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All right, it's great to be back here once again this evening at Faith Ward Baptist Church. And this evening's sermon, I'm going to be kind of dovetailing off of this morning's sermon. They really go hand in hand as far as the teaching that I want to get across this evening. And if we look there in Matthew chapter 18, those first few verses I'm going to be focusing on where the Bible reads, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And this question of who is the greatest, we actually see this recorded in Matthew and Mark and in Luke. And we're going to look at all three of those references this evening because they all add a little bit different information to this answer of who is the greatest. And as I was mentioning this morning, I was talking about how your decisions and even small things sometimes can have big ramifications. You always understand how great a matter you could end up doing off of little things. Well, this evening, I'm going to focus on, hey, how are we going to be the greatest? Who doesn't want to be the greatest, right? I mean, at everything we do, we ought to want to excel and be great. I mean, it should be the mindset of everyone here. You want to be the best Christian you could possibly be, right? I want to be the best. I want to please the Lord. I want to be pleasing unto Him so that when I serve God, He can just look at me and be like, wow, you know, you are just serving me greater than everyone else. That's a good desire to have. That's a good want to have that. Now, if we think about being the greatest in the sense of worldly things, what does that entail? Well, a lot of times, one of the first thoughts that pops into my mind is like sports and athletes, right? You have the goats. You've got the greatest of all time in various sports, in basketball, football, baseball, whatever, right? Well, how do they achieve greatness? They have to work hard, but they focus on themselves, right? They're going to isolate themselves, they're going to focus on their diets, they're going to work out. They're going to do all these things so that they could be the best and that they could excel over everyone else. But that's completely opposite of what the Bible teaches on how you can be the greatest in God's economy, in God's eyes. Let's keep reading here. The Bible says there in verse number two, and Jesus called a little child on him. So they ask him, hey, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And the first thing he does, he calls a little child unto him. It's like, you know, I have all these men, Jesus, who's the greatest? How are we going to be the greatest? Come here, little child. And said him in the midst of them and said, verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. So he said, right off the bat, first of all, you just have to realize you want to even enter, let alone not even talk about being greatest. You just want to get into heaven? You need to humble yourself like this little child, because that is the only way we could get into heaven, right? You have to be humble to accept something that you don't deserve. You have to be humble enough just as a child has to rely on someone else to provide for them, to feed them, to clothe them, to take care of them, to raise them. You have to have that same humility of going like, I can't do this. I mean, you can't take a four-year-old, my little daughter is four, and be like, all right, Emily, here you go. Here, you're out the door. Good luck. Like, of course, it's ridiculous, right? There's no way she could make it. She has to have humility in knowing like, yeah, mom and dad need to take care of me. And they need that. And all, of course, all little children need that. And he says, look, first of all, if you even want to just make it to heaven, you have to humble yourself like a little child. You have to be able to just receive a free gift, get over yourself, not think that anything that you do can get you into heaven. You just have to accept that free gift of salvation that Christ has already bought for you. And he brings this up first, obviously, it's important to know how to be saved. But this is also that humility aspect is then how you need to maintain that in order to be greatest. Look at verse number four, the Bible says, whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So it's all about humility. Now flip over, if you would, to Mark chapter nine, we're going to see a similar story here. But with the same question, right, the same desire to know, hey, who is going to be the greatest? So we get a little bit more information in Mark chapter nine. Verse number 33. And this is this is something that people want to know, right, like, hey, I want to know. And, you know, I'm all for competition. I like competition. I think it's great to kind of push each other and want to do better and want to do more. But I think what you're going to see this evening is that being the greatest is not about statistics. It's not going to be about like, well, who's the person who won the most souls to Christ? That's not necessarily the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now, look, that's great, of course, like, like, yes, absolutely. Go out, preach the gospel. Win as many souls to Christ as you can. But it's not just about like some number or just being like hitting this goal of hitting the top. There's more to it than that. And ultimately, what we're going to see is boiled down to is just being truly Christ like. The more Christ like you can be is going to give you that great name. I mean, there's there's none. There's no greater name given among under heaven whereby we must be said the name of Jesus Christ is the greatest name that's above all. And he. But what was he? He was a servant and he humbled himself and even took on the flesh of humankind and