(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, so we will come back to Proverbs chapter 16 at the end of the sermon, but for now can you please turn to Galatians, oh sorry, turn to our Philippians chapter 2 just for now. Turn to Philippians chapter 2 and we'll get to that in a moment, but we are continuing the series on the fruits of the Spirit. We're near the end now, and I'll just quickly read to you in Galatians 5, 22, it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. We're up to meekness, and after meekness there's temperance, and that's the end of it, okay. So we're very close to the end, we're up to the second last fruit of the Spirit that's mentioned in Galatians 5, 22, we're looking at the topic of meekness. Now you might be thinking, oh man, I wanted a red hot, you know, sermon tonight, you know, Pastor Kevin's going to preach about meekness, and you know sometimes we, you know, I've said it before, I think when we're looking at gentleness, sometimes we look at these topics and we think, oh you know, that's not such an exciting topic, but you know, the Lord, you know, in order for the Lord to make you a great person, okay, he's going to be looking at the person that is displaying these characteristics, okay, this is the fruit that God is trying to develop in your life, and you're going to be a more well-rounded Christian, you're going to be more useful to God, you know, and meekness is one of these things that God wants us to produce, meekness. Now I don't know, you know, what you think about the term meekness, but I'm going to quickly read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 1, and we looked at this verse before, I think when we're looking at gentleness, yeah, because it says here, Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness, there's meekness, and gentleness, now these are two fruits of the Spirit, meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am based among you, but being absent and bowed toward you. So I want you to notice what Paul describes this fruit of the Spirit in his life, this meekness and his gentleness that he had toward the Corinthian church, he firstly says, these are qualities that are of Christ, you know, if we knew Jesus Christ on this earth, we would have known him as meek and gentle, and then he says, in order for him to be based, he says, who in presence am based among you, you know what he's saying, he's saying he's able to lower himself to the other believers, and he's able to do that because he's got the fruits of meekness and gentleness, okay, to be lowly, to be based among you, you'll soon see that being lowly has a lot to do with being meek. You know, three words that are very similar in the Bible, and you may think they're all kind of similar, are the words meek, lowly and humble. Now, there is a lot in common with those three words, okay, but they are a little bit different from one another, okay, we are looking at the fruits of meekness tonight, and why is meekness so important? You know, you may think, again, this is a weak character to have, you know, because people sometimes think of meek as weak, it's not the same thing, okay, being meek is not being weak, in Matthew chapter 5 verse 5, it says, blessed are the meek, so, do you want to be blessed by God? Blessed are the meek, you need to be meek to be blessed by God, then it says this, for they shall inherit the earth. Wow, you know what, we're looking towards a time when Christ is going to come back and establish his kingdom, and we're going to rule in the name of Christ, we've seen that many times, and we're going to be kings and priests in his kingdom. Well, you know what, if we want to inherit the earth, we want to have great positions of authority and rule in the glory of Jesus Christ in the millennium, hey, we want to do the best we can and have the highest positions serving Christ, well, we need to start by being meek. Blessed are the meek, for they, the meek, shall inherit the earth. So, you know, don't tell me this is a fruit that's, you know, not important. You know, if God's saying, man, you're going to inherit the earth by being meek, then this is one way we can ensure that we have high positions, you know, where we are giving thanks and great servitude to God during his millennial reign. Now, you're in Philippians chapter 2, and I'm going to basically, first, actually, before we look at Philippians chapter 2, I want to give you two dictionary definitions for the word meek. When you think of the word meek, and I found two meanings, and the first one that's in the dictionary is to be soft and gentle. Now, I think meekness can carry that term, soft and gentle, but we've already seen that gentleness was another fruit of the Spirit that was mentioned, okay? So I don't believe meek, when we look at the topic of meekness in the Bible, that, you know, the Lord uses gentleness to differentiate as a different fruit from meekness, okay? So we've already covered gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit. The second meaning for the word meek, as I kind of mentioned, are the words humble and lowly. You'll find that in most of your dictionaries, to be humble and lowly. Now, obviously, what I'm going to say to you, basically, in order for you to be lowly, you have to be both humble and meek, okay? Now, these two things, again, usually somebody that is meek, they're naturally going to be humble. Usually the person that's humble, they're naturally going to be meek, okay? These are very similar characteristics, but they are a little bit different, okay? So when you're humble, you're someone that does not speak highly of yourself, right? Humility is the opposite of pride. We think of pride as the opposite of someone that is humble. You don't speak, you know, great, swelling words about yourself. You're not out there promoting yourself, trying to make yourself look like some big shot, okay? That would be