lot of
pain in your wake. And God is saying, I
can forgive your past. I can give you a do-over. I'd love to do that. But I won't do it
without your will. He is working in you, and he
has brought you here today to hear this message. And he wants you to
surrender your life to him. He's knocking on the door. He's knocking. Open the door. Open the door. And we'll give you
another few moments, and you make your way up here. Find God's love and
God's forgiveness. Anybody else? Come as you are. [APPLAUSE] You're not too far. Lay down your hurt. Lay down your heart. Come as you are. [APPLAUSE] Just in case there's
a few people going, I'm smarter than that. Yeah, you're sort of like
the guy in the story, the smartest man in the world
just jumped out of the airplane with my backpack. And are you willing
to jump into eternity without the right parachute,
just with your little backpack? Not a good plan. Awesome, you guys, awesome. Way to go. Good thinking. Those of you who
have come forward, do you mind scooting
over here a little bit? Let's come, and
all get together. Come on this way. It's all right. We're family, or
we're about to be. So I'm going to pray out loud. I'm going to ask you to say
these words out loud after me, asking Jesus to come in your
heart and take over, OK? So let's pray. Say Lord, I give you my life. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I am a sinner. I know that I am a sinner. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus-- I believe in Jesus-- --that he died on a cross-- --that he died on a cross-- --that he shed
his blood for me-- --that he shed
his blood for me-- --and that he rose
again from the grave. --and that he rose
again from the grave. I believe he's alive right now-- I believe he's alive right now-- --as Lord of all. --as Lord of all. I turn from my sin. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus
cross as my savior. I turn to Jesus as my savior. I want to live for him as Lord. I want to live for him as Lord. Help me, in Jesus' name, amen. And welcome to God's family. Though the path to
humility is a hard one, it will always be rewarded. Did this message
encourage you to develop this attitude in your own life? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for listening
to this message from Skip Heitzig of
Calvary Albuquerque.
