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Amen. All right, Luke chapter number 14. Look down at verse number 11. It says, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So what Jesus is saying here is obviously, you know, the person who puffs themselves up, who thinks more highly of themselves than they ought is going to be abased, meaning brought low, brought down or destroyed. Okay. Now, keep your place there in Luke, because we're going to come right back to it here, but go to Philippians chapter number two. Philippians chapter number two. And I want to tell you a story here about soul winning on Thursday. So, you know, I've had this sermon on my calendar now for like a month, and it never ceases to amaze me how I always get a good story, you know, to go along with the sermon. I just love that so much. So Thursday soul winning, we knock on this guy's door. I think his brother David knocks on this guy's door, right? Guy opens the door, and he's like, Yes? And brother David's like, Hey, I'd like to invite you to church. And the guy's like, No, I'm not interested. You know, you kind of kind of had that that arrogant little smirk about him, you know, and he shuts the door. And so like, All right, I guess he's not interested. So we begin to knock on the next door. And you got to keep in mind in this apartment complex, the walls are extremely thin. And the guys in there, he starts like grunting and kind of, you know, being a little weird. And he's like, Can you believe that those guys weren't even wearing masks? You know, here we go, right? They're not wearing masks. And, and then he starts saying other stuff. And I was like, What's he talking about? And he's threatening us, right? He's like, Tell me right now. I shouldn't start some, you know, what with these guys. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm like, Okay, yeah, great. I just want to stop here for a second. You ladies, when you hear somebody do that, you need to leave. Okay? Because every single time that that happens, they're going to come out. And you know, these people are cowards, and they would love nothing more than to get one over on you. So for the ladies, you need to leave guys, you don't have to leave if you can control yourself. So, so anyways, we go downstairs, there's like two more doors, we knock on those, you can hear him pacing back and forth up there getting angry. They're yelling back and forth, right? Basically, what's going on is his lady friend is trying to prevent him from coming after us. Okay. I guess he can't handle it. So he comes down the stairs, and he's got a bag of trash with him, right? So he probably told her, Hey, I'm just gonna go take the trash out here. I'm not gonna do anything. She's literally screaming at this guy. Right? She's like, Brian, get back in here. Get back in here. Don't do anything to them. Right? And so that tells me, okay, this guy has a history of flying off the handle. He's got a history of probably trying to bully people or who knows, right? And so he comes down the stairs. I'm like, right here. I just looked at him. And I just smiled, you know, because look, I'm a human being. Okay. And in case you didn't know this, I struggle with pride. Okay. I really do. And the reason why is because I can fight and I know that. Okay. And I know this guy can't beat me. Right. And so I've got these feelings and I'm like, I'm a pastor. I cannot, you know, be doing this, but I just give him that little smirk. Right. And I know that got him upset. So we walk outside dumpsters in the back of the building. We walk out the front and he goes out there and he just can't resist. Right. He's just like, Hey, you guys shouldn't be out here. It's after seven o'clock. Right. And we're like, what are we like toddlers? You got to put us to bed. You know, we can't do anything after seven o'clock. Get out of here. But he's like, in case you didn't know, there's a pandemic going on. People are dying everywhere. And I was like, Oh, our body's just stacking up on the sides of the road and stuff, you know, and it's just real bad. And he's like, there's nothing like a hundred thousand people that died, you know, and I'm not denying the coronavirus. Okay. But look, okay. We're not sick. He's not sick. We're more than six feet away. And let me just tell you this. If there was no coronavirus thing going on right now, you know what this guy would have done? He would have been mad because we were at his door anyways, because it was after seven o'clock. Well, here's a newsflash for you guys. You know, most of the people that we get saved are usually between seven 30 and nine 30 on Thursdays. It happens all the time. Are we going to let some clown like this stop us because he's upset? Oh, of course not. Right. So he's getting mad. You know, we're going, you know, I'm just listening to him just like, you know, I said a couple of things to him. You just asked him a couple of questions or whatever, and he got really mad and he started cussing me out. Right. And then I just started laughing really loud. I couldn't help it. I mean, I'm just laughing. And then he looks at me and he gets his little bag of trash and he grabs the door and he just slams it real hard. Right. And he walks inside. And I just thought of this verse, you know, he just came out super arrogant, super puffed up, super prideful. Right. We didn't back down and we shouldn't back down and we don't have to back down. Right. We're not out looking for a fight. He was, he realized, you know, I knew he wasn't going to do anything. Right. Most look, here's