humility. Meekness has more to do with how you look at others, okay? Again, that idea of being lowly. I'm going to lower myself compared to others. You know, I want to be a blessing to other people. I want to serve other people. So humility has more to do with how you look at yourself. Meekness has more to do with how you look at other people. But again, these things are so similar. You know, I truly believe someone that is meek will automatically be humble. And the humble person will automatically be meek. But both of these thoughts, both of these ideas has to do with being lowly. You're lowering yourself. You know, you're not speaking highly of yourself. You're lowering yourself and you're lifting up others and lowering yourself compared to other people. You're in Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 3. Look what it says here. In Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 3, it says, It says, So in order for you to be lowly, the Bible tells us we have to esteem each other better than ourselves, okay? Now this is something we need to remind ourselves when we come to church. And I promise you this. I always tell myself this on my way to church, always. The people that are going to be at church tonight or at Sunday morning, they're better than me. I'm going to esteem them better than myself, okay? And when I come to preach, I'm not just trying to fuel time. We better have church. We better have a sermon. I don't think that way. You know, I think these are the children of God. These right now, these people that I'm preaching to are the most important people in God's eyes. And so I better make sure that I do a good job, that I'm feeding them the Word of God. I'm not trying to cut corners. I'm not just trying to get through some sermon. I want to make sure that you're full, that you're fed, and that God says, Well done, you fed my children. Because you guys are truly the most important people, you know, in God's eyes. You know, right now in Fairfield East, gathered together, you are very important, okay? That's how the Lord sees us. We're His children. We're His kings, His priests. We're His ambassadors. We're His soldiers, okay? And we need to remind ourselves when we come to church, you know, whoever it is, it doesn't matter if it's someone that I don't necessarily get along with, I'm going to view that person as someone more important than me. This person is a child of God. Or if we have a visitor that is unsaved, this person needs to know what they have to do to be saved, and I'm going to lower myself. I'm going to esteem that person, and I'm going to give them the gospel as though they can be saved as well. They can have the same status as a child of God as other people in this church. You know, it's going to help you in church to serve one another when you just lift each other up. Point number one, I've got four practical tips of staying meek. Point number one is when you come into church, think of everyone else as better than yourself. Can you do that, brethren? You know, we need to do that with the children. You know, it's so important for our children to feel like they're important and valued in church. You know, I try my best to say hello to the children. You know, I try to greet them and maybe have a laugh with the kids, because I want them to know they're important to this pastor. They're important to this church. You know, they're not just filling the seats. They're not just the children of brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so. Hey, they're the future. They're the future generation. They're going to be the ones that are running the church in the future, Lord willing. Okay? And if you don't make them feel important, if you don't make them feel valued, they're going to be thinking, well, you know what? My friends make me feel important. You know, the world makes me feel valued. Why, you know, as they grow up, they're going to be thinking, well, I wasn't important in church. I can find that importance and that value somewhere else. And so I don't care how small the child is. You know, if they come into church, I'm going to esteem that person better than myself. You know, that is part of being meek, okay? It's by looking out at others and lifting them higher than you view yourself. It's going to help you serve one another. Can you please turn to Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, verse number 25. Matthew chapter 20 and verse number 25. I've moved the fridge here, by the way, if anyone's wondering. It's over here for now. I'm still trying to work out how the building's going to be arranged, still moving things around a little bit. But anyway, Matthew chapter 20 and verse number 25. Point number two, practical tip of staying meek. Point number two is view your position of authority and leadership. If you've got authority and leadership, okay, I have it in the church. I have it in my home, okay? If you are someone that is a leader or you have authority, view that position as a position of servitude. Okay? Look at that position as a position of servitude. Rather than looking, how can people serve me because I'm the boss? No, you should be looking, how can I serve others? Okay? That's going to keep you meek. Matthew chapter 20, verse number 25. But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the princes, those are the people of authority, okay, of the Gentiles. So when Bible refers to Gentiles like this, it's referring mainly to the non-believing world, right? So the authorities in the unbelieving world exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them. So that's not wrong, that's not evil, okay? There's authority, you exercise authority. That's okay, but look at verse number 26. But whosoever would be great among you, let him be your minister. Hey, you know what's another great title for the pastor? The minister. I like that title, the minister. You know what? Because I'm supposed to minister. You know, it's not about the church ministering to the pastor, you know, but it's about the pastor. That's my job. My job is to, even though I've been given the authority in the house of God, but it's my job to minister to you, to serve you. Okay? When I prepare a sermon, it's to feed you, okay? And so this is the person that is great in the eyes of the Lord. If you have authority, if you have leadership, I don't care what position that is, it might be in your workplace. Hey, view it as a position of servitude. As children of God, we ought to be looking at our authority and leader position differently from the Gentiles, differently from the world, who are seeking for others to serve them. Let's keep going. Verse number 27. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ explains this many ways. Okay? If you want to be the chief, guess where you're going to start? You've got to start serving. Hey, and when you're the chief, you continue serving, serving whoever it is that is under you. Verse number 28. Even, this is the best part of it. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Boy, was Jesus Christ meek? Yeah. He was able to esteem others higher and says, you know what? I'm going to give up my life. I'm going to be that sacrifice. I'm going to take on the sins of the world. And of course, Christ had to lower himself in order to do that. Okay? So if you find it challenging to lower yourself, if you find it challenging to serve those that are under your authority, then remind yourself of what Christ has done. Now, Jesus Christ also says in Luke 14 and 11, for whosoever exalts of himself shall be abased. And hear that, humbly of himself shall be exalted. Boy, I want to be promoted by God. Now, I want God to be the one that gives me the promotions, that lifts me up. But in order for that to happen, you have to lower yourself. You have to become humble. You have to become meek. You have to view others better than yourselves. All right? Now, what am I talking about? You know, husbands, you know, you are the head of your home. Okay? And as the head of your home, your job is not to go, well, how do I get served? Now, it's great to be served as a husband. Nothing wrong with that. I love it when my wife cooks, you know, a hearty meal and I get served by my wife or my kids do the chores and they run around and do something great for me or something. Hey, that's great to serve, you know, the ones in authority. But at the same time, it's your job to serve as well. You know, husbands, it's your job to serve your wife. You know, mothers, it's your job to serve your children. Employers, it's your job to serve your employees. Pastors, it's your job to serve the local church. Say, what are you talking about? And if I was serving my kids, you know, parents are thinking, I'm going to serve my kids. You know, my kids will be like, let's fly to America and go to Disneyland or something. Is that what you mean? You know, just run around and let the kids decide what they're going to do. No, that's not what I mean by servitude. That's going to spoil your children. That's going to destroy your children. Okay? You know, I don't work a full-time job outside of church anymore. This is my full-time job. But obviously when I had my full-time job, why would I go and work? Why is it that you go and work hard and get your paycheck and bring it home? The reason for it is you're going to serve your family. It's my job as the leader to make sure that my wife is served, that my children are served, that they have what they need. That's what service is. And for mothers, I know some of you homeschool. Hey, you know what? When you're teaching your children, when you're giving them knowledge and wisdom, you know what you're doing? You're serving your children. So it's not about what they want to do, and that's what I mean by serving them. No. You know what? How do I profit these people that are under my authority? How is it that I can be a help to this person under my authority? If you're an employer and you have a poor-performing employee, you say, how can I serve this employee? How is it that I can help him, get him to the point where he needs to be, where he's hitting his targets and being productive? What tools can I give him? Is it training? Is it resources? What does he need in order for him to be a productive employee? And when you look at things like that, what you're doing is you're serving those that are under your authority. That's what I mean by serving those under your authority. That's what I mean by serving your children. Ultimately, your goal is to serve Christ, okay, in the authority that you've been given. Can you please turn to... I should have got you to stay in Philippians. Anyway, turn to Acts chapter 20 for me. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. You know, if you get a promotion at work or something like that, the unbelieving world, I've seen it. Honestly, they're so excited. I've got people under me. You know, I'm going to get served. That's honestly how the unbelieving world thinks. You as God's people. You know, when you're taking a position of authority, you ought to be saying, how can I serve those under me? How can I improve these people? How can I help these people that are under me? How can I help these people that are under me, okay? Now, you're in Acts chapter 20 in verse number 33. I'll just read to you Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 4 first. Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 4. It says, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. I'll read that again. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So, there's nothing wrong to look at your own things, but that shouldn't be the only thing you're focused on. What do I need? How do I need to be served? That's not how you should be looking and considering your life. You should be saying, hey, what is it that others need? How can I be a help to others? You know, point number three that I have for you to stay meek is that at every opportunity, ask how can I be a blessing to this person or to others? How can I be a blessing to others? That should be your every opportunity. How can I be a blessing to others? You know, sometimes people confuse meekness with shyness. Okay. Now, believe it or not, I'm kind of like a naturally shy person. Okay. Some of my family know that. Okay. I get up to preach and sometimes I yell and whatever, carry on. And people don't think I'm shy because you're doing that, right? And that's how some people think. Okay. What's the difference with shyness and meekness though? You know, the problem with being shy, nothing wrong with being shy. Okay. But what happens is when you're shy, you tend to be self-focused. Okay. Self-indulged. You know. And so someone might walk past in church and I'm too shy to say hello. I'm a shy person. Okay. The problem with that though, you're thinking about yourself. What's meekness? Remember, it's how you view others. It's how you view others. Okay. If you're naturally a shy person, what's going to get you to, you know, to be more outgoing, okay, and to bless others and to serve others is to say, hey, this person that I'm shy to speak to, you know, they're more important than me feeling comfortable. You know, me in my comfort zone, being quiet, not saying hello, not saying anything, that person is more important to me than how comfortable I feel. It's very important to me that I'm going to make this person feel comfortable. I'm going to make this person feel important. So I'm going to, even though I'm shy, even though I'm going to get outside of my comfort zone, I'm going to go to that person and they're more important than me. And so I care more about them being comfortable than me being comfortable. That's meekness. Okay. That's meekness. So it's not about just I'm shy, I'm not going to interact. Hey, well, if that's you, you need to work on that because that's not a good character to have. You've got to get outside of your comfort zone. You've got to view others as important. Okay. Because when you are shy and I'm too shy to speak to this person, what you are saying is you are not important enough to me for me to get out of my comfort zone. It's more important for me to just be shy and quiet than to make you feel important and to bless you, to serve you. Okay. So if you're naturally shy, you say, well, you know what, I need to turn this into meekness. I need to esteem others better than myself and I need to get out of my comfort zone, get out of my position and make sure others around me feel like they're important to me. Okay. Now where did I get to turn to? Acts chapter 20 and verse number 33. Acts chapter 20 and verse number 33. These are the words of Paul. He says, I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands, so these are the hands of Paul, speaking out his own hands, have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. Wow. So the apostle Paul, high authority, highest authority as an apostle. It's the highest office that was held by men. The office of the apostle. And he says, you know what, instead of me, I never coveted people's wealth. He never got into the ministry for wealth. He never got into the ministry to see how much money he can make. He says, you know what, I can be in the ministry and I can make sure that I, with my own hands, can provide for myself and also these others and to them that were with me. You know, Paul had other people on his missionary journeys. He had other people that were helping him in his ministry and you know what, we know that Paul, one of his jobs was a tent maker. He made sure, well, you know what, we don't have enough money coming in from the church. We need to get out there and provide and make sure that we have what we need to serve the churches before me. Okay? So you can see that Paul had a mindset. I've got to look after these other people. I'm going to minister unto these other people even though he held the highest office in the New Testament for a man. Okay? Look at verse number 35. I have showed you all things, how that 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. So why did Paul go out and work and provide for himself? He wanted to set a good example. You know, we need to be people that think about how do I give to others? Rather than thinking how is it that I can receive, you know, it's more blessed to give than to receive. You know, this is something that children have to learn. You know, because children naturally, they look forward to the Christmas presents. They look forward to the birthday presents. You know, children naturally, you know, what is it that I can get? You know, and as they grow, okay, and maybe they make a bit of money, a bit of pocket money, and then it's like, well, you know, your brother's birthday is coming up, and so you've got to start training them. Hey, you've got to think about others. You know, you can use that pocket money on yourself or, you know, your brother's birthday is coming up. I feel sorry for my kids because there's so many birthdays. But anyway, someone's birthday is coming up. Are you going to think about others? Are you going to think about your siblings? And this is not a natural thing. You've got to grow into that. And, you know, as you get into adulthood, and those of you that have served others, those of you that have helped others, maybe even like a big financial help or something like that, you know that it feels good. You know, like, man, I did that, and brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so, they've been blessed. They've been encouraged. They got out of this bad situation, and it just feels great. It feels like, you know what, Lord, thank you for using me to be a blessing to other people. And you can truly start to learn as you get into adulthood, you know, this true saying