humility. It's a subject matter that none of us like to talk about that all of us need to hear about. And let me just address from the very beginning, if you're here this morning and you say, well, I don't have a problem with that. I'm humble. Then you've got a pride problem. OK, anybody who stands up and says I'm humble has just demonstrated They are not. And so many times when we describe pride versus humility, it's difficult to get a good grasp of it. So in just a moment, I've got a small video clip I want to show you that I hope will demonstrate it much better than I could speak it. Tracy and I are not huge movie fans per se, but there's a movie that came out about a month or so ago that our boys absolutely love. It's the movie Cars. And adults, if you haven't seen it, I promise you'll laugh at it more than the kids do, okay? It is a hysterical film that really, it doesn't make fun of, but it emulates the NASCAR circuit, all that was with automotive, you know, motorsports and such, and it's just a lot of fun to watch. But in that movie, it all centers around a main character. He's a new rookie in the Piston Cup, is what they call it in the movie. His name is Lightning McQueen. Those of you who remember the old movie Bullet with Steve McQueen, there's the spinoff of that. Lightning McQueen is a rookie. He's the new kid on the block and he's faster than anyone else and in the process of going through the first season He has the opportunity to win the Piston Cup the championship for the season to be the first rookie ever to do it on His very last pit stop before he has the chance to win this race. He does not take the advice of his crew chief He does not take the advice of those who are working on his car. He gets very arrogant He gets very prideful. He says I can do it on my own. I don't need anybody else. I have all the answers and As he is going the last lap to win this race, he's about halfway there, he blows both of his back tires. And in the process of getting there, I mean, he's on the rims, he's throwing sparks, he's going all the way up. When he gets to the finish line, he does not win, but in the movie, for the first time in Piston Cup history, there's a three-way tie. There's a three-way tie between these three cars, and they decide the only way to reconcile the tie is that they're going to go to California the next week, and they're going to race one last race, just these three cars. In the process of getting to California, this young Lightning McQueen once again demonstrates his arrogance. He demonstrates his feeling that he has all the answers to everybody's problems, including his own. In the process of doing that, he gets sidetracked, so to speak. He comes out of his trailer that's taking him there because of a decision of his, and he ends up running from the police. In the process of running from the police, he ends up in a small little town off of Route 66 called Radiator Springs. It's a town that used to flourish when traffic came through, but with the invention of the interstate system, it has just dried up. And he finds himself stuck, literally, in Radiator Springs because in the process of running from the police, he destroyed the main road through town by dragging a statue. And his punishment from the police and from the judge is to repair the road. He cannot repair the road, or he cannot leave until he repairs the road. Now, to make a very long movie very short, there's a change in Lightning McQueen from when he leaves Radiator Springs from when he gets there. He completely changes his attitude about people. He changes his attitude about life. Everything changes, and it does not spoil the movie because the ending is very unique, but he ultimately becomes a champion race car, and I'm convinced it's because of the scene that you're about to see. Here's Lightning McQueen. He's the new kid on the block. He's the one that everybody's talking about. He finds himself in a place. They don't know who he is and they don't care. And here's this guy who's been following his racing his entire life. He says, who are you? I'm a famous race car. Don't you know who I am? Be careful. People use the personal pronoun way too much. He says, this is who I am. And he says, do you know Ferraris? No, I don't know any Ferraris. They're on the year. He says, well, then never mind. And what happens in that one scene that takes place in the Venice, he finds out he's not as famous as he thinks he is. He finds out he's not as good as he thinks he is. And he begins to make an introspection of his life and say, you know, maybe I need to take a look at who I really am in light of how I'm perceived. This morning, I want to look in Isaiah 57 in Philippians 2, and I want us to step back and look in a spiritual mirror. and say, no matter what we think we may be made of, no matter what gifts, talents, abilities, skills, and things we have to offer, no matter what that may be, how is it that we truly appear and look in light of God? Isaiah 57, a chapter about revival. I'll go ahead and begin in verse 14 that discusses the aspect of needing for the people to turn. It says, and shall say, cast up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and a humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be wroth. For the spirit shall fail before me and the souls which I have made. Beginning at the end of verse 14, God addresses to the people of Israel through the person of Isaiah, there's a stumbling block in my people. Now, they had stumbling blocks in their personal lives, their family lives, and their corporate, quote, church