another little newsflash. Most people that have man buns aren't going to do anything. Okay. That's just kind of the way it goes. And by the way, most people that can really fight don't act like that. Okay. So I, you know, we're, we're just like, you know, we're not the Mormons. We're not going to just let you run us out of Meridian out of town. Not going to happen. Right. But you know, I just realized, you know, it is a struggle to find humility in a hostile world. And that is the title of my sermon, finding humility in a hostile world. And I'm sure you can think of a situation in your own life where you, I mean, somebody's come at you and you had to seriously bite your tongue. Maybe you had to go down to the hardware store and get one of them clamps and, you know, clap your mouth shut, but it's something that is very hard to do. All right. This doesn't come natural. People think, Oh, well I'm saved. I'm a Christian. I'm just always humble. Yeah, no, you're not. None of us are. Everybody in here struggles with pride. It's something that we have got to learn to deal with. And let me show you that here. Philippians chapter two, look at verse number 14. It says, here's what Paul tells these guys. He says, Hey, do all things without murmurings and disputing. So what that tells me is we need to do all things. And that would include having a heart to find humility in a hostile world. We need to not look and be like, Oh man, you know, I just, I wish you didn't have to be like this. It's okay to feel that way because you have two natures. And guess what? You got the old man and you got the new man. And these feelings like, like I look, the old man, I wanted to charge that guy, you know what I mean? But that's wrong. That's not right. It's, and I'm just like, whoever, whoever said that I try to portray myself, like I have no wrongdoings as an idiot. Okay. I do things that are wrong all the time. I'm a human being. Just cause I'm a pastor doesn't mean I'm sinless. That's ridiculous. There ain't nobody without sins here. Okay. But he says, do all things without murmurings and disputings. And he tells you why verse 15 that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world, whether you realize this or not, you shine as a light in the world because you have the new man because you're born again, right? And we don't want to bring reproach on Christ. We don't want to be the ones that he's always like, Oh, shield the faith Baptist church again, you know, they're just always out of line, always doing this stuff, right? We want to be the sons of God without rebuke. Now, did he say you're going to lose your salvation here? No, of course not because you can't lose your salvation here, but that doesn't mean that we should just act however we want to. But what this is telling us is, Hey, we live in a crooked and perverse nation, right? The Philippians, they had a crooked and perverse nation. Look, I would submit to you that our government in our world today is probably far worse than they had it, right? And it makes it hard. Look, there's a lot of wicked people right now that are in the media that are just out in town, just everywhere, right? And look, I'm telling you, it's going to get hard guys. It's a challenge to remain humble in a hostile world. We have got to learn how to apply these things to our lives. Now turn to Numbers chapter 22. Numbers chapter 22. In case you're wondering like, well, I still don't get it. I still don't realize why I have to learn this stuff. Well, here's the thing. When we fully understand what Jesus is really teaching here in this parable in Luke chapter 14, when we can learn how to find humility in a hostile world, we're going to save ourselves a lot of shame because I'll tell you what, David and I were talking about this all night. That guy spent all night in shame. He literally tucked his man bun between his legs and went upstairs. He was so embarrassed and so mad that his little tactics didn't work on us, right? But you know what? It doesn't just apply to the lost. God's people especially have got to be careful. Look, if you don't learn to put pride aside, you will get destroyed, my friend. I promise you. And so that's why we need to learn is you need to realize that you will get destroyed. This isn't just a doctrine. It only applies to the world. No, God will destroy his own children. He will spank you, will chastise you. He will bring you low to teach you a lesson here. And I'm going to show you that here in Numbers chapter 22. We're going to take a look a little bit at the life of Balaam. And I'm just going to get you caught up because we're going to start reading in chapter number 20, or I'm sorry, verse number 22. So if you don't know the story, the children of Israel, they're on conquest. It's after the Exodus. They're on a roll. They're, you know, they're conquering the enemies and they're in the, they've finally come up to the land of the Moabites. Okay. And the king of the Moabites is a man named Balak, right? Very wicked guy. He hears that the children of Israel are on his doorsteps, literally. And he's like, these guys have been steamrolling everybody. What are we going to do? Okay. We need to do something about this. So he comes up with this idea and he says, I'm going to hire my elders. I'm going to have them take gifts of divination down to this prophet named Balaam. And I'm going to have Balaam curse the children of Israel so that they can't destroy it. Okay. So he sends these elders down there and Balaam's like, Hey, what I, you know, I can't just go and do this. I got to ask