SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: I think one of the greatest lessons that any of us can learn in walking with Jesus is it's not about you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about your 401k, it's not about your job, it's not about your marriage, it's not about your family.
SPEAKER_01: Those are all important, believe me, hugely important, but they're not the most important.
SPEAKER_01: It's all about him.
SPEAKER_01: And so learning to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him is one of the great freedoms of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is tremendous freedom when we realize that when we take on Jesus and we take on his cross, he begins to set us free.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to give us that peace that rests in our souls.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: So, turning your Bibles to Matthew 11, I want to go back over the passage that we looked at last week.
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about humility.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm calling it the cardinal virtue.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that it is from humility that all other character virtues flow.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is the soil by which grace grows in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Humility comes from grace, and grace comes from humility.
SPEAKER_01: And it is the root from which the fruit of the character of Christ flows out.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to just encourage you about a little book that has changed my life over the years.
SPEAKER_01: I've probably read it five or ten times, and it's called Humility by Andrew Murray.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's easy to order online.
SPEAKER_01: You can even order it used.
SPEAKER_01: It's been around for, I don't know, 50, 60 years.
SPEAKER_01: But humility by Andrew Murray is a great resource for you.
SPEAKER_01: So last week we talked about this cardinal virtue of humility, and I shared last week what I thought were the three key components to understanding humility, and I want to go over that again.
SPEAKER_01: And the first quality of humility is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because the reason I think that's important, the reason I started with that is because there's a lot of caricatures of what humility is that's way off track.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like, you know, humility is Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Bean or something.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to break that and say, Jesus is humility.
SPEAKER_01: And we see in Jesus not only beautiful love, but we see a fierce boldness, a fierce boldness of faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is the guy who took the cords in the temple, and he just ripped through that, and he was angry about what had been done in the temple of the Lord, the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And he cried out, This house is not a house of merchandise and commerce.
SPEAKER_01: This is a house of prayer for the nations.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we believe so strongly at the road in prayer, because Jesus modeled it to us.
SPEAKER_01: That's humility too.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is bold, it's assertive.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus is our example.
SPEAKER_01: Peter said, God gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, in his humility, needed more grace.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about that a lot here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, Come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at it again.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read it together.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 28 through 30.
SPEAKER_01: Come to me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_01: For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is our prime example of humility.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Come to me.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke and learn from me.
SPEAKER_01: Learn from me.
SPEAKER_01: So first, Jesus is our definition of a human being who is humble.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, true humility is entire dependence on God.
SPEAKER_01: Entire dependence on God.
SPEAKER_01: It's the soil that grace grows from.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was entirely dependent on his Father.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we're going to camp in a moment in this message this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, true humility is death to self.
SPEAKER_01: So I think one of the greatest lessons that any of us can learn in walking with Jesus is it's not about you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about your 401k.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about your job.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about your family.
SPEAKER_01: Those are all important, believe me, hugely important.
SPEAKER_01: But they're not the most important.
SPEAKER_01: It's all about Him.
SPEAKER_01: It's about our relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_01: And so learning to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him is one of the great freedoms of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is tremendous freedom when we realize that when we take on Jesus and we take on His cross, He begins to set us free.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to give us that peace that rests in our souls.
SPEAKER_01: And I know for some of us right now, just because of the length of time of this stay-at-home time and the COVID-19, I mean, some of us are like stir crazy and totally get it.
SPEAKER_01: I feel that way too.
SPEAKER_01: I have to deny myself and say, Lord, you're working out a plan here.
SPEAKER_01: You're working out a greater purpose here that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Could it be that you're going to use these circumstances to bring a kingdom revolution in my heart, in my marriage, in my family, in our city, in our state, and across the nation and all over the world?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to talk about the Gospel of John here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Because what's unique about the Gospel of John is how many times Jesus speaks of his entire dependence on the Father and even his denial of himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's modeling to us what it means to live a humble lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: I call it humility and action.
SPEAKER_01: You might want to write that down.
SPEAKER_01: Just humility and action.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fully surrendered to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Humility and action.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fully surrendered to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I've got a number of verses we're going to read.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to John chapter 5, and we're going to go through these.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I ask you to do is make a check mark or underline these verses.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm going to move pretty quickly through here, but I want you to take note of these passages as it relates to our understanding of what it means to live a humble life, to be totally dependent on God, to be subservient and submitted completely to God in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And there's some key words here.