lives. And he addresses, how do you get it out? If there's a stumbling block there that's tripping up, that's keeping from advancing, what do you do? And he says in verse 57 that you recognize who he is, you begin to dwell with him, and those who have a humble spirit. Those who have a heart of contriteness are those who will remove and take away that stumbling block and revival will begin. The first thing I want to address this morning on understanding how revival takes place through humility is this. We have to understand who God is. We have to understand a description of who He is. And Brother Ricky did an excellent job this morning leading us in corporate worship of songs that talk about how great He is and mighty is our God. Mighty is our King. But look at the beginning of verse 15. He is called the High and Lofty One. He is the One who inhabits eternity. His name is Holy. And I'll go into a little bit more detail, but in very simplistic terms, if you don't get anything else today, get this. There is a God and you are not Him. That's the essence of humbleness. That's the essence of removing pride in your life, is to realize you are not God. But he begins by saying that God himself, he is the high and lofty one. With Isaiah in hand, turn a few pages to the right, to chapter 66, verse 1. A passage describing ultimately the new heaven and the new earth. But I want you to see something about how God describes what I call his living room. It says, Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? God basically makes a statement. You built a great building. You built a great temple unto me. You built a great place to come and worship. Let me give you a hint. Though I meet you in that place, the entire earth is my footstool. Can you imagine what the chair looks like? Think about it. He describes Earth as his footstool. And so many times we say, you know, what is heaven going to look like? How majestic will it be? Think about Earth as the footstool and heaven as the throne. It gives you just but a glimpse. If you want to understand how high and lofty God is, the entire planet Earth, in his perspective, is a footstool. I don't know about your house, but footstools get kicked around in ours. They get used to get up to cabinets because we're not tall enough. They get used for a multitude of different things. We don't put a high priority on footstools because they're a footstool. And he says, when you get a proper perspective, you understand this entire planet you're on, it's but a footstool. Turn a few pages to the left to chapter 55 of the book of Isaiah. Beginning in verse 7. A very famous verse that I'm sure you'll find familiar. It says, let the wicked forsake his ways. The unrighteous man, his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Listen to this. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your way, said the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Very simply, whether it be our perspective on planet Earth or whether it be our perspective of the very mind that is contained with our ears, God makes it very clear He is the High, He is the Lofty One, and in perspective, we are but grains of sand. So anytime we begin to get an attitude and start saying, I, I, I, we need to get a real close glimpse of who God is and realize our I is nothing without Him. He is the High and the Lofty One. The second description in verse 15 of Isaiah 57, He inhabits eternity. Let me give you a hint. He was here long before you were. You say, I've got a new idea. No, you don't. You say, I'm going to do something that's going to revolutionize. No, you're not. This is a change. No, it's not. He inhabits eternity. He always has been, always will be. You are finite. You had a beginning and you will have an end. You are not eternal. Now, the Bible says, according to First Timothy, Chapter six, that in Christ you can become immortal. Which means this, you shall never die. You shall inherit eternal life. You shall inherit that abundant life in forever. But let's be honest, we weren't here when he said in the beginning. We don't inhabit eternity. He does. And so when it comes to understanding the great things of this earth, he understands and you don't. And neither do I. In Exodus chapter 3 verse 14, Moses, when stumbling for words literally about what he says to the people of Israel, he says, God, what am I supposed to say? Who are you that sent me? He said, tell them I am sent you. Not I was, not I will be, but I am. This is what got Jesus in so much trouble in John chapter 8, when the Pharisees were ridiculing him and Jesus made the statement, before Abraham was, I am. In other words, I've been here a lot longer than you have. I understand. I created the very dirt you walk on. I wrote the very words you're reading, that body you inhabit. I made it. I formed it. I fashioned it. It brings into new life that phrase we use with our kids, I brought you in, I can take you out. He inhabits eternity. But the third quality here says His name is Holy. You know, probably the one word that should be used so infrequently of human beings. is holy. It means to be distinct. It means to be separate. It means to be set apart. There is nothing of God that is tarnished. There is nothing of God that is of any tainted nature. And yet every person, as you look through scripture without exception, except for Jesus, who is the God-man, you find tarnishedness, you find messed upness, you find sinfulness. And yet he says, my name is holy. That is who I am. You know, in the Gospels, Jesus made a phrase or a statement when he said