← ArchiveSunday, July 27, 2014DateJuly 27, 2014Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermon1 Timothy 52:171 Peter 58:34Matthew 521:58Matthew 1821:58Philippians 2:433:54Luke 1436:16TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00And I want to say thank you, Jessica Mayfield, for your hard work in taking over in the absence of Buddy and Ashley. And as you know, many of you have gotten emails and texts that we want to be much in prayer0:25for Buddy and Ashley and young Thomas as they are in Children's Hospital in grave concern over Thomas' health. And they weren't able to work with our Bible school. They were actually the leaders over it. And then it was thrust in some different hands. Sharon Stevens then is going to help out with Vacation Bible School. She has a mask on her rib. They had to take it out. Not the rib, but part of it. She's getting better.0:54Actually, I think she's well. She's just milking it for all it's worth. But she wasn't able to be here. So then that kind of left Jessica with Christy and Mary Beth. And I tell you, I really appreciate Christy, Mary Beth, and Jessica, and the hard work, and all the other Vacation Bible School leaders. Thank you. Thank you for what you did. Not everybody had the stumbling stuff that we had.1:17But it came out. Even our sign, because of some regulations where we had one of our banners, we had to take it down the week before and the week of, and then I think it was back up. I took it down Saturday, this past Saturday, because Bible school was over.1:45But with all that said, God blessed us with a great Bible school, and I was really honored to go around to all the various stations and see all the hard work. We had a few little minor accidents. Children fell off the monkey bars or different things, ran into things. But you know that's going to happen. But they all seem to be well and good, and the teachers are the ones that are struggling today.2:09If you have your Bibles, will you only turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. You know, I didn't realize how hard it would be to start preaching the last few sermons that I'll be preaching as the pastor of the church. I hope it's not the last sermons that I preach. I've always had opportunities to go back to former churches where I pastored. to preach, but to start winding up because, you know, you're the lame duck preacher, and2:39being the lame duck, you get away with a lot more, and you can say a lot that you might not say. I hope I haven't been that way. I hope I'm going to tell you the same thing today that I've been telling you for the last 20 years, and not afraid to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power and the might of the Holy Spirit, realizing that the Word of God is not to be ashamed of, but to be obeyed by men. And that's where we are.3:09Now, as we get to this particular passage, we get to Paul's first letter, but the end of the first letter to the church. If you start at the beginning, our Sunday school class started in the beginning today, you find out that the Apostle Peter has grown up. He has matured somewhat. He's gotten a lot more mature spiritually, as well as, I'm sure, physically and emotionally and mentally, as he has had on his shoulders the leadership of the church.3:37And so, with this in mind, we have these beautiful letters of 1 and 2 Peter. I would challenge you to make them two of your favorite passages or favorite chapters or books in the Bible as you read about Peter, because it really takes you away from that young man who used to stick his foot in his mouth quite often because he was so impetuous and he was4:04so wanted to speak out on behalf of the Lord. Young as he was, he said and did a lot of things that I'm sure many of us in here today, being older, wish that we hadn't have said or done when we were young. And thinking about that and now looking at Peter being far more mature, far more stable in his faith, far more stable in his walk, if you look back on the first few verses of4:29Peter, you find that he's writing this glorious letter to the elect who are in exile after the dispersion in Pontius, in Galatia, in Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithany, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. For the sprinkling with his blood may grace and peace be multiplied to you.4:54So he's writing the letter to a specific group of people he calls the elect, according to the foreknowledge of God. So he's writing it to the church and he's writing it after the dispersion. In other words, Jesus talked about what was going to take place. This Persia is a time when Rome would, or when Jerusalem would come under the heavy hand of Rome. You know, in 70 AD, the temple's ultimately destroyed. Rome and, I mean, Rome invades Israel and all of Israel, the Christian church, as well as5:25the Jews are dispersed. In other words, they just flee into other countries. It's not unlike what you see taking place in the Middle East today. It doesn't seem like 2,000 years later much has changed. They're constantly being dispersed. One country's being dispersed into another country, into another country, into another country. Well, during the dispersion, the church no longer could find itself in the comfort as much5:50as