SPEAKER_01: One key word is not, NOT.
SPEAKER_01: Not.
SPEAKER_01: And nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Not and nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is going to use not and nothing a lot in his lifestyle of walking with the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Now, church, it's amazing to me that we get caught up, and we should get caught up in the redemption of Christ from the perspective of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: But remember, it's the life, death, and resurrection of Christ that saves us.
SPEAKER_01: So it's the life of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus could have come and on the first day, you know, he's one year old, or when he's 31 years old, and just gone to the cross and died in his blood would have healed us of all of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: But see, that's not the point.
SPEAKER_01: The point isn't just salvation, it's also about sanctification.
SPEAKER_01: And it's also about a lifestyle of learning to have eternal life, the fullness of life flowing through us every day.
SPEAKER_01: By us becoming like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For Christ flowing through us into the lives of others.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus here in John gives us a glimpse into what it looks like to walk with Christ every day.
SPEAKER_01: So look at John 5, verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: John 5, verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now, and now I've been working.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is saying, I'm working because the Father has been working.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father doing.
SPEAKER_01: For whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner.
SPEAKER_01: This is why in Jesus' ministry, sometimes he healed everybody.
SPEAKER_01: In other cases, he heals one guy.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he goes to the pool of Salaam.
SPEAKER_01: He heals one guy there.
SPEAKER_01: We know that historically that that pool had hundreds of people.
SPEAKER_01: I've been there.
SPEAKER_01: And you that are going to Israel with me.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be there.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to go to the pool of Salaam.
SPEAKER_01: And there'd be hundreds of crippled people, sick people around the pool of Salaam.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Jesus came to one guy and healed him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why did he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he skip all the others?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what he saw the Father doing.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about total surrender, total submission, and total dependence and complete humility to God.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus could only do what he saw the Father doing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: For the Father loves the Son, and he shows him all things that he himself does.
SPEAKER_01: And he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is saying again, he can only do what he sees the Father doing, and God revealing to him because he loves him.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
SPEAKER_01: And he has given him, meaning Christ, authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing verse.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying that the life that the Father has has been given to the submitted Son.
SPEAKER_01: He only has life in himself because the Father gives it to him.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: This is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Probably ought to underline this one.
SPEAKER_01: I can of myself do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus speaking.
SPEAKER_01: I can of myself do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: As I hear, I judge.
SPEAKER_01: And my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Even Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, in a mysterious way, fully God, fully man, did not have a will of his own.
SPEAKER_01: He was submitted to the Father's will.
SPEAKER_01: And the only will that the Son had is what the Father had.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, that's true for us.
SPEAKER_01: True humility is saying, I don't have a will in this.
SPEAKER_01: I only do what God instructs me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so I come to him.
SPEAKER_01: I have to know what the Father's will is.
SPEAKER_01: That's the attitude of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I can do nothing myself.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you out there sometimes feel like you can't do anything?
SPEAKER_01: You can't do anything right.
SPEAKER_01: Someone say, Man, you can't do anything right.
SPEAKER_01: You ought to say, that's true, I can't.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I don't, you don't have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: You say, that's right, I don't have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: Man, you're driving me crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And you should, your answer should be, I'm driving myself crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Because true humility is realizing that we don't have what it takes, and we're not smart enough, and we're not strong enough.
SPEAKER_01: But in Christ, we have everything that we need.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ, we're more than conquerors.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's flowing through us.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying this.
SPEAKER_01: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32, there is another who bears witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.
SPEAKER_01: Hello?
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus the Christ is saying, I don't even bear witness to myself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even care what anybody thinks about me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be anything.
SPEAKER_01: I am submitted to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And if he gives a witness of me, I receive that.
SPEAKER_01: And that witness is true.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 36, but I have a greater witness than John's.
SPEAKER_01: For the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus saying, I can only do what I see the Father doing.
SPEAKER_01: But what I see the Father doing, that which I do, I have no will of my own.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever God tells me is his will, that's what I do.
SPEAKER_01: I have no strength of my own.
SPEAKER_01: I have no witness of my own.
SPEAKER_01: But what he gives me, I do.
SPEAKER_01: And the works that flow through me through my humility and through my submission to him, bear witness of who God is.
SPEAKER_01: The healings that I do come through the power of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: The demonization, folks, that I cast the demons out of, it comes through the Father's power.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: Really important, verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: I do not receive honor from men.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus saying, I don't need your honor.