that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Can you please turn to Colossians chapter 3? Colossians chapter 3 for me. Colossians chapter 3. So, three points that I have so far, the practical tips of staying meek. Number one was when you come into church, think of everyone as better than you. Number two, view your positions of authority or leadership as positions of servitude. And number three, at every opportunity of interaction, ask how can I be a blessing to this person? Okay? Now, point number four, let's have a look at Colossians chapter 3 and verse number 17. Now, if you have asked me, Pastor, what is your life verse? Like, what are the verses that you sort of live by? Or you try to live by, because I'm not perfect, right? You know, what are the verses that you try to live by? Well, these are the ones. Colossians chapter 3 and verse number 17. Colossians chapter 3, verse number 17 reads, And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Boy, what a challenge. So whatever it is that we, whatever we say, the word, or our deeds, whatever we do, we should do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, we've done a lot of things today before coming to church. We've probably said a lot of things today before coming to church. Can you honestly say to me, brethren, that everything I said and did was in the name of Jesus Christ? Don't you think that thought's going to change how you live your life? Man, everything I say and do has to honor Jesus. Okay, it has to honor Jesus. Giving thanks to God and the Father by him, giving God thanks with everything that you're able to accomplish. Now look at verse, drop down to verse number 22, because it's verse number 22 that I would call my life verses, or verse, right? This is what I try to live by. Verse number 22, Servants, obeying all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men please us, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Verse number 23, And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men. Boy, you know, whatever you do in life, brethren, do it as unto the Lord. I've preached on this already, I can't remember what sermon I preached. But I think it needs to be repeated. All right? You may not like your job. You might think it's this boring, mundane role that I have. You may not like your boss. Okay? But you know what? You've got to work as though you're working for the Lord Jesus. It's not just church. You know people say, I need to get into full-time ministry, and they think about church. Listen, you can make whatever you're in, whatever position you're in, that ought to be your full-time ministry to the Lord Jesus. Whatever you do, you do it as unto the Lord and not unto men. Not as men please us, but unto the Lord. You know, for those of you that went out working today, how'd you perform? I hope you performed well. You know, I hope in your heart you said, you know what? I'm going to work as though Jesus asked me to do this job. You know, whatever authority that the Lord has put over me, I'm going to view this as Jesus. You know, if Jesus Christ walked into this church tonight, walk through the doors and asked you to do something, would you do it? What if it said, hey, you know, brother, I won't name any names, but you know, what if Jesus Christ comes in, right? And says, look, I need you to clean the toilet. Would you clean the toilet? Amen, I hope so. And how well would you clean it? You know, would you just give it a quick wipe down? Or would you just make sure that there's like, literally every stain is removed off that? And of course, you know, if Christ came and asked us to do something, not only would we do it, I believe your heart's in the right place, not only would you do it, but you would do the best job you can possibly do. You know, you may not do a perfect job, but you would do the best with what you have, okay? I truly believe that, okay? If Christ came and asked you to do that. And so that's how we ought to live though. I know I'm kind of giving it like an imaginary situation, what if Jesus came in? But that's how we're meant to live our lives. Whatever it is that we do, okay? I get up to preach, I have to be doing it and truly, because this is the house of God, I mean, Jesus Christ has literally asked me to preach his word so you know, I've got to do the best I can. But you know, a lot of you guys aren't going to be pastors, a lot of you guys aren't going to get behind the pulpit and preach. That doesn't mean that you've missed out on this opportunity to serve Christ, you serve him on the job, okay? Regardless of what position it is, okay? You serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse number 24, Colossians chapter 3, verse number 24. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. You serve the Lord Christ. It's not saying pastors serve the Lord Christ. It's not saying missionaries serve the Lord Christ. It's saying you, for ye, that's ye all, plural, serve the Lord Christ, regardless of what position you're in. So I keep saying this because I truly, I truly believe the Lord wants to promote many of us in our workplaces, in our jobs. I truly believe the Lord, and I'm not trying, I'm not this prosperity preacher here. I'm not saying the Lord's going to go, you know, give you this huge, you know, millions of dollars in mansions and stuff like that. But I truly believe the Lord wants to give you great positions, you know, stable jobs and high paying jobs where you can provide and not have to worry about those things so you can give your time to the Lord Jesus Christ. But many times you're just holding yourself back. You know, you're just being lazy. I'll just do the minimum. You know, I don't really want to do that. You know, you're just doing the least you can and you're not thinking that you're serving Christ. You know what? You serve Christ? What does it say there? Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. That's the best part of working a job and giving your best is knowing I'm not just going to walk away with a paycheck, but Christ is going to reward me as well. Whatever that might look like in your life. Might be a blessing on this life. Might be greater rewards in heaven. Jesus, brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to reward you. If you're slack on the job, you do the bare minimum, you cheat, you do less hours than you say you've done, things like that, how is the Lord going to reward you? How is the Lord going to bless you if you take that kind of attitude as a servant? You know, whoever it is that you serve, make sure that when they ask you to do something you remind yourself it's like the Lord Jesus Christ has just asked me to do that. Unless they're asking and you say, what extent do I take this? You know, thinking about everything I do, do it unto the Lord. Well, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31, I'll just read it to you. It says, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. So even when you eat and you're not thinking or drinking, right? You're not even thinking this is for the Lord. Just do it as to the Lord. Do it to the glory of God. Even on small things, brethren, like eating and drinking. This will transform your life. This will change your life. Okay? When you just say to yourself, Jesus has asked me to do whatever it is that he's asked me to do and I'm going to do the best I can. I'm not going to do it like a men pleaser. I'm going to do it unto the Lord. I'm going to make sure that whatever I say, whatever I do, it glorifies the Lord. Let's go into transform your life. I promise you that. Can you please turn to Numbers chapter 12? Numbers chapter 12. It's not easy lowering yourself. It's not an easy view in others as esteem them higher than yourself. It's not easy because you look at others and you know they've got their faults and their problems. Why should I esteem myself lower than that person? And I think sometimes as Christians we we're concerned about being meek because the thought is well people will take advantage of me if I have a meek disposition. Like you know I've got to show myself strong. You know I've got to set up boundaries and walls and I've got to make sure that people realise they just can't step all over me and push me around and backstab me and but part of being meek that opens me up to be attacked. You know that opens me up to be stepped on. You know is that really what God Well while you're turning to Numbers 12 I want to read to you from Psalm 147 in verse number 6. Psalm 147 verse number 6. It says The Lord lifteth up the meek. And then it says this He casteth the wicked down to the ground. So what is it again? The Lord lifteth up the meek. You know what if you're concerned about well if I'm meek someone's going to take advantage of me. You know what Let them step on you a little bit because you know what the Lord's going to lift you up and the Lord's going to take the wicked and cast him to the ground. That's what's going to happen. These are the promises of God. That's what he means. You don't have to worry how do I Pastor I can't be meek because you know I know this person is going to do me wrong. Just let them do you wrong. You want to be promoted by God? You want to be lifted by God? Well that means you've got to let some people do you wrong. You've got to take the view I'm going to be meek I get blessed and you know there's a potential that I might be stepped on but if I get stepped on I know the Lord's going to take care of that and the Lord will lift me up. Look at Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 1. Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 1. This follows after the Exodus. You know Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In Numbers chapter 12 verse number 1 and Miriam and Aaron so that's the sister and brother of Moses spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So his brothers weren't happy that he had taken this Ethiopian woman as his wife. I guess they thought you should be taking one of the Israelites. You know. You know. This you know some people think you know the Jews they never mixed. They never intermingled right. They kept themselves pure to these days. Yeah Moses the one that led them out of Egypt is already married to an African right married to an Ethiopian. But hey they had a problem with that. Verse number 2 and they said have the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Have he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses look at this was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Wow. I mean when we think of Moses we think of a great leader. We think of a man that was greatly used by God. He took on Pharaoh. He took on the mights of the world. Right. And the Lord says well he was very meek. So what does he teach us? We wouldn't be great for the Lord. Don't we have to be very meek? So meek was he that he was the most meek person on the face of the earth. Of all his contemporaries that he lived on the earth the Lord looked and said you know what who's the most meek person? It's Moses. He's the one that I'm going to use to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He's the one I'm going to use to do great works for God. So meekness is so important. Look at verse number four. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation and they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forth. So the Lord you know knowing that Aaron and Miriam were against Moses at this point in time you know were speaking against him the Lord called both of these both of his siblings to come and to speak to them. I want you to notice what he says about Moses. Verse number six. And he said Hear now my words if there be a prophet among you I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. So the Lord's saying look if amongst your nation there's a prophet if I'm going to pull out a prophet I'm going to speak to him in visions. Okay so that's understandable we know many times the prophets in the Bible receive their vision from the Lord. Okay. Why is the Lord saying this? Because he's going to compare Moses to the other prophets. Look what he says about Moses. It says in verse number verse number seven My servant Moses is not so. Who is faithful in all mine house? So look he says look to the prophets I'm going to speak to them in visions but to Moses no that's not how I'm going to speak to him. Look at verse number eight. He says with him Moses will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed. So the Lord says you know what Moses is so important to me I would normally speak to prophets in visions but to Moses as the one who's the most meek on the earth I'm going to speak to him mouth to mouth. He's going to see we saw that when he came down from Mount Sinai his face shone he said seeing the glory of the Lord. You know the Lord had a very personal close walk with Moses. Why? Because he was the most meek on the earth. You want to have a good fellowship with the Lord a good walk with the Lord? You've got to find that meekness in you. Okay. Look at verse number 10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle and behold Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam behold she was leprous and Aaron said unto Moses Alas my Lord I beseech thee lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned. So Moses meek. Okay. And again yeah meek if you're meek you're going to set yourself up to be a target. People are going to try to take advantage of you. People are going to try to walk over you. Hey Moses' siblings took advantage of that. They tried to criticise him about the woman he had married. Hey but what did God do? He lifted up Moses. He lifted up Moses and he cast down the wicked to the ground. He took care of that situation. Okay. So don't be afraid of being meek. Don't be afraid of esteeming others higher. Don't be afraid of serving other people. Okay. And if they do you wrong and they don't say thank you they don't you know appreciate what you've done just let the Lord balance those books just let the Lord sort it out. Okay. I'd you know what I'd rather be taken advantage of knowing that God will lift me up. That's how I feel. I mean what could be better than the Lord lifting you up? Well then you've got to be meek. Okay you've got to be meek and allow yourself to be sometimes taken advantage of. Now again when we look at these this idea of meek or humility you know we saw that the opposite of that is pride. You know the proud hearts. And you know the sin of pride is one of the worst sins I can think of you know because we all have it and I have it we all have it. The worst thing about pride is others can see the pride in you and you at the same time think you're not proud. Like you know what like other sins that you've done it's like obvious like everyone knows you've done that sin or whatever right you can't really hide it. But pride you know people look at you by your behavior and your words they know you're very proud. But you know I'm humble you know that's just how that's how it is it's sort of this silent sin it's very hard to detect very hard to detect within yourself. But if you can please turn to Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 we'll go to a very famous story there the story of the the Pharisee and the publican that were praying to the Lord Luke 18 verse number 10 Luke 18 verse number 10 Now if you know the story well the publican was very humble okay in his approach to the Lord and the Pharisee was full of pride but look at verse number 10 it says it says Now look the things that he says about himself they're not wrong right I mean I think any of us I would like to be that person I would like to be a person that is not unjust I don't want to be an adulterer you know I don't want to be an extortioner I want to be someone that fasts on a regular basis I want to make sure I give my tithe of what I possess these aren't bad characteristics right and so it's not like these things are wrong to attain or aim for in your life okay but what is he doing he's lifting himself up he's speaking highly of himself right he's full of pride he's not humble he's not lowly meek he's bragging that's what the sin is he's bragging about all the great things that he has done look at verse number 13 so the publican says you know what I'm not even going to talk about my good works I'm a sinner God be merciful to me I've done wrong I've broken your laws I've broken your commands verse number 14 you know no one likes self-promoters you know even when I get up to preach and I have to give like a story illustration I think about something in my life I'm like it's going to help the sermon but I don't want people to think that I'm trying to promote myself like you know I don't want people to think that I'm just boasting on myself but it's probably you know it's something that comes to mind as you prepare and you think about something something that's real and practical and uh but you know no one likes people that are self-promoters now to their face it may seem like people like self-promoters but really they don't like internally they don't like that okay and uh sometimes we see this out you know out in the world self-promoters I mean you know that's how a lot of people get positions of authority in that they step on other people and lift themselves up and promote themselves but you know I've also seen this in church I've seen self-promoters I've seen people that just talk up their good works in church to make them seem like there's something more than they are you know where and again it's not that they've done wrong things they've done great things they've served the Lord they've served the church you know they've been uh for 10 years 20 years you know that maybe they've sung in the choir for 15 years you know maybe