it was, which it wasn't very comfortable because they were under Judaism. In a lot of cases, they were being afflicted and persecuted by the Jewish leadership. But they had to leave. It had to leave Israel, and it had to move out into Greece. It had to move to the Gentile world, is a better way. It had to move out into the Roman Empire.6:19And that's how God meant it to be the whole time. And that's what Peter's come to understand now. Peter's come to understand that Jesus had to die. There was a time when Peter stood and said, I will not let you die. I will die before I let you die. But now he comes to understand because he sees that through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, grace has abounded on him and on all those that believe and trust Jesus Christ as Lord.6:42And grace also abounds on the heathen. You say, how do you mean that? Well, if grace didn't abound on the heathen, the heathen then would ultimately be annihilated immediately. But grace abounds that the heathen might hear the gospel and be converted. So grace abounds. Grace is abounding today. If you're here today and you're lost, grace is abounding in your life towards you that you might hear the gospel7:08and respond to the gospel that God would save your soul and set your eternity. Because if you continue to read the first chapter of 1 Peter, you find that Paul says we have this living hope. And that living hope is that we be resurrected just as Jesus was resurrected. Our living hope gives us hope that this cemetery out here that's filled with our loved ones and our friends and our cohorts7:33is just filled with bodies because the souls of those that have confessed Christ as their Savior are with the Lord waiting for the great day of the second coming of Jesus Christ and we all get called up together with him in the air. Death no longer has its hold on us because of what Jesus Christ has done. So grace has abounded in our direction.8:01Grace. Grace. Oh, what a beautiful word. Paul loved it. Peter loved it. They loved to preach on it. They loved to talk about it. They were influenced by it. And this wonderful grace matured young Peter to become the great soldier of the cross that he became. The great soldier of the letters that he wrote.8:28And so as we get to 1 Peter chapter 5, we get to the end of it. And I always like to think that it is at the latter part of the letters that they really begin to hit home with what's the most important thing in their writing. Usually, you write at the end those really tough things that you don't want to talk about in the beginning because you don't want to turn people off.8:51You don't want to talk about them in the beginning because you've got other things you need to help them with. But then you come to the end and you say, if there's anything that I hope that you pick up on, these are it. And then you write your salutations and your love and your care for the people. So that's kind of what I want to do. What do I want to see out of 20 years of ministry at Bethel Baptist Church? What do I want to see happen to this church and happen to the people of this church?9:20Now, I just want to remind you that some may think, well, you're just abandoning us, you're leaving us. But I want you to know something today. I leave with you, as I go do this new ministry that God has placed in my life, I leave with you the most precious people in my life, my children and my grandchildren. And I would not want to leave them in a church that I felt like hurt them over helping them spiritually9:45and wasn't grounded on the biblical truth that it needed to be grounded on. And the people in that body of Christ weren't willing to clothe themselves according to the word of God. And that's why I am excited about the prospect of having been here 20 years, going off and doing ministry. I hope one day, I kneel down next Sunday, I hope to kneel down and you send me out as a missionary from this church.10:12No longer to be your pastor, but to be a representative of Bethel Baptist Church, a representative of Jesus Christ as a missionary going out and encouraging and working with other missionaries that God has sent forth. So we come to the conclusion. So what I want to leave you with, don't you know it was hard on Peter as he would find or found a church? Don't you know it was hard on Paul as he would birth a church and have to leave it and move on down the road?10:40Not even being there 20 years, maybe being there 20 days, sometimes being there a year. We know that he was in a few places a year, but then having to move on, leaving those believers, but leaving them with a lasting lesson from God himself. Now being Baptist, we kind of shy or misunderstand elders.11:03Elders are biblical leaders in the local church during the time of Jesus Christ that actually were the spiritual leaders of that body. They were the ones that had placed upon them the responsibility of leading that church spiritually. They had teaching elders.11:33They had elders with various gifts that stood up before the body and led them, and they were constantly adding to the elders according to the spiritual maturity of the people of God that were brought into the church as they became spiritually mature. So Paul says, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. So