this, I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Now, the information I'm about to share with you, I did not research it on my own. There are people who are a lot more intelligent than I and have a lot more time on their hands than I do. But those experts tell me that if you take the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, that which an Orthodox Jewish person says that this is the Holy Scriptures, okay? If you take those first five books of the Bible and you begin to put them in order, that the middle Hebrew character, the middle verse, so to speak, is Leviticus 11.44. Now, I haven't taken the time to verify this. I'm just basing it on a lot of fact here, the people who I trust. Leviticus 11.44 says this, Be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. I mean, if you were to sum up the Old Testament Torah, if you were to sum up what Orthodox Judaism says, it is simply this. We need to be holy because God is holy. That is who he is. That is who his nature is. And we need to understand that to emulate and to be on the same page with him, holiness must resound. It'll never take place until we understand how mighty and powerful God really is. You know, there's a famous American by the name of George Washington Carver. Many of you have heard of him. He was an African-American educator, teacher, philosopher, politician. I mean, he was one of those Renaissance men. He had his hand into a little bit of everything. Most people know him famously for the peanut. We wouldn't have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without George Washington Carver. We wouldn't have a lot of different items that we have. In fact, I think he developed some 72 different ways to utilize the peanut. Some people have to ask yourself, why the peanut? I mean, of all things, according to his biography, his investigation, his scientific investigation into the peanut came out of a prayer meeting. He was sitting there alone with God and he was dwelling on how great God was. And he said, God, you are so great. You are so wonderful. Show me the great secrets to the universe. To which he heard God respond to him. Oh, that's too vast for your small mind. I will share with you the secrets of the peanut. Think about that for just a moment. How many times do we say, God, just show me the great things? Show me the heavens. Show me the earth. Show me all these great answers. And God says, all you can handle is the peanut. All you can handle is the Alka-Seltzer. All you can handle is this. 72 different ways to use a peanut? I mean, of all things. And yet God was showing George Washington Carver, even in something that you think is minor, and even in something you think that is minute, there is so much there. It shows how great I am. The next time you begin to think too much of yourself, look at a peanut. and realize there's more in that peanut than that's in your head. And I'm not joking by that statement. We need to understand the description of who God is. The second thing is this, we need to understand what His desire is. In the middle of verse 15 of Isaiah 57, not only is He the high and lofty one, He inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. Listen to this, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him. Who is of a contrite and holy and a contrite and humble spirit? God's desire is not to experience holiness in and of himself. His desire, according to this, is to dwell with those people who have the qualifications to dwell with him. His desire is for you to raise the bar in your life to the point where you dwell with him. Now let me show you how this happens. Go to Philippians chapter 2 in the New Testament. Hopefully you've turned there and have a hand or a pen or a pencil or something. And I want to show you the model. Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 5, is probably one of the greatest passages that describes to us the humility, the humbleness that Jesus Christ took upon when he came to be our Savior. He didn't come in a proudful or haughty spirit. He came in a very humble manner. Verse 5 of Philippians 2 says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Folks, we all know this. It's a Sunday School answer. Jesus didn't have to do what he did. He could have just stayed in the throne room and enjoyed eternity and angelic beings and everything for life. But it says here, he chose and he humbled himself, no reputation, being fashioned like a man, even to death, the death of a cross. One of the things that I want you to focus on this morning is this, God's not asking you to do anything you hadn't already done. You know, oftentimes we'll say, but God, that's just too hard. He did it. You say, you're asking too much. Been there. See, that's one of the great marks of a leader is having gone where They want you to go. And here's Jesus basically saying this, go where I've been, humble yourself to the point of death. Many of us need to die to a lot of things. And here's where it starts. It starts between your ears. You know, the mind is a dangerous thing to waste. OK, it's also a dangerous thing to have. All right. But according to Romans chapter 12, one and two, it says that we ought to sacrifice ourselves to God, that we ought to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. I'll be honest with you, this is not going to happen unless you wake up every day and say, all right, God, I desire to live and walk just like you. It will not happen. It does not come by natural osmosis. You do not get out of bed, take a shower, brush your teeth, and all of a sudden, I ought