SPEAKER_01: I don't receive your honor.
SPEAKER_01: It means nothing to me.
SPEAKER_01: I take my marching orders from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Now John 6.
SPEAKER_01: John 6, 38.
SPEAKER_01: For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: How freeing is that, folks, to be able to say, I'm not doing my will.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a vision for my life, except what God has given me as a vision.
SPEAKER_01: That's true humility.
SPEAKER_01: John 7, 16.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not taking any ownership over his will, over his power, over his own personal strength, or even his will.
SPEAKER_01: It's all from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And now he's saying, Even my doctrine, even what I teach, comes from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: John 7, 28.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple, saying, You both know me, and you know where I am from, and I've not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you do not know.
SPEAKER_01: But I know him, for I am from him, and he sent me.
SPEAKER_01: So he's even saying to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes in the temple, you don't know God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't recognize who I am as the Messiah, and this is before he's gone to the cross, this is before the resurrection, if you can't recognize the Father through what I'm doing, through my works, you don't even know the Father.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's like blasphemy to the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, look, we are children of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, no, if you don't recognize me, if you don't know me, then you don't know God.
SPEAKER_01: That's powerful stuff, men and women.
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of folks out there in America, around the world.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, which your answer should be like, well, so do demons.
SPEAKER_01: Demons believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: Demons know that Jesus is the Messiah, but they're not born again.
SPEAKER_01: Because they've never fully humbled themselves and surrendered to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So it is with most human beings today that don't know Christ, is they say, Well, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not an atheist or anything.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_01: I do good things.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I, you know, I give to the Red Cross.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm a good guy, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: I'd rather have a good guy than a bad guy, but you're still going to hell.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know the Father.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know God unless we know the Son.
SPEAKER_01: We've given ourselves to Him.
SPEAKER_01: John 8.
SPEAKER_01: John 8, 14.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true.
SPEAKER_01: For I know where I've come from and I know where I'm going.
SPEAKER_01: But you do not know where I come from, and you do not know where I'm going.
SPEAKER_01: So again, Jesus is speaking that he doesn't bear witness to himself, he lets the Father bear witness to the Son.
SPEAKER_01: John 8, 16.
SPEAKER_01: And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true.
SPEAKER_01: For I am not alone in this, but I am with the Father who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is saying, look, it's not me who judge, but even if I do judge, my judgment is true because I'm completely in humility submitted to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I speak only what He taught me.
SPEAKER_01: And he who sent me is with me.
SPEAKER_01: The Father has not ever left me alone.
SPEAKER_01: For I always do the things that please him.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing verse.
SPEAKER_01: Church, that true humility in our lives is doing what Christ commands and to please him in everything we do.
SPEAKER_01: That's what finds rest for our souls.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 42.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me.
SPEAKER_01: For I proceeded forth and came from God.
SPEAKER_01: I have not come of myself but him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 50, and I do not seek my own glory.
SPEAKER_01: There is only one who seeks and judges.
SPEAKER_01: John 9, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.
SPEAKER_01: The night is coming when no one can work.
SPEAKER_01: Get it?
SPEAKER_01: That's humility.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is dependence on Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It's an empty vessel.
SPEAKER_01: It's all of us, church, becoming empty vessels that He can fill.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that the true Spirit-filled life can only happen with an empty vessel.
SPEAKER_01: And if I had a cup up here and it was empty, I'd say, that's humility.
SPEAKER_01: It's being emptied of you, emptied of your future.
SPEAKER_01: I remember, you know, when I was thinking about graduation, I was getting coming to the end of my time at uh in college, and and I didn't know what to do, and I wasn't sure what God wanted me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And one time I was out at the football team's practice field by myself late at night and cried out, God, I'm I don't know what to do, but I am available to you.
SPEAKER_01: Anything you want to do, anywhere you want to send me, any way you want to work through me, I'm available.
SPEAKER_01: And I think he heard that prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God's looking for empty vessels that he can fill.
SPEAKER_01: He's looking for empty vessels that he can fill to overflowing.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not just the spirit-filled life, it's the spirit-spilled life.
SPEAKER_01: But you can't have the spirit-spilled life without the spirit-filled life without being an empty vessel.
SPEAKER_01: Have you surrendered everything to Christ?
SPEAKER_01: It's the way of freedom, it's the way of joy, it's the way to happiness, it's the way to peace in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's to be empty.