Peter considered himself a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Peter had been there and seen it all. As well as a partaker, he said.12:02I like the fact he said he's not only suffered with Christ, but he's also been a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. He knows, as Ephesians teaches us, and Paul writes, that we live in two realms as believers. We live in the realm of the physical, but we also live in the realm of the spiritual because we have an opportunity to live in the presence of Almighty God in the spiritual realm because we have a citizenship in the kingdom of God and a citizenship here on this earth.12:31We're pilgrims waiting to go home. That's why Abraham didn't get too excited or too worried when God sent him out because he knew the earth wasn't his home. He saw a city far off. So did these apostles and so did Peter. So he said, partakers of the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd, he challenges, shepherd the flock of God that is among you.12:57Let me tell you something. Mature, spiritual men of this church, listen to me. You didn't ask for it. But God demands it from you. Be the spiritual leader God has called you to be. Do not lay this on somebody else. Do not look around you and say, that man will be that when God has laid it on every man in this church to be the spiritual leader God's called him to be.13:25Thank you, James. Not many men want to accept that responsibility. We want to lay it off on our wives. We want to lay it off on our children. We want to lay it off on the future pastor. We want to lay it off on Brother Brad, the staff member, when God has called every one of us as men of God to be spiritually mature13:49and lead those that are younger in the trail of righteousness. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion. I like that. He's saying, not because you think you can and you have the authority, you use the authority, but willingly as God.14:19Don't make people beg you to do it. Don't make people make you do it. Do it because God's gifted you to do it. As God would have you, not for shameful gain, you're not doing it so you get a pat on the back or get a check, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.14:46Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Be subject to those who are spiritually mature, who are placed in a position of authority over you. Clothe yourselves, all of you, and this is where I want to come from. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.15:10For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that in the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares. He cares for you.15:40Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to eternal glory in Christ,16:06will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. And he concludes, and then he gives you his final greetings and salutations. Put on your heavenly wrapping. That's what I want to challenge you to do today is put on your heavenly wrapping. Why? Because let's look at what verse 5 says.16:34Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, not just the younger and not just the elder, but clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, putting on your heavenly clothes. You know, there's just some things that God allows us to have here that we're going to have there. Some things we're not, we're going to have here, we're not going to have there.17:04I'm glad I'm not going to have this there. I'm glad you're not going, I'm not going to have this there. I'm not going to have this old white head. I'm not going to have all these wrinkled up eyebrows. I'm not going to have this awful tender tummy. I'm not going to have this flapping under my arms. I'm not going to have this bifocal lenses in my eyes so that, by the way, I can see one of you way back there and I can see one of you way up here all at the same time.17:32You see, I had that privilege a few times back when they did the Cadillac surgery in my eyes and put two falcons in there, or excuse me, eagles. So we don't have some of the things, but we do have some of the things. We have an opportunity today to clothe ourselves like we're going to be clothed when we get to heaven.17:58You know, I would rather think that I would rather do this than have God do it. Let me ask you something. Had you, when you were a child, rather been able to take the medicine that you had to take yourself or have mother and dad do it to you? Now, here's how mother and dad did it, and I don't want to embarrass my wife, but here's how my mother and dad did it. They tilt your head back, they push your jaws closed, they open your mouth, and they blow until you can't breathe, and then they pour it in. Am I right?18:29If you did that, say amen. Amen. If you got it done to you, say amen. That's right. We don't want it. How many of you got ready for church on any particular given Sunday, and your mom had already picked out your clothes, and you go in and you say, I'm not wearing that. Only to have your rear end wore out, and you wore it anyway. Wasn't it much easier to have gotten dressed yourself? Yeah, I'll wear those pants. I love those pants. Mom, I'm glad you picked them out for me. I'll wear those.18:59I'm glad you picked them