the Lord, you know, whatever the Lord says, then that's what I'm going to do. So they go back, they tell Balak and he's like, I was like, all right, grab the honorable men, right? Grab the Hollywood guys, the politicians, the people of reputation and money, and send them to Balaam and see what he'll do. So that's what he does. He sends these guys down to Balaam and he does the same thing. He's like, well, you know, I got to ask the Lord, you know, Balaam's kind of dumb. He's like, he should've just said, no, go away. But you know, he was tempted in this time because he's got these honorable people and they're like, Hey, we'll give you whatever you want. We'll give you a high position. We'll give you all this stuff. Just curse God's people. And he's like, no, I can't do it. So he, he, he communicates with God and God tells him, Hey, if they come back and call you, then go with them, but only do what I say. Balaam takes that the wrong way. And the next day does what you're going to read here in verse number 22. So look at verse number 22. It says, and God's anger was kindled because he went. Okay. And we're going to talk about this in another sermon, but God's anger with Balaam because he didn't follow instructions because guess what? His pride is getting to him, right? His temptation, his pride is getting to him. It says that God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass and two, I'm sorry. And his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way. So he's riding on this donkey and it sees what Balaam can't see. It can see into the spiritual realm, sees this angel of the Lord with a sword drawn. I was like, I don't want any part of that, right? And Balaam, he doesn't get it. So he smacks the thing. It's like, get going here. Verse 24. But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And you know, that's what it can feel like sometimes when God's chasing you. He will put you, Mr. Prideful, Mrs. Prideful in between a rock and a hard place. All right. When it comes to God's people, he's going to make you listen. Like I say, I say this all the time because it's true. You cannot play like the world plays. You just can't do it. God's not going to let you. Verse number 25. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself into the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. And he smote her again. Verse 26. And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where it was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. Verse 27. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam and Balaam's anger was kindled and he smote the ass with a staff. Verse 28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass and she said unto Balaam, what have I done unto thee that thou has smitten me these three times? Now, I don't know about you, but if an animal or a beast started talking to me, I would probably be like, what? Okay. What's going on here? You know, did I hit my head harder than I thought? You know, I, hopefully that would bring me a little humility. Okay. Like something's going on here that is above me, beyond me, but now Balaam's like, no, he just starts talking with us. Look at verse 29. It says, and Balaam said unto the ass, because thou has mocked me, I would, there were a sword in my hand for now I would kill thee. So instead of like kind of realizing, hey, it's not every day that an animal talks to you. He just answers out like, you know what? You really you're mocking me. I would just kill you. That's pride. That's arrogant. Look at verse 30 and the asset unto Balaam. Am not I thine ass upon which thou has ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever want to do so unto thee? And he said, nay. He's like, no, you got a good point. The thing about this. He's looking at the pieces like, no, dude, you got, you're, you're good. You're right. You got a good point. Silly. Look at verse 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed down his head and fell flat on his face. So what was it that caused Balaam finally to humble himself? Having his eyes open, right? Here's the bottom line this morning. Here's what you have got to go home with. When you learn to see as God sees, then you will do what God says. When you learn to see as God sees, then you will do what God says. You say, I don't get it. Why do so many people? They come to church for a little while and then they just quit or they just, you know, have all these problems. I'll tell you why. It's because they never learned to look through the eyes of God. They hear the preaching. They get a little bit of knowledge and then they get puffed up because they never apply it to their lives. And so they can't look at a situation the way that God would look at it because they don't have a heart that seeks after God. You see, when Balaam's eyes were open, then he was like, oh, I can see. Now I get it. Now I understand what's really going on here. And then he humbles himself and he's like, okay, I get it. I bow my head. Go back to Luke chapter number 14. So when you learn to see as God sees, then you will do what God says. And look, this is important because I'm telling you, man, pride is probably the number one thing. You think of everybody who's ever left this church on bad terms or gotten kicked out or whatever. One thing that they all had in common, and that was pride. It was pride, right? The struggle's real. The struggle is real. I mean, pride is what destroys God's people more than anything. Yeah, I get it. A lack of knowledge does as well, right? But really what it boils down to is pride, not