SPEAKER_01: To have Him take over your finances.
SPEAKER_01: To have him take over your job search.
SPEAKER_01: For him to take over your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we were talking about in the couples conference when I spoke about the spirit-spilled life.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit-filled life, I said it's the power to be out of control.
SPEAKER_01: It's you getting out of the way and letting Christ come in and take over your marriage, take over the frustrations in your family.
SPEAKER_01: And some of us have some pretty big frustrations in our marriages.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us have some pretty big issues.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you here are considering divorce.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you here are contemplating suicide right now.
SPEAKER_01: And my challenge to you this morning is Christ loves you.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to come in and invade your life.
SPEAKER_01: Will you humble yourself?
SPEAKER_01: Will you humble yourself and realize that you don't have what it takes, but he does?
SPEAKER_01: And to realize your character is not what it should be, but his is.
SPEAKER_01: And so to surrender to him is to become an empty vessel and say, Lord, I empty myself of me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do it your way.
SPEAKER_01: And church, this is the way.
SPEAKER_01: It's through the word.
SPEAKER_01: You want to know how to fix your finances?
SPEAKER_01: Go to the word.
SPEAKER_01: He shows us how to live financially right here in this book.
SPEAKER_01: He guides us.
SPEAKER_01: You want to know how to have a happy marriage?
SPEAKER_01: Go to this book.
SPEAKER_01: How to parent your kids?
SPEAKER_01: Go to this book.
SPEAKER_01: How to walk in integrity at your work?
SPEAKER_01: Go to this book.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, listen.
SPEAKER_01: God can't pull out of us what hasn't gone into us.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're not reading God's word, if you're not in God's word, you're not going to know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to be at the mercy of the culture, at the mercy of some of these books that are written that have absolutely nothing to do with where true fulfillment comes from.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus has given us an example here of the only way to find that kind of purpose in our lives, and that's through the way he lived, through complete dependence on him.
SPEAKER_01: Andrew Murray writes, we must learn of Jesus, how he is meek and lowly of heart.
SPEAKER_01: He teaches us where true humility begins and finds its strength.
SPEAKER_01: In the knowledge that it is God who works all in all, that our place is to yield to him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to reveal.
SPEAKER_01: It's the character of Jesus taking over our character.
SPEAKER_01: It's the love of Jesus taking over our love.
SPEAKER_01: It's the forgiveness of Jesus taking over our inability to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: It's the joy of Jesus coming into our depression.
SPEAKER_01: So humility, the cardinal virtue, is the emptying of ourselves to Him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm convinced of this.
SPEAKER_01: That if we went to state hospitals, Spring Canyon, some of these places around the country where people have gone to retreat and get away because they're depressed or they have anxiety, they're frustrated, or they're going through therapy or something like that, that if they could empty themselves of themselves and let Christ come in and fully, completely surrender to Christ everything, they would be healed.
SPEAKER_01: They would be almost immediately healed because it wouldn't, there would be no longer that weight.
SPEAKER_01: Remember our verse?
SPEAKER_01: Come to me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden, depressed, anxious, worried, frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: And I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: If you will empty yourself of yourself, and let me come in.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking about it's a one-time thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a one-time thing, it's a daily thing of surrendering yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And when you come to this place where you're anxious and you know that feeling inside, like, ah, that feeling where you're just like, it's just like something inside of you is just gnawing at you.
SPEAKER_01: That's you.
SPEAKER_01: That's you trying to figure things out.
SPEAKER_01: You can't.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to allow Christ to come in to that place.
SPEAKER_01: And that means you've got to empty yourself of you and let Christ come in and flow and find that dependence that comes through him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Paul, in describing the mind of Christ, turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, he describes humility and action through Christ as a challenge to the church at Philippi of the kind of mindset we have to have.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, we have to have a new mindset.
SPEAKER_01: We have to have a new mindset in every area of our life if we're going to be disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You have to have a new mindset right now in the midst of the situation we're in.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, those devotionals I've been doing, where I've been talking about the worshiper warrior mindset.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that?
SPEAKER_01: Those early devotionals, I went through, I think three devotionals.
SPEAKER_01: I talked about the worshiper warrior mindset.
SPEAKER_01: That's a mindset that I'm in a war, but I'm going to win.