out. Let me tell you, humility's the same way. Humility comes to us in two ways. We can put it on, or God can put it on us. You hear me? We can put it on, or God can put it on us. Now, I want to tell you something. You don't want God to put humility on you because that comes through persecution, that comes through hard times, that comes through the bending of God's power in our souls to the point that we break and we fall and we bow down because God is at work in our life.19:19But I want you to notice, as Peter writes this letter, the very next verse, after he says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility.19:41Humble yourselves, therefore, let's get it done by doing it ourselves. In other words, humility is a requirement for the child of God to be in the right relationship that they want to be with God. Biblical humility is grounded in the character of God.20:08And so we say God lives in us, so then his humility lives in us. The character of God lives in us because we've been born again by the Spirit of God. And now the Spirit of God possesses us, and the humility of God overwhelms us. We see exhibited in the incarnate Christ as Jesus Christ steps out of heaven and he comes to earth as he suffers. Look at the humiliation that the Son of God went through. Look at the humiliation that the Father went through as he allows his Son to walk the road of Gethsemane,20:38as he allows his Son to be nailed to the cross of Calvary, as he allows the death of his Son on that cross. Look at the humiliation that God is taking upon himself. And so when he says to us, put on humility, let's put it on before he has to put it on for us. We need to have that humility. I tell you what, we're a big church, and as far as our size and even as far as our numbers, we're a big church.21:06You realize that over 80 to 90 percent of the churches just in the Southern Baptist Convention alone run less than 300. And so we could be big in a lot of things. We could say we got this and that, and there's a lot of pride in that. I want to tell you something. I think we need to get rid of everything that brings pride into our life. And if we have to go meet back under a pup tent, let's get under the pup tent till we get the humility of God in our life21:34and are thankful for everything God has blessed us with. We need the humiliation of God. It is required. As a sign of a genuine religion, humility is necessary. Listen to this. Humility is necessary to enter God's kingdom. Jesus himself explains that to us in Matthew 5 and Matthew 18. Or to be great, we must put on humiliation.22:03Let me ask you, what does the Lord say to the Pharisees and the scribes? First shall be, and the last shall be. It's a sign of humiliation. You know, you're around people, and, you know, they want to be prestigious. Jesus said, if you go to a place of prominence, and let's say we go to a place of prominence, and we get there early, and where is it that the first place most of us want to go?22:31Front row. But what if we set ourselves on the back row? That's what he said. Don't go to the front row. Set yourself on the back row and be invited to the front row, rather than to set yourself on the front row and be asked to go to the back row. You know, but that's not how we are. You know, I struggle.23:01My great struggle, you need to pray for me because, you know, I'm going to do a lot of traveling, but anybody that travels much on an airline, you know you want to be first in line to get on the plane because people carry all this luggage, and they put it all in the, and you get to your seat, and you open it up, and there's nothing, no place for your luggage, and you look, and it's on the back of the plane, and you look at your watch,23:28and you're taking off 30 minutes late as it is, you've got 30, you've got an hour and a half when you get to where you are to make your connection, and you've already been told there's a 30-minute delay, and if I put my stuff on the back of the plane, I've got to wait until everybody gets off the plane so I can go get my luggage on the back of the plane. Now I'm last getting off the plane. I've got 20 minutes now to get across the airport from Concourse C to Concourse A. It ain't going to get done. I've got to beat some old lady up so I can get priority boarding.23:57Do y'all follow me? Anybody fly? You know what I'm talking about? Stuart, you know what I'm talking about? You know, you go, oh, God, I don't want to be last, but the last shall be first. You know, what I want to do is say, hey, I'm a Christian. Y'all go in front of me, but I'm afraid then I'm going to go start cussing when the back of the line. But anyway, no, I wouldn't.24:25I'd write it down. Notice also not only under humility being required, humility is a prerequisite for honor. God honors the humble. Would you rather be honored by man for a moment or honored by God for an eternity? For instance, the humble are going to be the leaders in the kingdom.24:51Those that walk in humility are going to be the leaders. Those that think they have a right and a say-so, those that are going to be heard, those that are going to speak out, those that are going to speak in such a way that they, I'm a pastor here, I can park wherever I want, you know, I'm a deacon, I'm a