Sermon — October 25, 2026 · 10:57 AM

Thessaline. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Thessalon. The 4,000,000. Worship service at Westlands Baptist Church Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to John 17. Been for a couple of months here. Good to see you go back and forth with these glass So my second Ruth. Turn over a couple pages to John 20. Let me show you that. John 20 and verse 17. Jesus said to Mary, stop for an evening. For I'm not yet sending to my father but go to my brethren, my brothers and sisters, and say to them, I have sent you to my father and your father. So if you know Christ as your savior, you also know him as your older brother. Your protector, your provider, your model, the example for us. And this morning, we come to worship him as our So we're praying about him. Lord Jesus, we exalt you this morning in every way, as majesty on common. With the greenery? Savior, The lamb who is coming to take away our sins. The majestic sovereign of the universe. The eternal one, the one and only true and living God. We praise you. And we express our gratitude this morning that in all of that, you also are our elder brother. Our model, our caretaker, our protection, everything, that an older brother should you are to us. We worship you this morning. May you be pleased with sincere thoughts lifted up to you. And Lord Jesus, we thank you in your glorious name. Amen. Amen. Amen. See. You don't need bible to back to this step 24. Sorry. 32. Activist 34. Exodus 34, we're gonna be starting in verse 18. I'm gonna read through the old man of the child. This is the word of God. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For an... For seven days, you are to eat. Unleavened bread as I commanded you at the appointed time in the month month of Adiv. At the month of Abid, you you came out of Egypt. The first offspring from every womb belongs to men. And all your male livestock. The first offspring from cattle and sheep. You shall redeem with a lamb, the first offering from a donkey. And if you did not redeem it, then you shall break its net. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons, None shall appear before me empty handed. You shall work six days, but on the seventh day, you shall rest. Even during the plowing during the plowing time in the harvest, you show rest. You shall celebrate the feast of weeks that is the first fruits of the wheat harvest. And the feast of Indiatharan at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your marriages are to appear before the Lord God, the god of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall cover your land. You go up three times a year to be appear before the lord your god. Verse 25. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Nor is the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover to be left over until morning. You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. Shall find oil, young goat, and smell his milk. And the Lord said to Moses, write down these words, For in accordance with these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was then with the Lord forty days and forty nights. Did not eat bread or drink water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hands. As he was coming down from the mountain. And Moses Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of him speaking with him. So when Moses... When when Adam and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of the space shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the boys in the congregation, returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. Afterward, all the sons of Israel came here, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord has spoken to him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord, speak with him. They would take off the veil until he came out. Whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel, what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see in the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses face shown. But Moses were would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with him. You know, Z, I think you come forward. Almighty god, we've come before the As we've just been reminded, see, by by what you all are for, those of us who have been brought to covenant with you, we could come to you now as our father, as our with our hearts open to you, ready to worship you and honor you. To pray you, to bring your name glory, Lord. You are the glorious god. You are the almighty god. Lord, you know everything. You're omniscient and omnipresent and you're the sovereign ruler and change and creator. Of the entire universe. And yet you have sent your son to die for sinful people like we might be going through a covenant relationship with you. So that we can call you father and that we can be your children. You know, if you love us and care for us so much that you can count your son to die for us today. Guilty sinners like that, your perfect pure son, you, Lord Jesus, would leave your thorn and humble yourself and be born. As we reminded in Sunday school, in a filthy manger and a trough and and and a feeding trough that you would humble yourself like this, the creator of the universe, the one who's holding the universe together by the word of his power, that you would do this for sinners like elsewhere. Let that show us that you are a loving God, a great God, a merciful God, a compassionate God, a God who forgives, You're a savior god. You are a savior by nature. We praise you and we thank you. And we read what we read this morning about your glory, Lord, that Moses was in your presence on his face shown to the people of Israel. I'm reminded of what the apostle Paul said. The reason why Moses would put that veil in his face was so that the people would receive that the the old covenant that was just given, 10 commandments were fading away even at that time. That Moses had been mediator of these other people of God. Was only... He was then perfect leader. He was pointing to the true medium, the son, the lord Jesus Christ, who who the glory of god who ever, forever, shining from the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And even now, people who've come to the faith in him that that that same light shines in our hearts, Lord. And you've opened up our lives to the truth of the gospel. Jesus Christ. You've shown us that your covenants will never save anyone. That the law could never stay, we can save it. It was never given the same. It was given to show that you are a holy righteous God. That your standard is absolute perfection, and that we could never ever achieve that perfection because we have sinned against you. You, that all covenant was pointing to the one who would obey that covenant over him. If you would obey the law a person, in every way. He would always do everything right. Never do anything wrong, and fought more than me for his entire life. He would obey that law on our behalf and die for our sins on cross that we might be forgiven, that we might come to faith with him and be saved given given the gift of eternal life, Lord, and we come to you now as your children and we praise you, Lord. All that you've done for us. And if you take you to show us how much you've lost, Lord, by teaching us and guiding us for We pray, Lord, as as the people of God, we come to you this morning. We ask that you would signify for God. Make us more like your son. Work work in our hearts, Lord. And