SPEAKER_01: Not because I'm so strong, but because he is all sufficient for everything that I need.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to win because of the power of Christ flowing through me to be more than a conqueror.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to leverage difficulties in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to leverage these struggles in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to actually win and become stronger because it's hard.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's difficult.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what Paul says in Philippians 2, starting at verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
SPEAKER_01: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: He says three things here that I think are powerful about a mindset of humility, a mindset like Christ had.
SPEAKER_01: First, you're not God.
SPEAKER_01: You are not God.
SPEAKER_01: Even Jesus did not consider himself equal with God.
SPEAKER_01: And we just read all those verses where he said that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't try to take God's place.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even think you know anything.
SPEAKER_01: Rather, trust Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Trust him.
SPEAKER_01: God, you know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, my financial situation is in shambles right now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get wise counsel, but before I do that, I'm giving it all to you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm asking you, Lord, to start giving me wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not God.
SPEAKER_01: You are.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm depending on you.
SPEAKER_01: It starts there, and it doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_01: We get wise counsel.
SPEAKER_01: We start using, you know, we start thinking through how to get out of the mess that we're in.
SPEAKER_01: All that's important.
SPEAKER_01: But again, we go to God's word, and as we do, God will speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing what God does when we seek Him and He gives us revelation.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, Jesus became a bondservant.
SPEAKER_01: So, second of all, we have a mindset of a bondservant.
SPEAKER_01: It's more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_01: It's learning two great lessons in life.
SPEAKER_01: Keep growing and keep giving.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus saying, I became a bondservant.
SPEAKER_01: I humbled myself and I served.
SPEAKER_01: And so even in this very, very difficult time right now in our country, serve.
SPEAKER_01: Love.
SPEAKER_01: Look for opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: Here's one of the greatest things you could do.
SPEAKER_01: Pick up your phone.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of looking at the news on the phone, call somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Call three to five people a day.
SPEAKER_01: Just call and see how they're doing and pray with them on the phone.
SPEAKER_01: How powerful would that be if we had three people, three to five people a day.
SPEAKER_01: We made a little list.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how this person's doing.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how that person's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And we just call them, say, look, God puts you on my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to see how you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: I want to see what's happening in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That's the giving that we can do even right now.
SPEAKER_01: That's a bond servant.
SPEAKER_01: A bond servant gives.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about just being self-focused, it's about being other focused through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the first great commandment.
SPEAKER_01: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_01: And your neighbor is yourself.
SPEAKER_01: So just picking up the phone and calling people and pray with them on the phone.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I've been doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And it's been so exciting to just talk to people.
SPEAKER_01: Because, I mean, I go to minister to them, they end up ministering to me.
SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, realize that God is God.
SPEAKER_01: Second of all, learn to be a bondservant again, even under these conditions.
SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, obey Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Just obey him.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You show that you love me by obeying my commands.
SPEAKER_01: And so it is through humility that we learn to obey God, and as we obey him, we find freedom.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: A bondservant was a servant at the time of Christ that served his or her master out of love and not out of duty.
SPEAKER_01: So we don't serve, in the road here, we don't encourage serving God out of duty, but rather serving out of love.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this coming week is Holy Week.
SPEAKER_01: We're getting ready to go into Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make it a really holy week.
SPEAKER_01: Not because we went to a service or we watched it online, but because it's a holy week, because of what happened in that passion week.
SPEAKER_01: So let us have passion.
SPEAKER_01: This week call people every day and go after it.
SPEAKER_01: Love them, care about them.
SPEAKER_01: Show that love through prayer, even over the phone.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, right now in the name of Jesus, I pray a blessing over everyone who's streaming online.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray a blessing over our president, over our Congress, over our governor, over our state Congress, over our mayor, over our city council, and our county supervisors.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray for Colorado Springs, Colorado and America.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we we pray a blessing over pastors and churches that are meeting right now, streaming online all across the world, but especially in the state of Colorado and Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would be upon these men and women that love you and they're surrendered to you and they're going after you.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, for those precious men and women out there that have never really surrendered everything to you, I pray that they would today.
SPEAKER_01: I pray they'd give their heart to you.
SPEAKER_01: They would open up their heart, invite you in, begin to live the crucified life.
SPEAKER_01: The life where I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_01: And the life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, would you go out?
SPEAKER_01: Go out across this city, go out across the nation, go out around the world.
SPEAKER_01: Millions upon millions are worshiping you, even in their homes, wherever they are, they're worshiping you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, would you pour out such a blessing?
SPEAKER_01: God, bring revival.
SPEAKER_01: God, bring a kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.