to be holy. That's not how it happens. There has to be a purposeful intent where you get up and say, here, this is what I desire to do. But to do it, you're going to have to relinquish your reputation. By the way, let me give you some of the best advice someone ever gave me. I don't even know who it came from, so I'm going to take it for myself. I'm teasing. It's a sermon on humility. Don't believe your own press clippings. Don't believe your own press clippings. When people begin to talk about how great you are in some areas, don't believe it. Don't believe it. Relinquish your reputation. Those who are great are those who are humble. Philippians 2, 7, he says he made himself of no reputation. How is this going to take place? How are you going to begin to understand this? It takes a change in who you are. It takes a change in your person. George Washington Carver had a change in his perspective, where he began not just to see God in the heavens, but to begin to see God in the peanuts. How does this change who you are? How do you begin to relinquish your reputation? How are you willing to say this? God, I want to go down road A, but you may want me to go down road B. I really want plan A, but I'll be willing to take your plan B. That's hard to do. Okay? It is very difficult to say, God, I will accept what you have for me even if it's not what I want for myself. One of my favorite little songs that's out there is a song that was written by Kenny Rogers. Okay? Kenny Rogers wrote a song called The Baseball Song. I don't know how many of you are familiar with it, but he wrote it some years ago, and I just find it hysterical. It's about a little boy who goes out in the field, and he's going to play baseball with himself. And what he goes to do, like little boys do, and I know little girls do this, and he goes out with a bat and a ball. He's going to throw up the ball, and he's going to hit it with his bat. He has no friends or family with him. He's going to imagine this game. And the way that the song goes is that he throws up the first pitch. He swings with all his might, and he misses. The ball hits the ground. He girds himself up. He grabs the ball. He throws it up a second time. He swings with everything he's got. The ball falls to the ground. Strike two. He ponders there for a moment. He picks up the ball a third time. He throws it up. He swings the bat to no avail. The ball hits the third time. Just then he hears his mom calling him for supper time. He picks up his ball. He picks up his bat. And he walks home with a smile on his face. And he says, God, I did not realize how good a pitcher I was. That's a cute little song, is what it is. But you know what? There's a lesson in that. Here was a little boy who went out in the field to become a hitter. He came back home a pitcher. Folks, that's what it is when we become humble, when we understand what God's desire for us to dwell with Him. Sometimes we think, God, for me to dwell with you is for me to stand right here. And God says, no, I want you right over there. And we've got to be willing to step up, walk over and say, all right, God, Here's where you want me. Sometimes that means being and doing things you had no desire or plans to do. Sometimes that means relinquishing things that you're very passionate about. Sometimes the things that you're most passionate about, God removes from you so you won't get the credit. Because to God be the glory. We just sang that while ago. There's got to be a change in our person. Back to Isaiah 57. We need to understand who God is. We need to understand His desire. But we also need to understand His demands. How does this take place? What does God ask of us for it actually to happen in our lives? He says, I dwell with Him who is of a contrite and a humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. How does this happen? It happens with humbleness and contriteness. Now, I've given you definitions. Humble means not proud or haughty. Contrite means showing sorrow for remorse or sin. You know, Psalms 51 is one of my favorite chapters in scripture because it's the story or it's actually the prayer of King David after he has been told of his relationship with Bathsheba. Oh, he knew about the relationship. There was a murder that ensued because of it. There was the death of a child that ensued because of it. He knew about it, but everybody else, nobody was talking about it. Everybody was just keeping silent because how dare we tell the king we know what we really know. A man by the name of Nathan comes to David, he exposes it. And in that prayer in Psalms 51, we looked at it a little bit last week. I think it's some 32 or 33 times he says, I have sinned, I have messed up, I have committed this iniquity. But in verse 17 of Psalms 51, he says this, The desires that you have, O God, are not of sacrifice, but of a humble spirit and a contrite heart. And what King David was showing every single one of us was this. If you really want to know what God wants from you, it's not a change of venue. It's a change of heart. It's not a change of style. It's a change of heart. You know, sometimes we say, well, maybe if I prayed on my knees versus standing up or maybe if I if I did it in this style or that style, that may help you. But understand, it's the heart he's looking for, not necessarily the style. He desires a humble and a contrite spirit. How do you know? When this happens, it changes your priorities. See, George Washington Carver changed his perspective on how he saw things, that little song about Kenny Rogers. Here's a little boy. He