Okay, is that too loud? Eddie, you good in the back? Okay, very good, amen. Oh, we got the clock up here, praise the Lord. Interesting subject tonight, something that I've wanted to preach on for a very long time. And it's, I'm labeling it the missing ingredient, but we find ourselves in Psalm 22 tonight if you turn there. Psalm chapter 22. Now, this is the defining verse. We're not going to stay in the Psalms. We're going to be in the New Testament tonight. But the missing ingredient is humility, and I want to preach on the Lord's humility tonight. You could have another title and call it the unparalleled humility of Jesus Christ. But to us, this is the missing ingredient in our lives. Let's pray. Father, I'd ask you to be with us tonight. Take these stammering lips and trembling heart and put them aside. We ask you to take over the service, Lord, as only you can. This is your word, everything belongs to you. Thank you for giving us your words of hope. This is a promise, this book. From Genesis to Revelation, Lord, every word is true. And everything down here is a lie. So we thank you for keeping your word and the love letter that you've given to us tonight. Let us have your spirit among us tonight, Lord. Put me aside. Thank you for those that have come to help us to get home safe. with the blood of Jesus Christ, Lord, over these lips, these unclean lips, Lord. I'll thank you for it in Jesus' name, amen. Psalm chapter 22. We pick it up in verse one there. This is the Lord on the cross. My God, my God, verse one, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Verse two, oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in the night season, and I'm not silent. Verse five, they cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were not confounded. Verse six, which is where I wanna park it for a minute. But I am a worm, and no man. The reproach of men, keep your memory on that word reproach, and despised of the people. All that see me, laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head saying, he trusted on the Lord. That's the Pharisees that are saying this. That he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. Let's go back to verse six. It says, the Lord said of himself, but I'm a worm and no man. Can you imagine the creator of the universe crying out and calling himself a worm in front of his creation? There's a man that's going to hell right now. The Lord Jesus Christ is on the cross crying out. He's in unbelievable pain, something you'll never know, that you'll never understand, that you'll never comprehend. We can't comprehend it. The best of us can't, the worst of us can't. comprehend what was going on in this chapter, when this verse, when the Lord said, he likens himself to a man that's cursed, going to hell. Yet this very verse defines, in essence, the very nature of Christ's humility. This groaning of self, the loathing of what he's become, it's not by complaint, but it's by the definition of his life. Verse seven, it says here, that all they that see me, they laugh me to scorn. He's humble. because he doesn't retaliate on the cross. He doesn't threat retaliatory words. He doesn't say, I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna get my gun. Johnny, get your gun. No, the Lord didn't do that. A sinless man given his life and sacrifice, identifying himself as a cursed man in hell, hence the term worm, yet the verse doesn't stop there. It goes on. It goes, verse 18, a part of my garments among them, they cast lots upon my vesture. Verse 24, 23, you that fear the Lord, praise him. All you that see to Jacob glorify him and fear him. All you the seed of Israel. Verse 26, the meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. Verse 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor. Among the nations, he goes from a worm in verse six to verse 28, he's the governor. Worm to governor. The Lord went through this, we'll get to my point on this later, the Lord went through this whole thing for you and I, the police's father. Humility. What is it? It's the missing ingredient. You know, I like to watch my kids cook nowadays. They're taking up cuisine, the Jonathan, the David, and now my daughter. They're good. They're getting really good with all the mixtures. I don't even know half the ingredients that they're using. And the way they cook, and they add those ingredients, and it makes the flavor, and it makes the savor of the meals delicious. And they're really coming into their own now. But the ingredient that we all really need that we don't have in our shelves, but it needs to be in our heart, is this ingredient called humility. And it was the Lord's life. It's what defined Jesus Christ. It's what made him great. It's what set him apart from everything else, was that humility. It's that lowliness of mind. It's that going into the, as the triumphal entry, sitting on the colt, the foal of an ass, and he had his head down. That ass took a long time to get there. That wasn't a horse. That was like, took its time. And he had his head down. He wasn't like a king coming in for the splendor or the glory. Look at me. He had his head down. He was humble. He was beyond imagination. He's a worm. He talks about him being a worm. and yet he becomes the governor, the missing ingredient. I'd like to turn you over there to Luke 2. Luke 2, we're gonna be here a little bit. Luke 2. Every December we read this. It's September, it's close. The Lord's birthday's in three weeks anyway. It's not December 25th. We're not gonna get into that, don't worry. Please. Luke