understanding what God really wants. And he's teaching this parable. Jesus is teaching this parable in Luke chapter 14 to save us, not to go to heaven save. I'm talking to save you from a life of shame, to save you at your job, to save you as a mother raising your children, to save you as a father raising your children, just to save you in every aspect of life. Look, there ain't nobody that wakes up in this church and doesn't have thoughts, feelings of pride, right? It's something that you have got to be willing to look at through the lens of God and decide that I'm going to fight this every single day. Luke chapter 14, real quick, look at verse one. It says, and it came to pass as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. I find it interesting here that he goes into this, this feast, you know, he's like, okay, I'll eat dinner with you. You know, I'll eat some food with you guys. And they're watching him. Now look, what's interesting, jump down to verse seven. It says, this is Jesus here, and he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, to those which were invited, when he marked how they chose out the chief room saying unto them. You know, so people think like, oh, I got my eyes on Jesus. I'm just going to kind of observe him and kind of, you know, see if this is really worth something trying or see if he's really what he says he is, see if what he says in the Bible is really true or, or whatever. You know what I would say to those people? He's watching you more closely than you're watching him. And point number one is this, the Lord observes the proud, whether they're saved or lost. The Lord observes the proud, whether they're saved or lost. I think that we would save ourselves a lot of trouble, a lot of perils. If we would just realize, you know what? God's watching us. Okay. He is watching. I mean, think about it. They're watching him and they're thinking, okay, we're going to catch him, but he's observing them and he's going to teach us a great lesson. Now turn to first Peter chapter three, first Peter chapter number three, and I'm going to read for you out of Psalm 32 eight, which says this, I will instruct thee and teach thee and the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. You see, it's God's desire that he guide your life with his eye. He observes his people. He watches the decisions that you make, the things that you say, and even the things that you think in your heart. When you show up to church and decide, you know what? I'm just going to tune this lesson out because I already think I've got to put together. I'm good to go. He's watching that. He's marking that. He's observing that. And you know what? When your life falls apart later on because you neglect to apply the wisdom that comes with God's word, you know what? He's just going to be like, hey, you did it to yourself. You know what? You thought you were watching. You were looking at my word, which is me. And you were thinking that you had it all put together, but in reality, I watched you and you didn't. You had no idea that you're making a mistake. Why? Because you're blind. First Peter chapter three, look at verse 12. It says, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. Well, who are the righteous? The saved. People who have been born again. What does it say? For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Well, that's kind of different from what the world talks about today, isn't it? Because the world today says, oh, God, he just loves everybody no matter what they do or say. Right? But is that true? No. His eyes are over the righteous. He cares. See, like I told you, you cannot live the way the world does and get away with it. Sure, you might get away with it for a couple of weeks, couple of months, maybe even a couple of years, but sooner or later, he's going to drop the hammer on you and you will get exposed. And it's not because he's like, yeah, I got you. It's to help you out. It's to bring you up. Right? He wants us to be exalted. Is that not what he said in Luke chapter number 14, verse 11? You know, it's okay that we get exalted and we're going to talk about this here in a minute. It's okay to be lifted up, but you got to do it the right way. You have got to do it the right way. Go back to Luke chapter number 14. And so just to illustrate this, I think it was Friday, our company sent out this big article and it was actually kind of strange because it was from a school that I take lessons from. And it was about how to react to customers that are video recording you. Okay. And I've noticed this and we've talked about this if you guys doing service work, you need to just act like every job you're on, you're being videoed. I mean, cameras today are so small and there's so many slick and tricky ways that people can just record you, whether it be audio or visual or both. And you know, you're better off just living and doing your job like you're always being watched. Okay. And so reading this article and just talking about how some texts are really getting upset because, you know, things aren't really going too well in the world right now. And I do appliance repair and there's people that are just wanting to video you because they want to learn how you're fixing their machine. You know what? I don't have a problem with that. You know, if I can save you some money like that, that's cool. There are people higher up in the company. They don't like that. They don't want people knowing how to, you know, maybe fix their stuff. I really don't care. You know, you hired me to help you and