changed who he was. He said, God, I may want to go down road A, but I'll be willing to go down road B. But we understand the demands of God for humbleness when we change our priorities. One of the most famous musicians in American history is a man by the name of Leonard Bernstein. Wendell Bernstein was the leader of the New York Philharmonic, one of the most prestigious organizations of musicians in the whole world. He was being interviewed one day by a magazine. I mean, we're talking hundreds of musicians, everything from percussion to flutes and everything in between and stuff I don't even know about. And they asked him, of all of the positions you have to fill, of all the different instruments, of all the personnel, what's the hardest one to find? I mean, seriously, because you have to have every piece. I mean, if you're missing one piece, you've got a problem in an orchestra. You have to have every piece. What's the hardest? His response was classic second violin. Second violin, they said, you know what, when I make an announcement that we need a first violin, the person who's going to get all the headlines, the person that's going to get all the credit, he said, I get hundreds of applications. He said, when I put out something that we need, the number two person, nobody shows up. The hardest person to find is the second violin. You know, I've learned in Christianity the hardest person to find is someone willing to be second. Someone willing to say, I don't need the credit. Someone willing to say, I don't need the glory. Someone willing to say, it wasn't my idea. Someone willing to say, don't put my name there. Someone willing to say, I don't want my name on the wall. The hardest thing to find is for someone to say, I'll take second seat to Jesus. Let Him get it all. See, it takes a change in our priorities, because to be humble and to be contrite, to not desire proudness, to not desire sin in our lives, we've got to be willing to say, OK, God, I'll do whatever you ask me to do, even if nobody knows about it. Even if nobody calls me up and says, great job. Even if nobody comes up and says, man, that's the most brilliant idea in the world. You be willing to do that. And someone who is willing to do that when someone calls says, don't look to me. Look to the Lord. It takes a change in our priorities. But last but not least, I want you to go to verse 16. We need to understand the description of God. We need to understand the desire of God, the demands of God. But we also need to understand this. God deals with deadlines. OK, verse 16. I will not contend forever. In verse 14, he says there's a stumbling block to my people. There is something keeping them from going forward. There's something keeping them from progressing. And the way to get that stumbling block out is people need to be humble, people need to be contrite, people need to realize who I am, who they are, and quit trying to be number one in areas of their life. And he says in verse 16, I will not contend forever. In other words, what God is telling the people of Israel, and what I believe He's telling us today, is simply this. If you don't get it right, you won't get it at all. Simply put things will just diminish away things will just vanish away. Let me give you a bold biblical example Noah Genesis chapter 6 God comes to know and he says I want you to build a big boat. He said it's an art He said because it's going to rain some of you've heard the Bill Cosby skit Noah says rain. What's right? I Never seen it before. God says, just trust me. I want you to do something different. I want you to do something nobody's ever seen before. I want you to do something that will be the first time in history. I mean, there's no precedent for this. When you go down to the local Walmart and tell people why you're building the boat, they're going to laugh at you. They're going to make fun of you. They're going to tell you you're wasting your time, you're wasting your resources, and you're wasting your money. By the way, those are a lot of the commentary about people who follow God. But this is what he tells them in Genesis 6. My spirit shall not strive with man but for a hundred and twenty years. What I believe in Genesis 6, what God is telling Noah is this. You got a hundred and twenty years to build the boat. And after a hundred and twenty years, the rain is going to start falling. You better have it built. Now, let's think about this, okay, as human beings, normal human beings. If God came to us and said, you're going to be allowed to live, I give you 120 years to fulfill this project. Most of us are going to wait to year 119. Correct? I mean, we are. I mean, we're not going to naturally say, man, I got all the time in the world. Sure, Gopher Woods is going to be available forever at a good price. Maybe not. I'll have all the labor. I'll have my kids, this and that. But the Bible gives us the idea that Noah began to build. We don't know the exact blueprint of which he took as far as a time frame, but we know that in Hebrews chapter 11, he is called a preacher of righteousness, which tells me this. His neighbors and his comrades come up to him all the time and say, Noah, what are you doing? Build a boat. Why do we need a boat? We're in the middle of the desert. It's going to rain. Rain? What's rain? Why are you doing this? Because God told me to. And I promise you, they laughed. I promise you, they looked at him like he was strange. But by saying what God had asked him to do, which was completely out of the box, it was completely different to what he was used to or