chapter two, let's go take it back in Luke chapter one, verse behind it. Verse 30, Luke 1.30. So Gabriel comes up and parks alongside Mary. knocks on the door most likely, doesn't scare, he's a gentleman. This idea that he just puffs and appears, the Lord's a gentleman in everything that he does. In Luke chapter one, verse 30, Gabriel visits Mary and announces the virgin birth and explains that her son, she's gonna bear a son. Verse 30, an angel said unto her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. We read this verse, this birth was without a man, so the Lord had to submit himself to the reproach for his entire life, to be reproached, because what was gonna follow was that people were gonna mock him out, that he didn't have a father. People love to talk. Can you imagine the kids at the schoolyard as he grew a little? So there's a lot that's not said in scripture, but we glean. As he's growing up, he was by himself. They realized a lot of the kids talk, and the parents talk, and they tell the kids, and the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have an earthly father. He had a stepfather, but he didn't have an earthly father. He had a heavenly father. So he submitted himself to the reproach from his very birth. He was humble in his birth. He was humble in his birth. We are born in hospitals with a birth certificate, aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and the great hurrah. The Lord Jesus Christ was born. Look in Luke chapter two. Let's turn over there a little bit. In his birth, Joseph also went up from Galilee, we're in verse 4, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was a house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that they should be delivered. And she brought forth, verse 7, her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. because there was no room for them in the inn. There was no room. There was no room then, there's no room now. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as humble as humble could be. He was humble in his birth, and he was humble in his birthplace. He had to put himself to suffer the reproach of men from a baby. To be mocked for those same kids that were in the schoolyard show up in John chapter 8 verse 19 Saying where is thy father? Nobody says you don't know my father nor do you know me if you didn't know my father you would have known me He doesn't retaliate, because he's always leaving the door open, because he's humble. This is a humility that can't be explained. I can't preach it good enough. I can't teach it good enough. The humility factor. He never loses his cool, except in the temple, when they were selling and making money in the temple, and he turned to add the zeal. But when it comes to this, comes behavior of people, he never loses his cool. He's the model, the model citizen of humility. As I get older, I'm 30 years now, October 2nd, I'm 30 years in Jesus Christ. And the older that I get, the more I wanna be humble. I don't wanna be a New Yorker anymore. I love New York, but I don't wanna be a New Yorker. What's wrong with New York? Everything's fast. We live fast, we eat fast, we drive fast, we die fast. I stand in front of the microwave and say, hurry up, I want the coffee. The Lord isn't like that. The Lord had humble beginnings. There was no room then. It seems that there was nothing that's been changed from the time that Christ was born. The book of Isaiah 53 too says, he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. You know what that is? That's humility. Do we have that ingredient? I don't think we do. See, humility isn't something that you're born with. It's something that you grow into. You don't just become humble. Humility comes over years of mistakes and mistakes and mistakes, and you realize, I'm not going to do that anymore. It's just until recently that I get mocked at work, and I really just start laughing at myself. They don't understand it. And they'll say brutal jokes to me, not anything that's vulgar, but they'll just bust my chops and I'll just sit there and laugh, because if you can't laugh at yourself, you're not even looking to be humble. The problem with people is they take themselves too seriously. He was humble in his birth, he was humble in his birthplace, and he was humble also here in his youth. When they lose him going up to the temple, when he's disputing with those in the temple, the mother and the father leave and they don't realize that he's been, he's left himself because he's behind, he's explaining the scriptures to the Pharisees. In Luke chapter two, verse 49, we read, turn over there if you would. He says to his mother, And he said unto them, how is it that you sought me? Wished ye not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. Verse 51, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them, subject unto them. Kids, kids, this is for you. Take care of your parents. Listen to your parents. Be subject to your parents. Do what your parents ask. Amen? I didn't have the luxury and the privilege of being raised in a Christian family. I come from a very broken home, but you don't. This is some of the best families I've ever seen in this church. We brag about this church nonstop until it gets ridiculous in my house, how incredible this church is. The families, the fathers, the mothers, the kids, the behavior, what they've grown into, and I don't wanna name names because we're all a family, amen? Everybody is part of another, but you all know who you are. growing into this humility factor being subject. The Lord Jesus