teacher, I've been a member of this church. I don't care. Go to the back of the line.25:20Be the last for a change. And let God honor you with humility. Humility is not only required, but humility is reasonable. Have you thought about the reasonability of humility? Humility is only unreasonable when a heart is filled with pride. In other words, the only person that don't want to be humble is one who's got so much pride in his heart, he's not willing to be, I'm not going to do that.25:48I'm going to get my say. I'm going to say what I'm going to say. I'm going to say it the way I'm going to say it. And I don't care who it hurts. You're just going to have to listen to it. I got rights. I got my rights. I know my rights. Let me tell you something. When you were born again, you gave those rights to Jesus. And you don't have any rights anymore except the right that the Father has bestowed upon you26:15to honor him with your humility and your humbleness. You know, humility comes in all shapes and forms. You know, as a grandparent, you begin to feel like you ought to have a seat of authority or power or maybe as an individual in a job site position, maybe in a position in church, but that's not what it's about. It's a reasonable call. Humility is something, notice, it's something we wear.26:45And we don't take it off. You know, I didn't put this sport coat on this morning and say, I'm going to put my humility on today. I've got my sport coat on. Because when I take my sport coat off, I won't have this humility. You say, oh, you call your, you know, and you know how you know you hang out humility? When you think you got it. When you walk around going, hey, I'm humble. You know you're not. It's when you just live your life putting other people ahead of you27:15and praying and looking forward to and encouraging. You know, there's nothing like a humble husband who puts his wife first. There's nothing like a humble wife who puts her husband first. I've never done marriage counseling saying, you know, he cleans out the dishwasher and don't let me do it. And I've never heard a husband say, she cuts the grass and won't let me do it. She changes oil in the car and she won't let me do it.27:41You know, it's usually, you know, if I just, if I just knew that he cared and cleaned them out once every six months, I never have this woman come in and say, you know, my husband and I are having problems because he's washing clothes. But I do want to tell you something, men. If you don't want to wash clothes, just put some bleach in her favorite top in the same washing machine.28:05I've never done it. I'm just giving away secrets.28:24You know, religion brings false humility. Religion brings false humility because we get to think, well, you know, we're Baptists. There ain't nothing no better than us. We were around with John. You know, I remember being impetuous like Peter was one time and somebody made the statement where I was working. And they said, where'd Baptists come from? I said, John. And then I, then I studied the scripture and I had a good teacher and I found out that John wasn't the first Southern Baptist.28:53That we didn't come along until 1845. John died 1845 years before that or longer. But we can get religious pride going. Can I tell you, being a Baptist ain't gonna get you to heaven. And it don't make God any happier than if you're a Methodist that doesn't know him. But we all need to be believers in Jesus Christ. We all need to be born again to a new faith.29:21A new life. A new walk. Humility is chosen and adorns the heart. You know, I got to thinking about that. We put it on and we tuck it in. Now, I say that and I kind of giggle because I've got a grandson who started tucking in his shirt and pulling his pants up because that's what Pop did.29:51And his mother, one day, she asked him, she said, why are you always tucking your shirt in? He said, because Pop does. And I said, there, yeah, I got one of them brainwashed. You know, because I've always been taught, you tuck your shirt tail in. Nowadays, everybody wears their shirt tail out. Stuart's got his shirt tail out. I noticed that right off the bat. I thought to myself, Stuart, y'all tuck that shirt tail in. It ought not be out. That's why it's cut the way it is. It's cut a little bit in front, a little bit.30:20Them that ain't, you wear them out. But them that's cut, kind of funny, you tuck them in. Now that you've been publicly humiliated, you don't have to put on any humility today.30:42But when you put on humility and you tuck it in, it's there to stay. It's there to show Christ to those around you. We wear it as husbands and we wear it as wives. We wear it as sons and we wear it as daughters. We wear it as brothers and we wear it as sisters. We put it on. And when we put it on, we're saying to our neighbor,31:10you're not better than me. How might I serve you today? We say to a brother or a sister that may want more in the inheritance than we think they deserve, that's okay. God is watching over me. And it doesn't matter. What matters is that I am clothed in the royal clothing of glory, humility.31:33Our greatest example of true humility is none other than Jesus Christ. At the age of 12, do you remember what took place in Jesus' life? He slips off from his