I want to help you and I want to get this stuff stuff straight, but this is a big problem. And something that's going on in the world today where people's houses are just filled with cameras. I mean, I went to go fix this lady's fireplace not too long ago, and she has this camera like right next to it pointed at the fireplace and it followed me everywhere I went. And she sat on the couch and talked to me the whole time. And I was like, that's a pretty cool camera. She's like, yeah, I just have it there because, you know, we already had somebody out here fixing this fireplace and he didn't do a good job. I was like, great. You know, so she's, I don't know, she's thought like that would like intimidate me to do the right thing. I was gonna do the right thing either way, but you know what I mean? And I'll also tell you guys this, liberal people or these liberals, especially the Assad's, you go into their houses, you're on video. You are on video every single time. I went into, I told you guys this about a month ago, I was over in Kuna and I went to go do another fireplace and this house above the fireplace was like this altar, right? There was incense and tarot cards and skulls and all this crazy stuff in there. And on the dinner table, like I heard something kind of fall over and I looked, I just felt like I was being watched. And sure enough, I was, I had the little camera on, you know, looking at me, but it was moving with me. So it knocked off like a little lunch box or something they thought they were gonna cover it up with. I was just like, you know, but look, you're being watched, man. You go out in town, guess what you're being watched. When I was in Japan, look, I felt like it was in 1984. As soon as I left my condo, walked out the door, camera, right? You go to use the laundry stuff, the washer and the dryer and, you know, and there's a sign, it says, you put or you don't fill up too much, you on camera. So it says, and there's a camera over here, a camera over here, you walk out in the street, cameras everywhere, everywhere. I mean, there's cameras in the elevators, like two of them, right? And the elevators like this big, you got to squeeze these little Japanese elevators like this, you know, it's like eight people in there and there's cameras like here, just like, you know, it's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. But look, the other thing isn't ridiculous. And the fact is that God is watching us in the eyes of the Lord or over the righteous. And we need to start living like we realize that because we can't see it like Balaam couldn't see the angel of the Lord. We have a temptation to often live like, oh, he's not really paying attention or, you know, he's just kind of off doing, you know, his thing up in heaven, but no, he's watching you. The Bible says he knows the very numbers of hairs that are on your head. Right? We need to stop and think about these things as we go through life. So Luke 14, look at verse number eight. It says, when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him. And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. Now, isn't that embarrassing? You get invited to a meeting, right? And you're like, I want to sit up front, you know, you sit up front, the boss comes in and is like, Hey, can you go sit in the back? You know, and he's got like three other like executives there. And they're just looking at you like, who do you think you are? You know, I've seen that I've been in that position before. Look, it's a real thing, right? That's why I'm saying we need to learn these things because it's going to save you from a life of shame. It's going to save you from being, you know, from being fed a plate of crow by anybody. So here's point number two, a lack of humility will bring you embarrassment and shame. A lack of humility will bring you embarrassment and shame every single time. It's not a maybe, this is a guarantee. This is a 100% fact, a promise. And you just, you just don't know how far this stuff could go. I mean, think about it. Even the world experiences this. They're just so arrogant. A lot of times you just can't get it. I was watching this video clip of this UFC guy that was gloating after a fight, right? And he was trying to do this flopping fish warm dance and he wound up injuring his shoulder and had to get surgery. And he's never been the same sense. You know, I mean, it just, it, it just proves the Bible to be so true. Whosoever shall exalt of themselves is going to get abased. You will be brought low. God does that to the world to send a message to people, Hey, you're nothing without me. Go to Proverbs chapter number 11, Proverbs chapter number 11. You kind of keep a place in that neighborhood. Cause we'll, we'll come back to it here. Now, while you're turning there, I'm just going to read for you Psalm 1827, which says, for thou will save the afflicted people, but will bring down high looks. And we used to have a kid that came to this church and he, and you guys know who I'm talking about. He had the highest looks you could possibly imagine. And there have been many others. And they would sit there just like, I know so much more than you. I know more Bible than you. I know more doctrine than you. I'm better than you. I'm so holy. I'm so super spiritual. I'm so this, I'm so that. They never really said it, but it just radiated from their eyeballs. You know, we can communicate just by sitting in a chair. I can tell what some of you were thinking sometimes when I'm up here preaching. Did you know that? I can just tell now I have been wrong before. Okay. Because guess what? I'm human and I do wrong things. Does everybody understand that? Yeah. Okay. This isn't a Catholic church. Okay. I'm not some priest. In case you didn't notice, I don't have a fish hat on this morning. Okay. And try to portray myself as some holy, perfect person that never makes any mistakes and never sins. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know what I find funny about these super spiritual, holy, rolling people? Is that when somebody makes a mistake, they're real quick to pounce on them and exalt themselves and talk about how holy they are instead of doing the other thing, which is to bring themselves low and go help that person out. You ever noticed that about those people? It's easy to talk a big game. It's easy to do this. Remember at the Red Hot Preacher Conference what I said, no more, no more typing, no more talking. I want to see your actions. That's what I want to see. Proverbs 11, look at verse number two. When pride cometh, uh-oh. What's going on here? When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom. And this is so true if you go out soul-winding, isn't it? Yeah. You know the man bun who answers the door and is like, oh no. What happens to them? They chase you down the stairs and try to, you know, intimidate you and then you don't back down and they run up with her man bun tucked between her legs. Or worse, they just never get saved and unfortunately, they don't get saved. And unfortunately, they spend eternity in hell, right? And that's what we're trying to prevent here. But it's always that person that's like, you know what? I just don't know. I don't know if I'm going to go to heaven. Can I show you? Yes. What happens to them? With the lowly is wisdom and with, you know, the fear, they learned to fear the Lord. You know, you're preaching them the gospel. You give them these verses and they just take it in, right? And then what happens? You see an instant, you see a live birth. It's an amazing thing. Turn to Proverbs chapter 29, Proverbs chapter number 29. So again, like I'm saying, the lack of humility will bring you embarrassment and shame. And everybody in here can think of a situation in their lives where you got brought down low, where you were shamed, where you got called out, you got served up some crow, right? And then you replay that situation as if you didn't make that mistake a thousand times in your mind. Right? I do it all the time. Like I go back to even like days when I'm in the military and I'm just spacing out, driving down the road, you know, of times where I got embarrassed, I got brought low and I just rehearse the situation as if it was different. Is that just me? Like if I would have just been a little bit more humble, I wouldn't have just, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't be feeling that embarrassment even to this day about that stupid situation. But you know what? Learning this doctrine can help you so much with that and just save you from that. Proverbs 29, look at verse 23. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Go back to Luke chapter 14. So again, it's again, this is, it's like everything, right? It's easy for me to get up here and preach these things, but really it's you that has to decide, I'm going to start to learn to live life through the lens of God so that I can do what he says. You know, this is kind of like a continuation of last week, right? We talked about obedience. That's kind of a broad general subject and it largely applies to the children, to the kids because we all want our kids to obey, right? But then there's other specific things that we need to make sure that we obey and that we learn so that we can not be in trouble so we can be the sons of God without rebuke. Amen. Because guess what? That's a church that God can use and there ain't nobody that can deny that. You know, a lot of people will be like, oh, my church has hundreds of thousands of people. People tell us this all the time. You've only got 30? Yeah, but we've gotten 150 people saved this year. Our children can roast you in doctrine. You know what I mean? Isn't that embarrassing? I watched, I think I told you this last, what was the last week? I watched a 12 year old kid school a Lutheran minister. They had like a master's degree, you know, from Dallas Theological Seminary. There was one time I knocked on this guy's door, another Lutheran in Sacramento, and you know, he's just like, literally he just kind of goes like this. He's like, retired pastor, 35 years. All right, he starts listing off all of his degrees. He points to him. Some of you guys have seen this out here. People like to point to those plaques on the wall, right? I was like, but if you were to drop dead right now, do you think you'd go to heaven? He's like, that's a good question. No one knows. So I gave him like five or six verses. I didn't even ask him. I just blasted him. I was like, no, you're listening to me. I'm not asking your permission. I just, just went for it. Right. And he's like, because you gave me a lot to think of. I've never heard that before. I'm serious. You've never heard, but for God so of the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You've never heard of the most famous verse in the Bible. He'd read it. He just read the words. He was just taught these English words. And that was it. That's where it stopped. Look at verse number 10, Luke chapter 14, look at verse 10. He says, but when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. I want you to look at that part there in verse 10, where it