Christ was subject unto his parents from his youth. From the time that he's 12 until the time that he's 30 is 18 years. And what he's doing is he's taking care of his mother because Joseph dies. Because by the time he comes out into his public ministry when he's 30, Joseph is no longer around. The Lord had to step in, and he's the oldest brother. He's the firstborn. Jewish life back then the firstborn took charge and the Lord Jesus Christ before he comes into the ministry Well, he had to take care of his family Amen, you say oh, I want to do some great thing for God. What about your family? You're doing a great thing for God Why does everybody have to have a title? Look at brother Bowman and and and Cora and just a family member, just being here, being a family, being an elder, being quiet, that's a humble man right there. I could have gloated on him, but I'm saying that's a humble man. What's he doing? He's a family man. He's stepping in, and he's being humble, and he's being subject. Amen? He's being subject. The Lord Jesus Christ was subject to his parents. He was subject at birth. He aligned himself being blameless when the devil couldn't point his finger at him, without reproach. Kids, love your parents. They're not gonna be around forever. They're not gonna be around forever. A man's life is three score and 10, and if by strength, four score. That's 80, if it's strength. Not everybody's gonna be in a meal, right? Not everybody's gonna be jumping over fences when he's in his 70s. That's not your typical guy. Love your parents. Why? Because that's an ingredient that you need to apply into your life. And when you start loving your parents and you get into that way and you get into that mold, you have something. You have humility. We need that. That's the missing ingredient. in our lives. Humble yourself before God that might exalt you in that due day. Humble yourself. How do you humble yourself? Well, follow the Lord. Listen to what I'm saying. He was humble. Matthew 13. Let's take a look. Make a left. Matthew 13. Bible says in verse 54, Matthew 13, 54, let's pick it up here. And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue in so much that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? not his mother called Mary, and his brother James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet's not without honor, saving his own country and his own house. And it says in verse 58, And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Now, it doesn't say that he's not able to do mighty works. He could raise the dead and do everything as a son of God could. It was the prevailing mindset that he didn't want to subject himself to do it for them because they didn't believe. The Lord didn't like unbelief. He had a problem with unbelief. When he left this place, he doesn't go back. He was humble amidst his unbelieving countrymen amongst his own family members. You ever notice that when you get saved and you go back to your family, they kind of laugh at you? I knew you when you were a kid. You were smoking all that pot. Yeah, but that was then. This is now. I go back to the friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah, in one and out the other. That's good for you, Kev. I'm glad for you. It's good for you. They're not you without honor. You go back to your family members. They're the hardest people to win to Christ, your family members. Why? Because they grew up with you and they knew you from a little kid. They watched you grow up. They watched in all the trouble you got into all your life. And now you're coming to them and it's hard for them to understand that that's what's going on here in Matthew 13. There were that's what he's without honor, prophets without honor, saving his own country among his own kin, among his own people. He was humble. How did he react? We sat down, he didn't get all in a tirade, he didn't get defensive, he didn't go ballistic. He would just said, you know what, I'm just gonna move on. He was humble amongst unbelieving countrymen. And this is the earmark of the Lord's ministry. Many believed, many didn't. This is how missionaries are called. Missionaries are called from this. They go out, they witness, they go, they start a work, they're faithful in a local church, they do everything that they possibly can, whether it's soul winning, whether it's tract distribution, whether it's street preaching, whether it's church attendance, whether it's going on revival camps, participating here, and after a while, you get stale in one area, and the Lord takes you from here, and the Lord moves his people over here. Just because one area dries up doesn't mean the Lord can't use you in another area. Amen? He was humble, amazed at his unbelieving countrymen. And there's another one. Look at John chapter 6. Turn over there to John 6. John chapter six, verse 38. For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. He's speaking to lost Jews here. He's humble. He's proven his worth. He's talking to these lost Jews. He's over there, he's showing that he's the bread of life, verse 22. He's telling them, the Jews are telling them, my father did eat manna, in verse 31, in the desert, and it's written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. And Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth you that true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth his life unto the world. He's humble in his life mission. He doesn't talk about his announcement. He doesn't have a group of people standing there with a bunch of trumpets announcing