parents. Actually, he doesn't slip off. He just gets caught up at the temple arguing with the men of that temple. And they're talking about religious things. And Jesus, having been the author of all the things that they're talking about,32:03plus much more, gets caught up in the discussion with him. And when his parents come and get him, he simply tells them that, you know, I'm about my father's business, but I humbly submit to you as my parents. And I go with you. Let me tell you something, young people. Can I tell you why most young people struggle in life? And I want you to hear me. I don't care how old you are or how young you are.32:31You could be a white-headed old person with a mom and daddy alive today. And the greatest struggle in our lives is the disrespect we show our parents when we do not humble ourselves in our parents' lives.32:55When we show our parents' disrespect, we step away from our obedience to God and humility that Jesus showed his father by obeying every act and command that he gave him. God gives grace to the humble or the afflicted, but resists the proud. He resists the proud.33:23Regardless of social or moral position, he resists the proud. There are prideful men. There are prideful women. There are prideful church members. There are prideful Christians who in their life have come to the place that their own glory, their own pride, their own wisdom, their own knowledge is greater than everybody else's. And thus they face God. Philippians 2.4 or 2.5,33:54Have this attitude, Paul says, in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,34:24even death on the cross. God has blessed me with a new opportunity to serve missionaries, to go out where they are and if possible, wash their feet, hug their necks, wipe their brows, and tell them there's a church34:54back in St. Clair County that's praying for them because they've clothed themselves with humility and realize the love of God. I read this about a missionary one time. Jim Elliott, I think, said this. Missionaries are the unknown people who seek to proclaim unknown God.35:19And I thought to myself, what do you mean? We all know each other, don't we? But how many missionaries can you name today? How many people in Iraq today can you name? How many people in Kenya can you name? How many people in South America35:49can you name? How many people, missionaries, can you name?36:04finally, finally, humility is rewarded. Jesus uses this as the one explanation I used earlier. I'll go back down. I'll go to Luke 14, 8. When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him. And he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this man and then disgrace you to proceed to occupy the last place.36:34But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you'll have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. I want you to think about this. One day you're going to face Jesus Christ. You're going to go37:04through everything. He's going to know everything you thought, everything you did, and that'll pass. And then he's going to say, but you know, I remember your service. Step up and come with me and rule the nations. For you humbled yourself rather than exalt yourself. You were silent when others were heard. You prayed37:34You prayed when others complained. You clothed yourself with the humility. And now I'm going to honor you with a position of prominence in my kingdom. Wow. It begins with humbling yourself to confess Christ as your Savior. It moves38:04It moves as you grow in your knowledge of just serving others and cleaning the feet, wiping the brow, holding up the arm of Moses rather than complaining and being embittered and not allowing God to bring joy into your life. Let's pray. Father, may we be clothed38:35in humility. May we throw no rocks. May we lay them aside. May we honor you by obeying your word. And Lord, may we do that which you won't have to if we'll do it. And that's putting on, putting on humility today. Father, I thank you39:04that Lord, we can or your word wouldn't say we could. And if there's anyone here today that does not know you as their Savior, today I pray for their confession. I pray for their soul that they will confess. God, if there's someone here today that God is embedded in bitterness, that God, today they would come and leave their bitterness at the altar and be clothed in humility. Father,39:34Father, I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand for our hymn of invitation? As our invitation begins and you sense God leading you, you know, you say, I believe God's bringing me to this church. I don't care who the pastor is, you step out and come. You say, God, I want to be clothed in humility. I know I am filled with bitterness. My friend, don't walk out of here bitter with a bag of rocks to throw, but lay them aside40:04and walk out of here with the joy of the Lord clothed in humility of God. And if you're not saved, if you don't know Christ as your personal Savior, you say, I've walked the house, I've said the prayer, but I don't see any change in my life. Wouldn't it be time to confess Jesus as Lord? You say, but I'm 60 years old. It doesn't matter. Well, I let pride stand in the way of stepping out and confessing Christ40:32as your Savior. and I'll see you next year.