died for us on the cross. But we'll get to that in a little bit. I'll get ahead of myself. Let's look at Mark chapter nine, verse number thirty three. The reason he came to Capernaum and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed among yourselves, by the way? That they held their peace for, by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. So notice this comes up again in Matthew chapter 18, they were talking about they just came up to him and asked him in Mark chapter nine when he confronts them about, hey, what what were you guys talking about over there? They're kind of embarrassed to even say what they were talking about because they were arguing amongst themselves who is the greatest. Verse thirty five says, and he sat down and called the twelve and said unto them, if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all. He's like, OK, well, you guys want to know who's going to be the greatest? You want to know what it takes to be the first? Well, you've got to put yourself last in order to be the first. You have to be last. You have to know what it is to truly be humble and be the servant for others and have that ultimate self sacrificial mindset and attitude, because, I mean, isn't that what Christ was all about? It was self sacrifice. And that's why it's the greatest love, you know, greater love, no man in this than a man lay down his life for his friends. He was willing to give of himself for others. And this is what is going to make you to become the greatest. Let's look at the other account for this in Luke chapter twenty two for the same question on who is the greatest, because we get a little bit more information here as well. Luke twenty two, we're going to start reading in verse number twenty four. Luke twenty two in verse number twenty four, the Bible reads, and there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, so say, look, this is the way it works in the world. This is how the greatest people are, the most powerful, the rulers, the kings, and they exercise their lordship over others, he's saying, that's how they do it, that's how the heathen does it, that's how the world does it, but that's not how God works. So don't look to being the best there, like, you know, the greatest in God's eyes isn't just, oh, some pastor that could rule over everybody, and you know, that's not what God's looking for, for the criteria of being the greatest. Now the greatest may be a pastor, but that's not, you know, it's not that goal of looking of like, oh, you're ruling over all these people or something, that's not how God looks at things. That's not what makes you great, he says, that's not the way it is. In verse 26, but ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. But in the world, those that have status, those that are considered to be great people, they have servants, they have people working for them, they have all these people under them and serving them. And what the Bible is pointing out here is that, well, if you want to be the greatest in God's eyes, you need to become the servant. You don't need to aspire to have all these people under you serving you and doing all these things for you. You need to be the one to step forward and be willing and have the mindset to say, no, I'm going to want you to increase more than me. I mean, if you think about this, the Bible says that among them which are born of women are not risen a greater than John the Baptist, right? That he was, he was the greatest and that was out of the mouth of Jesus. He said, hey, look, Jesus or John the Baptist was the greatest man that was ever born. And what was John the Baptist's attitude? He must increase, but I must decrease. The whole ministry of John the Baptist and John the Baptist came on the scene and he got a following and he got plenty of people after him and he's baptizing in the wilderness and he's this great preacher and he's getting the attention of everybody. He's real popular, right? He's famous and infamous. I mean, there's people talking about him all over the place and of course he ends up getting himself beheaded for preaching the truth. But his mindset was not, how many people can I amass unto me? It was, there's Jesus, follow Christ, put your trust in him, believe on him. And he worked until his death of doing that and realizing, hey, this is nothing about me at all. I think that has something to do with him being considered one of the greatest that's ever lived as far as Christians are concerned and he was able to get that great compliment by Jesus Christ himself. And if you would too, actually, here, let me continue reading here. Yeah, verse number 27, I don't think we read this yet, for whether is greater he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meat, but I am among you as he that serveth. So, you know, when you're in the world, you're thinking, well, who's the, who's the greater person? Well, it's a person who has the servants and right, everyone's coming to them and bringing everything to him. And of course, we know that there was no greater on this earth than Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, right? The King of Kings and Lord of Lords sitting on this earth. And he says, but you know what? Look at me. I'm one that serves and we call ourselves Christians. That means we should be Christ-like or followers of Christ, which means we follow his example. And if he gives the example of being self-sacrificial and he gives the example of not wanting to have a bunch of people serving him, then we should take that to heart and say, you know what? No, my success isn't going to be based on how many people I could have serving me and doing everything for me. It's going to be on how can I serve? How can I make sure other people succeed, right? You're willing to take the brunt. You're willing to take the hardships. You're willing to suffer so that