what he's gonna do. He comes, he's unassuming. He explains, this is my life's work. I do this because I do this for the Father. His life work was to put the Father. He said the same thing in the garden. He said, not my will, but thine be done, as teardrops of blood began to fall. Our Lord Jesus Christ, took his will and put it behind him. And if you were to ask me what the one issue with our brothers and sisters today, what the one issue today with where we're at, why we don't go further for the Lord, it's because you don't give your will to the Lord. You're not giving your will to the Lord. Not my will, but thine be done. And that is the crux of the matter right there. If you would surrender your will to Jesus Christ. Listen, when you got saved, when you asked the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, It was a, when you buy a business, we write what's called a memorandum of understanding. That memorandum of understanding is an intention to buy that business. The purchase contract comes with the seller signing the purchase contract. You sign your life over to Jesus Christ. You may not like what I have to say here, but when you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save you, you ask him to come to your life, and now he's come into the life, he shut the door, and he's gonna rearrange the furniture. And what most of us do is say, no, I don't want that. Well, I'm sorry, that's part of the package. That's part of the package, and that's where the will is. And that's what you have to resign to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to resign your will to the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Eddie's 61 now, he's going to Mexico, just retired. He's been wanting to do that probably for his whole life. He wasn't able to do that because he had to work his whole life. He had to provide for his family. He had to take a back seat in what he wanted to do, and he had to put that aside, and he had to work for his family. And now he gets the benefit of going to the mission field. God can do anything with his own vessel. He can't do anything if your will's gonna be in the way. Not my will, the Lord Jesus Christ said, but thine be done. You know, none of us would be here tonight if the Lord didn't put his will behind him. None of us. You say, what is it? It's the ingredient that we don't have and that we need to have it. You say, can I get it? Yes, you can get it. You need to just put your will aside. You need to realize, it's not my will. It's not my will to act like that. It's not my will to think that way. It's not my will. And as you go through the day and the years and the months and the years, as you get older in the Lord, you realize your will has gotten you nowhere. You ever know people who were, their whole life, they're nowhere with God? I mean, that's not something I study, but it's something that happens. They're nowhere with God. What's the problem? Their will. They weren't allowed the Lord to work in their life. They won't give their will. They won't surrender their will. They won't do anything that the Lord asked them to do. His life mission was for others. We read about this in 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. The Lord gave everything up. He was a rich man, he gave everything up. He came down here, he borrowed a body. He lived in that body. He came down, he subjected himself to a family. He grew up, he took care of that family, Joseph died. Once he took care of that family, he steps into the ministry. He comes into the ministry and he takes care, he presents his life to the nation of Israel. He gathers apostles as his friends. He becomes poor. What do I mean? Look at the end of John 7. Verse 52. They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. Yes, there is. It was Jonah, but they're too stupid. Verse 53, and every man went into his own house. John chapter eight, verse one, Jesus went into the Mount of Olives. Everybody went to the house, Jesus went to, he was homeless. You know where his home was? He was looking up at stars at night. He could number every one of them, because he made them. And I wonder sometimes when I look at this, and I realize, I look into this, and I say, it makes you feel bad for the Lord, but the Lord doesn't want you to feel bad for him. See, he's enjoying his creation. He doesn't need a house. In the Old Testament, he set up a tent and dwelt in a tabernacle over a mercy seat that was the size of these two seats right here. And this is where he lives, right here inside the mercy seat, inside the tabernacle. The Lord doesn't need a big house. He doesn't need a fancy car. It's not about that. Laodicea has it all wrong. You know why the Lord says those things about our church? Not us, not us. Because that's what they're consumed with, big buildings and building programs. buses to bring them in, and events to bring people in, to be, bring them in, the more you bring in, you get them saved. I know the intention, but the means to get the people in. The Lord was never like that. John chapter eight, he was humble in his earthly abode. He didn't worry about materialism. We do, though. So when I say there's a missing ingredient, These are the ingredients that we're missing in our life. You say, well, can I get them? I mean, how do I, what do I, well, you can get them. You can attain. Paul says, I've not yet attained, but Paul did attain some things. He was the greatest Christian that ever lived, but he didn't know that, nor did he care that he was the greatest Christian. He just, what