says he may say unto thee. He may, you know what that means? He might. So here's the deal. You might go somewhere. You might be invited to, I don't know, a work party or something like that. Right. And you might know that there's certain chairs set up that might be a little bit more plush, a little bit more comfortable, a little more well put together than others. And you might decide, you know what, that's probably a hint that that's for the bosses. So I'm going to go sit on this wooden bench over here. And you know what? He might say to you, hey, come up here and sit in this good chair. But you know what? He might not. And that's the moment of truth for the believer. Are you going to get offended? Are you going to be hurt? Well, he didn't, I acted humble and he didn't do it. He didn't invite me up higher. Now I'm going to get mad and I'm going to go on Facebook and YouTube and start typing comments. Right. Isn't that what happens? Humble bragging. That's where it comes from, humble bragging. I did the right thing, but he's so mean and rude and arrogant and he don't like me. He's so full of pride. That may be true. But if you were really humble and you really trying to find humility in a hostile world, you wouldn't let that bother you. Right. So he may say unto thee, he might, but he might not. He may say unto the friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship. And he's not talking about the worship where you bow down at somebody's feet. Worship doesn't always mean that. And we'll talk about that more tonight in Acts chapter 24. He's basically saying you're going to get honor. In verse 11 is what we need to do about all this. For whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Turn to first Peter chapter five, first Peter chapter five. So here's point number three. God wants us to be honored above the world. God wants us to be honored above the world. Who in here that has children really like it and be honest when somebody out there in the world is like, you know what? I was watching your children while you guys were eating dinner and they were so well behaved. How'd you do it? Right. Your kids, your family is so great. It seems like, I know Jeff's like, that don't ever happen to me. I'm just kidding. Where's your right? There he is. You being good boy? All right, good. He's being good. He's great. He's got his Bible open. You know, look, Kate didn't sleep. I don't even know where he's at. But seriously, right? God wants us to be honored above the world. He wants to lift his children up. He wants us to be honored and exalted in the side of the world. But he does that in different ways. You know, when we go through situations like this where we humble ourselves and people take advantage and they keep pouring it on you and you stay steadfast and you don't let that bother you, man, that speaks volumes to those people. And God looks down and he says, Hey, there's somebody I can use. There's somebody who's got it together. First Peter chapter five. Here's how we apply this. Okay. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, casting all your care. So he tells you how to be humbled. People often wonder like, well, okay, great. How do I do it? What tells you right here? Peter tells us exactly how to do it. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Why? That he may exalt you in what? In due time. In his due time isn't always your time. It's when he says it's time. What did the Psalm say? That promotion comes from where? From God. It doesn't come from the east of the west or the south. It comes from God in due time when he says you're ready for that. Right? But verse seven is how you start. Verse seven is how you do this. Casting all your care upon him, for he cared for you. Do you have a prayer life? Do you have a prayer time? Did you know that it takes some humility to go to God in prayer? Because look, you know, like, like, especially these teenagers talked about this last week, you know, they love, I can do it. I know. Right? I can do it. I know. And you're looking at them like there's no way you're gonna ever get caught up with them chores. You're gonna need some help. You know, how about you cast a little care and just ask for some help and we'll get it done. And that's what God's looking down at us and saying, hey, I, your problems are nothing. I can help you with your problems if you learn to cast your care upon me. For he careth for you. Right? But again, until we open our eyes to what's going on in the spiritual world, we're never going to do what God says. We're never going to apply this. James chapter four. And then we're going to go to Philippians and we'll be done. James chapter four. An often misunderstood book. James chapter four. Look down at verse number six. It says, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Now, why do the humble need grace? Because we're not perfect. What is grace? It's what we don't deserve. Tell that to a Nazarene and they'll flip out on you. Verse seven, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. It takes effort. It takes effort on our part to realize, hey, I'm under attack here. The devil's coming at me. I better do something about it. You need to resist him and he will flee from you. It's not a maybe, it's not a might. It's a guarantee and it's a promise. Verse eight, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners and purify your hearts, ye double minded. He's not talking about eternal salvation here. This book is to believers and believers find themselves in perils and trials and troubles all day long, all week long. And he's saying, hey, here's your answer. Stop with the pride. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Turn to Philippians chapter number two. Go past Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians. Philippians chapter number two. I should have told you to keep your place there, but I forgot. Philippians chapter two, look at verse number three. It says, let nothing done, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let us, here he says, let each esteem other better than themselves. Now there's a verse for you. You know, you can apply this in your conversations with other people. You know, when someone else is telling you about how their day went, you need to learn to care about that more than what you have to say. Right? Instead of just cutting a person off and, you know, what I've got to say is just so more important. So hurry up, spit it out, spit it out so I can say it, you know, let me in, let me in, right? Like you're playing double dutch or something. No, learn to put other people above yourself. Learn to ask other people questions. How is your day going? What's going on? You know what this would, I mean, can you imagine what this would be like if we all did this? If we put others before ourselves and look, this church is great. We don't have a problem with this, right? I'm just trying to help you. I'm just teaching the Bible here. Look at verse four, look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Look, most Christians today are not doing this. We go knock on their doors and they're like, get the hell out of here. We don't want to talk to you. You're weird. What are you doing with the Bible? Right? When I go to church, it's lights and stuff. What are you talking about? Bible stuff. Verse five, let this mind be in you. So the mind that we just talked about in verses three and verses four, right? Humility, putting other people above yourself. He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He's saying, hey, look, I didn't just make this stuff up. Look at our savior and how he lived. Verse six, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And if you have an NIV or an ESV, guess what? That verse is drastically different. I'm not even going to get off on that rabbit trail. Look at verse seven, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of men. This is exactly what Jesus Christ did as an example for us to follow. He's the son of God. He is God. He could do anything that he wants to do. I mean, he could have smoked everybody. He could have took all those Pharisees and just wiped them out. But he didn't do that. He served with humility and a hostile world as an example, because he says, hey, you guys, you're going to inherit the kingdom of God. All right. But not before much tribulation. And the only way you're going to make it believer is if you learn to find some humility in a hostile world. Verse eight, in being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Verse nine, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. Now you're not going to be given a name which is above every name, but you will be given a new name in heaven, the Bible says. And you can find that honor even in this life, if you do it God's way, if you do it the right way. Verse 12, wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He's saying, exercise that salvation that you have. You're saved. You've got the new man. You're born again. Now work it out. Go out and tell somebody, humble yourself, act like it. Verse 13 explains verse 12, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. See, the reason why I'm bringing this up also is because people will point to this verse here and say, see, you have to work for your salvation, but that's not what he's saying. He's talking to believers here, people who are already saved and telling them, hey, exercise your salvation by being humble, by finding humility in a hostile world, by putting yourself low so that you can get lifted up. And he's saying, hey, guess what? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you. So if he was talking about earning your way to heaven, it wouldn't be God inside you working your way to heaven. You see what I'm talking about here? That's ridiculous. He's saying, hey, you've got the new man. You have all the tools. Everybody in here, you've got the tools to live a humble life in a hostile world. You're born again, you got the new man. You have the ability to understand the Bible. You can understand these spiritual things and you can do this. If you'll learn to see as God sees, then you will do what God says. And what did God say? Humble yourself. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. He's looking for people that are humble, that he can teach doctrine to, that he can use mightily for his kingdom. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. There's nothing in the world wrong with being lifted up as long as you do that God's way. It's perfectly fine. But again, the problem today is we have people trying to do it their own way, right? They're trying to lift themselves up and they do that by this, by telling you how good they are. And he's saying, hey, don't tell me, you show me with your actions. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for bringing us all here this morning, Lord. And I just pray that we would always be a humble church and that you would always teach us that, help us to remain humble, and that you would use us mightily, Lord, in this community and exalt us all in due time. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.