you can help other people succeed. And there is a lot that you need to have to have that right mindset and to continue with that mindset. This was something, we had a wedding ceremony yesterday. This is the type of love that a husband ought to have for his wife and for his family for that matter. But you know, the Bible says that the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and he gave himself for it. That is the self-sacrificial love. That is the love where you are willing to give of yourself so that you, your wife, your family can succeed and that you can provide and do everything that they need. Well, in the Christian life, that's expanded, right? Much greater to be able to be a servant for others in the interest of making other people succeed, making other people to develop and grow more in Christ and do things that are actually going to help them in their faith and to grow much greater. Turn if you would to Luke chapter 10. And if I start seeing the eyes go dim, I know we just had that pasta and everything was, you know, we got heavy bellies probably this evening. So don't be surprised if I call everyone to stand up, we'll do a few jumping jacks and we'll sit back down. This isn't necessarily the most dynamic sermon, so try to stay with me this evening. But in order to have this good humble mindset of being willing to serve, it takes a lot of compassion, right? One you got, you got to, you got to humble yourself and not see yourself so high and mighty and that everyone ought to be serving me. You need to put yourself down a little bit, but you also need to have some compassion on people. And Christ, if you know, Christ is a, is a great a role model for someone who had compassion. Look at Luke chapter 10 verse number 33. In Luke 10, this explains the, the, the parable of, um, or the story of being a neighbor, right? There is a, there's a man that asked Jesus, what do you need to do to inherit her life? And he, he asked about the commandments and he said, uh, you know, to love your neighbor as yourself. And so this guy, why to justify himself, he's like, well, who is my neighbor? And then he goes into the story about, you know, what we call the good Samaritan. But I want you to notice this because we're going to see in this story of this good Samaritan that he had that mindset of being humble to help someone when they were in need and to put himself out, whatever he was doing when he was on the road and he was traveling wherever he needed to go, he stopped in order to help out somebody else and to serve that person that he didn't even know and to help him along the way. And of course this is what we're commanded to love thy neighbor as thyself, right? As you would want someone to do to you, you do unto them. Look at Luke 10 verse 33, the Bible says, but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. So that, that compassion is, is that, uh, you know, the empathy, the sympathy for someone who's gone through, uh, such a horrible event. The guy's bleeding and half dead because the Rob, you know, people robbed him and beat him up and left them in the ditch to die. And of course in the story you had a priest, you had a Levite and they couldn't be bothered with them. You know, they just, they just pass over on the other side. I mean, the priest supposed to be holy. He's supposed to have this mindset and you've got a lot of religious people today that don't want to, uh, you know, be bothered with the needs of other people. And that's not right. You're not, you're not going to be greatest. You can be saved, but you're not going to be greatest, I'll tell you that much. You don't have the heart and compassion to serve other people. And if you have any interest in getting into the ministry at all, pay extra attention tonight because this is key. This sermon is all about ministering, which is serving. And when you serve and when you put other people first and you have that compassion, you know what the Bible says? That's how you're going to be greatest, but you have to put yourself last. When the Bible says the first shall be last and the last shall be first, you need to make yourself last if you want to be first. Look at verse number 34, it says, and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast. So he's walking, he's putting this guy up on his animal so he could travel with him, brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. And of course he asked him, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy on him. And then Jesus said unto him, go and do thou likewise. And you think about what did this guy go through? You know, it's easy to read these stories, but who knows what he had going on. I'm sure he had business going on that he had attend to. But what did he do? He stopped. He not only stopped, he stopped and took care of him for the whole night. I mean, this guy was in need. He goes, rents a hotel room, stays with him, tries to get him back up on his feet. And then the next day he still needs more time to recover. He's just like, look, okay, I do have to continue. I'm going to give you some money. Take care of this guy. He's stable, right? And I'm going to come back this way and I'll just make everything good. He doesn't know this guy. But he's showing compassion on him and he's being a neighbor to him because he's in need. Turn if you would to Mark chapter six. Compassion and long suffering. Long suffering means you are going to suffer long with people because if you are going to be a servant, if you want to be greatest, if you're going to help other people to succeed, sometimes it takes a while and you're going to have people that you're going to have to try to deal with and help that aren't always the easiest to deal with and help. But when people, if they need help, they need help. Right now there's always going to be those that they're not interested in growing