compelled him was the love of Christ. The love of Christ, he didn't worry about the prizes and the soul winning and all that nonsense. Ah, it drives me nuts, that fundamental stuff. That's another word for it, but I can't. I'm gonna pulp it. I've divorced myself from that Baptist crap. I'm sorry, I just, I hate it, hate it. The will. He was humble in his earthly abode. And then Luke 15, turn with me over to Luke, one book back. In Luke chapter 15, look at verse 1 and 2. And when you read your Bible, do yourself a favor. There was a guy in the old days named Evelyn Wood. Pastor Pat knows this. Evelyn Wood, speed reading. Don't be Evelyn Wood when you're reading your Bible. If you can only handle a paragraph a day, but meditate on it a good 45 minutes to an hour, meditate on that paragraph a day. Stop being Evelyn Wood and speed reading through your Bible when you don't get nothing out of it, amen? Read your Bible, study it, read it, meditate on it, like meditate. Like I'll read three pages and I'll be like, wow. Like verse one and two was one of those things that made me go, wow, look, then drew near unto him. Verse one, Luke 15, they drew near unto him. What compelled them to draw near unto him? What was the compelling humility? I'm telling you. It was his persona. It was who he was. It was the clothing of humility that people were attracted to. It was his disposition. It was his love for people. It was his love for, then Junior and Tim all the, who? The publicans and sinners? Those are some bad cats. Those are the Harley guys. Those are the Hell's Angels. I get along with those guys. I love sitting there. I go right up to them. I have no fear of those guys. I go right up to them. No fear at all. Hey, guys, how you doing? They see it in my eyes. I said, I want to give you something to read. Would you consider it? You know, I've been thinking about God lately. That's what a brother said one time when he went witness to a Hell's Angel. Don't worry about their faces, you just go. This is what the Lord did. He drew publicans, he drew sinners. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, when a true act of God is always done, the devil is always behind it. There goes the devil, verse two. Humble, he was humble among sinners. You'll notice what Jesus said. I've come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You know, true humility is very attractive. And it's appealing, true humility, not false, not fake. You know a faker when you see one. Just go up the block and knock on a couple of doors. Some churches will let you in, sit down and talk to you. Fake piety, fake piety. True humility is attractive and appealing. They drew near. This wasn't Benny Hinn. This wasn't Joel Osteen or John MacArthur. They knew right from looking at it, from hearing his words, that this was the truth. I always would think of an Israeli family that lived at the time called a son named Jacob, the father of Mordecai, the wife Naomi. It was a Jewish family. And I could just imagine Jacob coming and flying to the door. Dad's sitting there. He's reading the Jerusalem Post. Mom is sitting there across the room mending a garment. Dad, you're not gonna believe what I just saw. The carpenter, dad, the carpenter's here, he's in town. What'd he say, Jacob? He called the Pharisees, why did sepulchers, those guys with those long robes, yeah, I know who they are, I've heard them, yeah. What else did he say, Jacob? He said there's dead men. He called them snakes, dad. What did he say? Called him snakes. Naomi, get my shoes. Jacob, get my coat. Where is he anyway? Go get him, let's go. Bring him over to me. Let's go, bring him up. Show me where he's at. You know where they ended up? Acts chapter one, they're part of the 120. Don't you know that those conversations were going on because of the Lord's humility? Don't you know that those conversations were going on in the first century when Jesus Christ was walking up and down doing those miracles and displaying his humility? People were coming to him by the thousands. True humility is attractive. We got a great church with great elders. We have some humble men here. I've grown more in five years than I had in 25. I had to start all over again. Pastor Pat will tell you all about that. All over again. I don't have any problem saying that to you. I'm not prideful about saying it, nor should you be prideful about admitting it in your own life. Why do people hide things? They're like, oh, you're gonna find out something about me? Your life's an open book to the Lord anyway. I'm not asking, you're not asking, nobody asked you to be an open book. but share your experience and tell people what's going on in your life and help let the humility become inside you. True humility. People respect. They may not agree all the time. I put three people together and they're never gonna agree on everything. It's okay if you don't agree, but the humility is the fact. They respect. You know, one day the devil himself, he's gonna bow the knee to Jesus Christ. And I've read that over and over and over. And I've looked at that thing. Yeah, he's compelled to do it because he's the last one there. But I think being beat at the cross, coming up from the dead, and beating him in Luke chapter four, and defeating him in an argument, and being one step of the devil at all times. But I think one thing that the devil will notice, and I'm not giving any kudos to the devil, please don't dare think that I'm giving him any kudos. But I think he realizes he's been beat because of the Lord's humility. Because he