they've done this or done that for the church and you know I've met people like this that yeah it's great that you've done this it's great that you've served but then after you serve you better shut up because then you go oh promote look what I've done I've done this I've done that I've done this boy that's your reward the praise of men is your reward you know I mean the last thing you want to do your reward was on the earth you know everyone that pat you on the back for the you know well done good job you know that's your reward and you don't get nothing in heaven you know this can happen to Christians as well you know nobody likes self-promoters and I don't know if anyone here is that way but if you feel if you think yeah you know that's kind of me I kind of talk myself up I say I talk about all the past accomplishments and all the great things that I've done well you need to lower yourself a little bit okay and you just haven't realized that you need to take it down okay now you're still there in Luke 18 I want to the main thing that I want you to focus on was what about we're about to read in verse number nine we're just going back up why did Jesus Christ tell this story though about the Pharisee and the publican okay well look at verse number nine it's a the Bible tells us why he did this Luke 18 verse 9 and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous look at this and despised others the proud the person that's full of pride the person that exalts himself that elevates himself above others it's not just that they think well of themselves they actually despise other people around them okay that's why no one likes the proud like no one likes the person that speaks highly of themselves because you know they don't just do that they speak down to you you know they despise others this is you need to overcome pride brethren it's I have it you have it we all have it we all struggle with pride you know when someone tells you something and you know it may be the truth and you don't like it you get worked up and emotional about it that's pride okay your boss tells you to do something at work I don't want to do that that's pride remember your boss asks you yes Jesus in your head Jesus yes I'll do that I'll do the best I can okay you got to take down the pride okay pride and again it's that secret sin is actually the despising of other people okay which is obviously the opposite of meekness meekness is about viewing others and elevating them higher than yourself so can you please now go to Proverbs 16 we're going to end on Proverbs 16 which where we had the reading from Proverbs 16 so we'll just end here in the Book of Wisdom but Proverbs 16 verse 18 it's so important that we get lowly that we get meek that we become humble it's so important that we develop this fruit in our lives brethren because look at verse 18 Proverbs 16 verse 18 it says pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall haughty also means pride some of that lifts themselves up okay you need to overcome pride it's going to lead you to destruction it comes before destruction okay when you realize there's pride in your life you need to say to yourself I need to fix this now because I'm not I don't know how many steps away I am from destruction from destroying myself okay and haughty spirit before a fall I don't know how far I am from this great fall I better work on this fruit of meekness Lord please give me this fruit you gave it to Moses had it you know you made him a great man you promoted Moses as the leader of the whole nation by being meek okay look at verse number 19 better it is to be of an humble spirit now with the lowly so lowly means again those that are low themselves the meek the humble then to divide the spoil with the proud what is he saying he says the lowly people humble people meek people like good people they wouldn't be around other humble people that's what he's saying they don't want to divide the spoil with the proud they don't want to spend time with the proud they don't want to spend you know be in fellowship with the proud remember that when you're full of pride remember that when you talk yourself up and you elevate yourself other people don't like it again maybe in your face they'll say oh good job it may look like they like you but really they don't okay humble people want to be with other lowly people okay fellowship with other lowly people make friends with other lowly people now please go to verse number 5 in the same chapter Proverbs 16 will end on this one Proverbs 16 verse number 5 everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord though hand join in hand he shall not be unpunished so I wanted to end on this one because that word abomination is a very strong word you know the Lord has a lot of things that he hates that he calls abominable you know abomination okay I mean this is like the lowest of the low you can possibly go in the eyes of God well you know what pride is an abomination to the Lord so this means we need to work God ask God God please develop meekness in me Lord this pride that I have in me just take it away Lord it's in my flesh help me to overcome this pride okay we all have it again you know it's always there but Lord you need to help me have a meek disposition about me you know when someone asks something that is difficult I want to take the meek approach not the proud approach you know when my boss asks me to do something at work Lord help me to be meek when my pastor asks me to do something Lord help me to be meek children when my parents ask me to clean up my room help me to be meek help me to be lowly help me to do it as unto the Lord so brethren the fruit of meekness it'll make you great the fruit of meekness it'll cause the Lord to elevate you to lift you to lift you up to give you you know positions and leadership and authority above what you truly thought okay but it starts with the fruit of meekness let's pray