spiritually and they just want to use and they want to abuse and so I'm not talking about getting trampled on by people who really just have no interest at all in serving, but there's definitely a lot of people that need the help, they need the time and they need the teaching, they need the training. They need just the help to improve and we ought to be there for those people and be able to suffer long with them. Look at verse number 31 in Mark chapter six. The Bible says, and he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. So you've got the disciples and Jesus serving, ministering, Jesus is healing. They're preaching the gospel, they're teaching, they're out doing this work and they're so busy it says they had no leisure, they had no free time at all, not even to grab a bite to eat. I mean they're just working through meals, they're helping people, healing, doing all this work of the ministry. Verse 32 says and they departed into a desert place by ship privately. It's like they just have to get away so they're going to a remote place, this desert place is just remote, it's out there so that they can just take a break, like they're working really hard and they're trying to take a break, they're going privately, they need a bite to eat. Look, this is all understandable, these guys are working hard and sometimes you just need to be able to break away and get a break, get a rest. But look at what happens in verse 33, and the people saw them departing and many knew him and ran afoot thither out of all cities and out went them and came together unto him. So they're like trying to get away so they can just take a break and the people see where they're going and they show up. And they're probably thinking like, good night, we want to help you but give me a break. And sometimes people don't all have the sense to not overstay their welcome and to not recognize when you ought to give people space. Now look, that's a whole other story no matter how we ought to be and to be able to be self-sufficient and be able to be caring for other people's concerns and everything else, but some people they don't get that, they just, hey, this is great, give me more, they're not very considerate of what you're putting forward or that maybe these guys should get a break. But the minister's heart continues even though they're being put out, even though they're trying to get away to have this respite, to have this break. Look what happens in verse 34, and Jesus, when he came out, saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them. He didn't come out and get bitter and get angry and get hostile with the people going, can't you just give me a break? No, in fact, the opposite, he comes out and says, and he has compassion for them because they were a sheep not having a shepherd. They need to be led, they need to be taught, they need help. And he sees them and he's going, these people, they just need a shepherd, they need to be instructed, they need the Word of God, they need the truth, they need help. And he has more compassion on them even after working as long as he's working, he still sees them not as a burden, but as people who need help. Because they were a sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things. So he instructs them, and there's a time when it's real easy to get irritated with people. There is, just be honest. People kind of overstep their bounds and it's not always easy to help people, they make it hard to be helped. Because in our flesh we're going like, come on man, don't you get it? And here's the thing that you have to understand though, and it took me quite a while to learn this actually. Even after pastoring for a while, there's a lot of people out there that weren't raised the same. I thank God for my upbringing, even though I wasn't saved as a young child and my parents weren't saved when I was being raised. But at least they raised me with certain standards and they gave me a lot of good character traits and good values in how to treat people and have manners and these types of things. And things that because I've grown up with that, I just feel like, hey, everybody should know this. I mean, what's wrong with you? Of course you should know this. What kind of a person are you? And it's kind of funny, but at the same time, it dawned on me, some people didn't have that at all. And it gets harder to fault people when they just simply didn't have someone that loved them enough to teach them some real basic things that you ought to have certain characteristics that are good, virtuous characteristics you ought to have, and they just really weren't taught how to be appropriate with people and how to deal with people and how to be respectful and honorable and these types of traits and they're going, you know what, well, isn't that part of what church is for? Teaching, teaching the Word of God, instructing and discipling and showing, hey, look, this is how you ought to be and Christians ought to be hard workers and Christians ought to be self-sufficient. You ought to be able to help the weak and do all these different things. That's what they needed. And then Jesus saw these people who probably should have known better a little bit to just be like, hey, let's just give them a little space now. Obviously, they're trying to get away. They're trying to go and take a break for a minute. Let's just hold off a minute and then give them a day and then maybe we could come back to them. They should have been able to be like that, but they weren't. But see, Jesus didn't get angry about it. He still had compassion on him and he still taught them. He realized, you know what, these people just need a shepherd. They just need to be taught the truth. Look down at verse number 35, we'll keep reading. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, this is a desert place and now the time is far past. Send them away that they may go into the country round about and into the villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat. So the disciples, they have the right mindset of just going, look, they need to eat for their health, right? They need to be able to go and get some food. But Jesus wasn't done giving. He wasn't done serving because what is he doing? When he's teaching him, he's serving him. He's sacrificing his time. He's sacrificing his energy, sacrificing his life still just while he's on this earth to give for the betterment of everyone else through his teaching, through his ministry. And then he says, well, wait, give you them to eat. No, don't send them away. Let's feed them. And they say unto him, shall we go and buy 200 penny worth of bread? Give them to eat, like, okay, how exactly do you want to do this? And of course, Jesus knows what he's going to do, but he just goes, he goes above and beyond and provides that spiritual meat and the physical meat. I mean, he's willing to help them in every capacity that he can, right? And of course, there's a miracle where he feeds 5,000 and they're able to be fed and satiated and have plenty left over. Jump down there to verse number 53, the Bible says, and when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship straightway, they knew him and ran through that whole region roundabout and began to carry about in beds, those that were sick where they heard he was. So this continues, you know, in this chapter, like people are just flocking to Jesus. They're just mobbing him everywhere he goes. They hear about him and they want to see him and they need people healed and people have all of these needs and they're bringing all of their troubles to him and they're carrying people out. Hey, my brother's sick. Hey, my sister's sick. My cousin's sick. And they're bringing them out to you. Can you help? Can you help? Can you help? Can you help? And he does. And he does. And he doesn't turn them away and he continues to serve and continues to serve. And look, that's not easy. Verse 56 says, and whithersoever he entered, anywhere he went, into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment and as many as touched him were made whole. Talk about someone who just gave himself for the needs of others because this is what Jesus did for his entire ministry, his three and a half years. I mean, he's just going around and this is what he did. He didn't have a place to sleep. He was out on the road and just traveling and going from town to town, village to village, and people, as soon as they saw him, were just flocking to him. And it's sun up to sun down, you know, all this ministry work. And then he's going and praying sometimes all night or half the night and, you know, and spending time with the father. And then the next day, continuing and continuing. It's exhausting work. But he continued to serve for other people's benefit. Now turn, if you would, quickly to Hebrews chapter 5. With ministry comes drama, right? And when you deal with people long enough, that happens. It's just going to happen, especially sinful people, right? The more sinful people you deal with, the more drama there is. And look, I'm a sinner and I'm not perfect either, right? And you get conflict with people sometimes, but we have to be able to overcome that. Everybody has problems. Nobody's perfect. And everybody ends up getting themselves into messes. Some may be more than others and some might be more serious than others, but, you know, as a minister, as I mentioned previously, it's also important to remember that not everyone is brought up the same. And we need to keep that in mind. Not everyone has developed the character to take care of themselves properly and not to be a burden on others. But that's why it needs to be taught. And we need to be long suffering and have compassion on people to be able to help them to succeed in the Christian life. Now, you can only help someone as much as they want the help and to be able to move forward, right? I mean, there's some people, you can't force people to do anything. But anyone that has a willing heart and a willing desire, yeah, you can help them. Bible says in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse number 1, for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. So this is talking about the high priest having compassion on the ignorant. What does it mean to be ignorant? It just means you're unlearning, it means you don't know. A lot of times people use the word ignorant as a replacement or a synonym for stupid, but those are not the same thing. They're not. Someone who's ignorant just, they lack some knowledge. They just don't have the understanding or the knowledge or the wisdom that they might need in a particular area. It's not that, you know, stupid people are kind of different, they're more what the Bible considered like a fool. But the ignorant, all they need is to be taught. They just need to have the information, they need to be instructed, they need to be given that wisdom so that they're not ignorant anymore. And then not just that, it says and on them that are out of the way, having compassion on those that are, you know, they've turned the wrong way in their life. Well let's try to get them reconciled, bring them back. That's one of the jobs of a priest and as a minister. I'll read for you from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, turn if you would to Matthew chapter number 5. I've got a few passages I'll read for you. First Thessalonians 5, 14, the Bible reads, now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly. When people are unruly, they can't be ruled over, they just don't want anyone to tell them to do, warn them. If you are unruly, you're not going to be able to help them that much other than just giving them a warning like, look, that's not going to be good for