doesn't have any. He doesn't have any. The Lord wore humility like a blanket. He wore it like a robe. It was his clothing, amen? It was his life. He was humble among the sinners. He was humble. Then in Matthew 21, turn back to Matthew. Matthew 21 five. Matthew 21 five says, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. You see, the Lord humbled in his triumphal entry, but you'd never know he was coming and being triumphant. He comes with his head down, because he knows what's going on next week. He's gonna be on the cross. See, the Lord knows what's going on. He knows what the future holds. But what gets me is instead of a victory ride at the town, Jesus rides in slowly on an ass. You know, by the way, those asses that I said earlier, they don't move fast. I'm like, if that was me there, Lord, can I call you an Uber, okay? Because this is killing me, watching you come in like this. How slow the ass moves. Lord, can I get you to the temple faster? And the Lord would probably put his hand up and say, Brother Kevin, you gonna stop being a New Yorker and let me live my life? Asses don't move fast. They take their time. They're not a horse. Horses run, asses walk. Amen? The Lord was never in a hurry. Good thing for us to know about. The Lord takes time. He doesn't call a person to the ministry because they get out of a seminary in three years. You gotta learn some things about life, for goodness sakes. You gotta learn how to love your wife. You gotta learn how to take care of a kid. You gotta change a diaper. You gotta hold the job, right? Five years goes by, you know a little bit more, you understand. Then you start raising your kids a little bit more, and the Lord gives you more things to add to. Brother Pat stayed here 20 years before he went to New Jersey. Brother Nene stayed here 25 years in that seat right behind Joe Sway. See, I ask questions for people that come here. I study people. So I wanna know. It's important to me. I wanna know what, how did God use you? What happened in your life and how did God use you? So Brother Kevin, I stayed here for 25 years. Brother Pat, he stayed here for over 20 years. God's in no hurry to put people in a ministry when they're not ready. He's just not, and that's not how he works. And people would disagree with me. I got zealous Christians that say, oh, the wheat, the fields are ready to harvest. That's us, that's our job corporately. That's what we do corporately. That's our job, that's what we do corporately. but God is in no position to put anybody ahead of time, ahead of schedule. The Lord shows many things with slow things, amen? Elijah gets caught up and he's running from Jezebel for his life, and he runs, and he sits under the juniper, the angel visits him, gives him a food, and he goes another 40 days, and now he's at the Mount of God, and Elijah has to realize that the Lord is not in the fire, he's not in the earthquake, But it's a still, small voice. Still, and it's small. It's humble. It's humble. It wasn't about the fire coming down. It wasn't about the earthquake. Although those things happen, but that's not the way God works. God works over time, amen? He builds individuals slowly but surely. He builds them up. He doesn't tear them down. Humility is what we need. It's the missing ingredient. The Lord had it. The Lord had to learn it by subjecting himself over, that's how you get it. You subject yourself over, you know what? People clean the church. That's a great job to do. Clean the church. You wanna do something, come in and clean the church. You don't have to, just come in and clean it. Get the vacuum out, start vacuuming. Why do you have to be told? Seriously. Empty the garbage cans downstairs after Saturday. Just empty him. You don't have to be told just empty him. Just do it Go get chairs for those that are coming. You don't have to be told just go do it Right go out street preaching. No one has to tell you just go out go with the folks Just go go go hand out tracks. Hand them on the door. Hang on the door of these houses These people are going to hell around here The don't let him go to hell let them jump over your body to go to hell But that's humility, giving up yourself and taking on what the Lord took on. Making yourself available, holding yourself out of yourself. Get out of yourself, get out of yourself. Get into Christ. Humility, oh my goodness, do we need it in a day, in an age where we live? I don't see many good examples of humility today. in our leadership. I don't really look to the leadership anyway, but I look to the scriptures. I look to my brothers and sisters. I look to the word of God, those that are following the faith. Nothing ever went to the head of Jesus Christ. He wasn't like Herod in Acts 12, making people worship him as God. Remember that? That's how Herod died, by the way. He didn't give God the glory. Instead, he stole the glory from God. The Bible says that he was eaten with worms. It's a rough way to go. It's real rough. I see a bed bug and I freak out. Let alone a worm. Bed bugs are no good, amen? They bother me. You get one, you get 10. You get 10, you get 100, and before you know it, you're consumed, amen? You gotta wash, you gotta close, it's like having leprosy in the house. Those darn bugs, they're terrible. There's something with Staten Island and bed bugs. I don't know what it is. Nothing ever went to the head of Jesus Christ. He never he never stole anything in his life. He never stole God's glory. He never stole anything that belonged to God. He was humble. And our best times, the Bible tells