even expecting, he built it. And when the rain started to fall, he was safe. And with the exception of his wife, his three kids and their wives, nobody else was. Because he understood that when God sets a deadline, he means it. D.L. Moody, the great evangelist of the late 1800s, died in 1899, has a great little simple statement. He says this, if we do not humble, we will stumble. Now, he doesn't give a time frame there, much like Noah, but what he's basically saying is this, if you're living a life of pride, if you're living a life that is not of humility, you're but a step away from falling. You're but a step away from stumbling instead of continuing to walk. So how do we change this? How do we change this in our perspective, so to speak? It takes a change in our prominence. And I know that's a big word, but it basically says how we will be remembered. You know, there are two famous characters that I want to address here in a moment from the 20th century, the 1900s. One by the name of Walter Cronkite, one by the name of Winston Churchill. Two very, very famous people that all you young people talk about in school. One was a news reporter and one was a politician and a diplomat, so to speak. But the question becomes is 500 years from now, when they begin to write the history books, barring the return of Jesus, I'm going to make you a promise. They'll talk about Winston Churchill. They won't about Walter Cronkite. You say, well, why is that? Because Walter Cronkite spent his whole life talking about what others had done and didn't do anything himself. I'm not against journalists, but Winston Churchill spent his whole life doing something and then being talked about. Let me share with you how this flushes out in the real world. There's a story that's told of Walter Cronkite, that he was out on vacation with his wife off on the coast and he loved to boat. He loved to go out on a boat and just enjoy himself. And one day he was out there on the boat with his wife and just having a lovely afternoon, just enjoying life, when there was a couple of younger men in a speedboat who came by him and they kept revving up to him and hollering at him and then backing off and revving up and hollering at him. And Walter Cronkite was, you know, he was used to the paparazzi, for lack of better terms. He was used to people always wanting to talk to him. He was used to people wanting his autograph and wanting to get his opinion on things, because he was this famous journalist. Finally, his wife said, Walter, what are they saying? The young man came up again, and he listened, and he said, I think they're saying, hi, Walter. Hi, Walter. His wife said, that's not what I heard. He said, oh, I hear it all the time. So his wife waved him on again. And as they got up closer, what they were saying was, low water, low water. Walter Cronkite was about to take his boat into a place that it would be grounded at a very, very high speed. He had such a pride about him. He had such a lack of humbleness. He just assumed they weren't giving him a warning. They wanted to be with him. They wanted to be in his presence. Folks, Walter Cronkite's not going to be in history books 500 years from now. Winston Churchill will be. He said, well, why is that? Toward the end of his career in life, he was giving speeches, going to universities, being with dignitaries. And one time a reporter, much like Walter Cronkite, came up to Winston Churchill and said, does it not amaze you that every time you open your mouth, every time you give a speech, that it's standing room only? I mean, there are so many people there. We have a hard time meeting fire code. You are so popular." And Winston Churchill responded. He said, yes, but it's only half the number of people that would be present if they knew I was being hung. What Winston Churchill realized was this. All the stuff in which he did, he was a humble man. Walter Cronkite was not. One day, when the history books are written way after their lifespans, we'll hear of the one who was humble and not of the one that was proud. Jesus humbled himself to the point of death humbled himself to the point of the cross so that we might be saved God asked of us in Isaiah 57 if you will humble yourselves if you will be contrite He said you will dwell with me in the high and the holy places I want to close this morning with the story that I heard from one of you this morning name not to be shared an Individual came up to me and said I'm glad that we're talking about We're talking about going to the next step, getting beyond some of this stuff. This person shared with me that they had been praying. That's what I'm talking about. An individual willing to stand up and say, it might be me. I might be the problem. I might be the stumbling block. God, show me, is it me? Because the proud person says, get them right. And get them right. The humble person says, God, it might be me, so get me right. Folks, that is the first step of revival. If you want to experience it personally, if you want to experience it in this church, if we want to experience statewide, United States wide, we've got to have individuals who come before God say, you are the high and holy one, you inhabit eternity, you are holy, and it might be my fault. And if it is, change my perspective, change my person, change my priorities, change my prominence, change everything about me so that I'm in accordance with you, so that I don't keep others from going where you want to take them. That's the spirit of a humble and contrite person, willing to say, oh God, it might be me. Let's pray.