you. Because unruly people don't want to be told what to do. They don't want to be told the right way, so you just got to be like, okay, well look, here's what you're going to get. It says warn the unruly. But then it says, comfort the feeble-minded. Comfort them. Right? Feeble-minded people, they need help. Support the weak. Be patient toward all men. That's how you minister, that's how you serve, you need patience. Everyone's got problems, there's weak people, hey you need to be supported. The feeble-minded, comfort them. See that none render evil for evil in any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. This all goes hand in hand, you want to be the greatest? You got to learn how to put yourself last and how to serve. Acts 20 verse 35, the Bible reads, I have showed you all things, how that's so laboring ye ought to support the weak. And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And you know what, that's a true statement. And if you don't know the truth of that statement, you need to start giving more than you receive. Because it is true. And you don't realize that until you actually start giving of yourself and you realize, wow, that really is a blessing. Matthew chapter 5, look at verse number 38, the Bible reads, ye have heard that hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away that coat, let him have that cloak also. So, you know, obviously you have to be pretty humble if someone smacks you to be able to say, all right, here you go, right? Because when you're really full of pride, oh, no, you didn't, you know, you didn't just hit me in the face, you know, like, we're going to settle this right now, buddy. But you see the humility being taught of, yeah, I mean, that's disrespectful. Someone's going to, you know, smack you across the face, all right, here you go, go ahead. I'm nothing, nothing. Oh you want to sue me, you want to take everything I have, here you go, go ahead, take it. I'm not wrapped up in this world's good, I'm not wrapped up in myself, I'm not full of all of this pride, go ahead. Verse 41, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, compelling someone to go a mile, I mean, they're like, I'm not just asking you, like, hey man, I need you to do this, I mean, you're really persuading you and compelling you, can you go a mile with me? And look, I hope I don't have too many people compelling me to go a mile, I've gotten really out of shape, it's going to be a lot more difficult, because the Bible says, not just to go with them that mile, but go with them to Wayne, like, dude, like, oh man, I need to start preparing myself to get ready to go two miles with people that want me to go with them. Pastor Anderson, please don't ask me to go on any marathons, I don't need to be compelled. But obviously you're putting yourself out a little bit, right, someone's compelling you, look, I really need this help, this is the teaching of go the extra mile, right? Someone's asking you to do something, you go more, you go above and beyond. Verse 42, give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Again, you have to be humble to do this, you have to be over yourself, you have to actually be considerate and care about even those that hate you. This is where it could get really difficult, because our natural response as human beings is going to be to fight back, or be like, well, forget that guy, he hates me, he's always trying to do bad things to me, I don't have anything to do with him, you know what, he can go jump in a lake as far as I'm concerned, but that's not going to make you greatest in God's eyes, that attitude. This is what Jesus is teaching. You ought to be able to be over yourself so much to still love that person enough to be able to say, you know what, I want that person to succeed. They could hate me all they want, but I would love for that person, maybe they're not saved, to get saved. You pray for that person to get saved, and not hate them and just, man, I just hope they're the worst part of hell because he does mean things to me or whatever, like, no, don't have that mindset and that attitude. Love them enough, pray for them, and try to overcome evil with good. Verse 45 says that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven, for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the just. Look, God gives a lot of blessings and mercy and longsuffering towards people who are sinners and even towards people who hate him, so we need to follow that example as his children be able to say, okay, you know what, we can do the same thing, as for if you love them which love you, what reward have you, do not even the publicans the same? If you're only going to be good and only going to care about the people who actually care about you or love you first or something, be like, okay, well, he did good to me, so I'm going to be good to him. He sent me a Christmas card, so I'll send him one back. It's a silly example, but you know what I mean, right? Saying like, well, what does that show you? Like don't worry about or keep tabs on who's doing good to you so you can do good to them. That's what normal people do. That's what the world does. That's what people care about, like, oh, okay, well, he took me out to lunch, so now I'll take him out to lunch. Don't even be thinking about that stuff. You don't have to do this one for one thing. How about you just, you know, love even those that hate you. Love your enemies. If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publican so. And this is, you know, important not to get carried away where you get so, you know, look, love the brethren especially, right, and be willing to do more for your brother and sisters in Christ, but that doesn't mean that you isolate yourself from the world and you just have this compound and like we're all just going to only interact with one another and this is