us that we're. Man is man at his best time is his best state is altogether vanity. Psalms thirty nine five. At man at his best state is vanity. He was humble, look at John 13, he was humble to his creation, we're almost done. John 13, five. Verse two. OK, I'm going to take a swig. I hope you don't mind. Sorry. OK. And supper being ended. The devil, having put now into the heart of Jesus, scared Simon's son to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was coming from God, went to God. He rises from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. As Judas was plotting to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ rises at the supper, gets a towel, gets a basin, and gets the water, and he goes down and he bows down before his creation and cleans, amen. The Bible says that he cleans their feet. That's what friends ought to do. Amen. That's what true preaching does. It cleans the dirt out of your heart. That's what you hear every week. Now you're a clean to the word, which I've spoken it to you. The word of God is able to clean you. Amen. And to make you whole walk out of here better than you came. You're supposed to get clean, but we're supposed to help each other get clean. Amen. Not rise in your own wickedness or rise in your own mindfulness or your sinfulness, but you're supposed to help each other get clean. Amen. We gotta take each other, we gotta help take the grave clothes off. We gotta be mindful of people that walk in here that aren't 20 years into the Lord. We gotta be mindful to be humble, to show humility to those that come in here. Those that come into our myths, we have no idea where they're at in life. Some come in here, they're ready to commit suicide. Others have lost their way, I know them personally. Yes, they may seem to have it all together, but even there might be someone here tonight whose life is ready to fall apart. And I'm here to tell you we're here to help you. Don't you dare go out of here without getting help. If there's anything that I could do, tell me before you leave here tonight. What can I do for you? I want to be humble, but I want to help you so that you get better. Well, that's what the Lord did here. And the Lord did this not necessarily to perform a ritual here, feet washing, some churches have that. There's nothing wrong with that if that's what they wanna do. It's the example, it's the example of helping one another. Helping one another, that's what it's all about. I know a brother, He was in Christ for 20 years, and he almost ended his life on railroad tracks before his wife picked him up and helped him off. He comes here now. He was in the Lord 20 years. He was on fire for God. It doesn't take much to get you to stop closing that book, stop going to church. It doesn't take much. One day becomes indifference, and that turns into a week, and a week turns into a month, and before you know it, the years go by. And the things that used to get you excited for Jesus Christ don't even, not even a thought anymore. It doesn't even come into your mind. What happened? Well, somebody maybe didn't help. Somebody maybe didn't help. We got to be mindful of people that come in here just because they may have some years under their belt. Amen. We still have to take off the grave clothes. We still got to be charitable. We still got to be helping. We gotta do what we were supposed to be doing. We gotta wash their feet. Hey, sister, would you get the basin? Brother, would you get the towel and bring the water? We have work to do. We have work to do. In these last days, brothers and sisters, before the Lord comes, I just wanna encourage you to be sold out. I wanna encourage you to be sold out. Jesus Christ was humble. He humbled himself. Lastly, he was humble in his death. Look in Isaiah 53. Last one. Verse seven. Bible says that he was oppressed and he was afflicted. And this part gets me. Yet he opened not his mouth. Mm-mm. What is that? It's the missing ingredient. It's humility. It's humility. He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. What I see when I look at this, and I continually read this, and read about the stripes, and when I read the book of here Isaiah 53, I see my name on every stripe on his back. I see it on every whip mark, every bruise. My name is written on every prong on his head that's hammered in. Every thorn in his head has my name on it because I've committed every single sin that the Lord had to bear. My life, my birth, my early years, my rebellion, my foolish mouth, My damnable pride, my exceeding selfishness in every form, past, present, future, was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. What is that? It's humility. It's humility. We could glean some of that. Let's start with some of that. Let's do that. Let's follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. I think we do a good job already. We could be better, we could be better. Let me encourage you tonight, through this last point here, he was humble in his death, even the death of the cross. You know, I realize we're gonna go through this whole thing from his birth to his death, the Lord was humble all the way through. Even as a baby, a child, submitting himself when he was young, in his youth when his parents, the quiet years, then in his ministry and all the work that he did, and all the humiliation that he bore, and all the suffering, and all the pain, and all the insults. He stayed humble through all of that. My God, do I want to be like that? Lord, help us. Help us, Lord. I'm closing now. Father, I thank you for this Word.