everything. Look, no, we need to be good even to people like outside the church and unsaved people too have a good rapport among men and be willing to help, be helpful to them. Be therefore perfect even as your father in heaven or which is in heaven is perfect. Now Philippians chapter two is the last place I want to look tonight. Turn if you would to Philippians chapter two. This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible, Philippians chapter two and I preach on this frequently in my church because this, for me, it's kind of encapsulates what it's like to be a Christian, what we ought to have them, the mind, the spirit that we ought to have as a follower of Christ. In this mindset will help you to be the greatest, right? But in order to be the greatest, you're not going to be really thinking that much about being the greatest. It's like, it's so counter. It's like, well, I want to be the greatest, but you got to just then put yourself last. So as you're putting yourself last, it's hard to be thinking like, well, I'm the greatest. You see what I mean? You truly have to just humble yourself to the point where you're saying, you know what, I'm just going to, I'm going to make myself available, I'm going to help as many people as I can. And you know, in order to do that, that's a sacrifice. And that is a sacrifice. So if you are really, truly interested, excuse me, in being a minister, and when I say being a minister, I'm not just saying like being a pastor, anyone can be a minister. You minister the gospel, minister the word of God, you help other people, you can be a minister. It's just a servant. You can serve. You don't have to have any one particular office or any office to be a minister. Everybody can be a minister. But if you want to be in the ministry and minister, it requires sacrifice and you have to be willing to give. And it's going to take your time. It's going to take patience. It's going to take a lot of love for people that might not be deserving of your love. But you know what, you're not really deserving of God's love either, but He gave it to you. Verse number one, Philippians chapter two, the Bible reads, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. This is a teaching to the church of Philippi, to Paul to Paul saying, look, fulfill my joy. You would make me happy if you could be like minded in this, if we can have the same love and being of one accord of one mind and that we're not serving or doing anything for our own vainglory or for fighting or anything like that. But that it's in lowliness of mind where you're esteeming others better than yourself. And when you see, truly see people as being better than yourself, you're willing to give, you're willing to sacrifice, you're willing to help. Hey, they need this, so I'm going to get, I know it's going to, it's going to put me back. It's going to set me back. It's going to put me out. But anyways, I'm willing to suffer a little bit if that's going to help them. That's the mindset. That's the attitude. Verse four, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Of course, we have to take care of ourselves. I have to take care of my family, for example, but that's not, I don't just say, well, I just have my family and that's it. And that's everyone else. No, not as a minister, not as, not as someone who's going to have the mind of Christ. Of course I need to take care of my own, but I'm also going to look on the cares and needs of others. And that's what we have to do. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, fought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. He served, Christ served on this earth as someone who just had no rep, no reputation. Just going down to the common man, even though he's God in the flesh, God almighty, creator of heaven and earth as a human, as man and putting himself equal with man. He thought not robbery be equal with God, but he's putting himself equal with man and serving his own creation and took upon the form of a servant and made, and was made into likeness of men. I mean, this is, this is what Christ did for us. This is the example. This is the mind of Christ. He came to serve. He said, I came, I came not to be ministered to, but to minister. And ultimately as that great song we were just singing, you know, he was born to die. He came to take on the sins of the world and ultimately to die for us and lay down his life for his own creation and it's the ultimate sacrifice. Self sacrificial love is the greatest love. And as a minister, as someone who wants to be the greatest, you want to excel, you want to be a great Christian, you want to be the best Christian you could possibly be. You need to learn to humble yourself. You need to learn to be able to go without. You need to learn to be able to put other people up in front of you and have the heart and have the mind that says, how can I help this person succeed? What can I do to make them a little bit better? What can I do to help them grow spiritually? That's what it's all about. That should be the heart and the soul and the mind that we all share. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for loving us and we love you because you first loved us, dear Lord. We thank you for saving us. We thank you for guiding us and giving us your word and this instruction, dear Lord. And I pray as all of us here are sinful, sinful creatures, Lord, that you would help us to have this mindset that where we could humble ourselves and abase ourselves in your sight and be able to serve others and be able to lead people to Christ and to teach and to guide and to support the weak and, Lord, all of the things that we read tonight, please help us to make the changes in our life going forward that we can be better servants for you and show the love of Christ more broadly. Lord, we love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.