and put to death the sin that remaineth within us, Lord. And give us a willing spirit to follow you, to walk in obedience to your word, now, Lord. A gratitude for your past grace and and looking to your future grace, which is guaranteed because of the cross of Christ. We know that you will never leave us nor forsake us. That you are for us and not against us, and that nothing in all the Crane and the Universe could separate us from your level. Help us to never forget that, Lord. And never forget that. To live in light of that fact, that we'll become in contact. I pray for open doors in each one of our lives, miss How are they seasoned and approaching us, Lord? I believe you'll be shining lights in the dark, Lord, that you would bring about massive revival in this country. And and in this world. We surrender all that to you for the trust in you. We thank you for the role of it. We pray now, Lord, also for the Petersons. We pray, Lord, we thank you that there are people in your... Out of your people, in your church, that are willing to pack up and leave their home country and go to places far away that they do not know in a place where they're most likely not welcome and to share the gospel with the loved people so that they might see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we pray that you would bless this couple in the ministry, that you'd bring many people with faith in Christ and Pauline, you would help them to learn the holy language to become absolutely flowing, we pray that they would be accepted and that their good work would never to everyone around them, but they would they would see their good works and give glory to the father, that it would open doors for the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we'd save sinners, And, father, we pray this morning now as we hear your word preached. That you would help us to get attached. That we bring out all distractions, all the thoughts, and all the worries and cares we have in this world, it was laid on at the cross. It was laid on at the feet of Christ. And hear... We wanna hear with open... Open ears. Open and see with open eyes, wonderful things from God. Lord, teach us this morning. Bless us this morning. Accept this offering that we have, and we give to you now, Lord, and may you bring further people to faith in Christ and build your kingdom through love you, Lord, and we praise you for all. It's in the mighty name of Christ, we come. After falling on the rent, stay in three circumstances. I would really like you to stand Well, let's turn to the revival back again. Such a rich chapter. It's gonna take us several months afterward. To make our way through it But I'm excited about what we did is that Father, we thank you for the treasure that deposit that you've entrusted to us I pray that the church will regard it We would treasure him. We would learn it. We have father. You are one. Teach us today, Lord. Marvelous truths that you intended to bring us great joy. We'll thank you in Jesus' blessed name. Amen. Amen. If you're 30 on the Friday, that preceded the crucifixion, It was in that day that Jesus arrived in the village of Bethany. You remember the home of its friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now we stayed there the next day, the Jewish Sabbath day, And it was all that Saturday that one signing the letter through a celebratory feast for Jesus. Celebrating Christ because he had healed Simon of leprosy celebrating Christ because he had raised Lazarus from the dead, Now the next day was Sunday. Sunday, what historical scholars call the passion week. I see. The day going, that Sunday morning in thirty AD, Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem on a small colt. It was on an animal not more than a year of age. You remember his entrance into the city was accompanied by shouts and hosannas. So many people in the crowd no doubt, because of the overflow in the city of of approximately a million people there for the Passover. Matthew tells us Jesus did this to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. Zechariah chapter nine in verse nine, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout in triumph, oh daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, and here's the keyword, humble. Don't do. On the donkey, even the pulp of the donkey. Now just think about that for a few moments. It's really staggering. The fact that the son of God himself enters into the city of Jerusalem not on a powerful white stallion. Not even on a full grown donkey, Occasionally, things would enter a city on a donkey, but usually it was the sign of surrender. That wasn't Jesus' intention. The prophet Zechariah informs us of our Lord's intention Jesus makes this unusual choice to present himself as a humble savior. Your king is coming to you humble. Mountain of the dawn, keep even the fall, of a donkey. Now I think you're aware that that kind of humility stands in contrast to the mindset of our society A couple of years ago, I read an article. It was an article based upon a series of television programs by EBS. The article is entitled The Seven Deadly Sins. It... These these seven television shows, they reviewed the sins of pride, covetousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth. Not necessarily a biblical list that you could find in the verse somewhere, kind of flowing from medieval theology. And what the program was was a collection of song by some various people who were somewhat famous in our culture and they were getting their take on what their attitudes were towards these seven deadly sins. Now none of the sins were as roundly ridiculed as the sin of pride. One rap star said this, pride a sin? I wasn't aware of that. Now that's not shocking to us. Another popular musician said pride is mandatory. That's one of the problems of the inner city. Kids need more pride. I joined the gang because of pride. Now I think Christianity, the actress, stunned up the attitude of our culture with these chilling words. Pride, I don't think pride is a sin. I think some idiot made that up. Now the most common New Testament word for pride simply means to show oneself as above others. It kind of describes an arrogant, haughty, superiority. Kind of seeing yourself as the standard by which all other people are to be measured. You know, the prime person of the universe. It was Satan who sought to lift himself up above the throne of God. It was part of the first sin in the garden. Therefore, it comes to us by nature. Paul writes in Romans chapter one in verse 30, the pride is part of the that we inherited from our parents who ultimately inherited them from Adam and Eve. Jonathan Edwards. Probably the most famous theologian who ever lived on American soil, he says this, Jesus' pride is the worst viper of the human heart. It's the first sin that ever entered the It lies the lowest of all the foundation of the whole building of sin in our lives. It's the most deceitful and unsearchable of all sins. It's ready to mix with everything, and nothing is so hateful. To God or contrary to the spirit of the gospel. Or of such dangerous consequence. There is no one sin that does so much to let the devil into the hearts of the saints and exposes them to his delusion. Did you notice, by the way, that Edward said that pride is the satan?

In other words, we very often do not see it in ourselves. Now we can see it in others, but not in our own minds. It is so deceitful. I brought a long list out—31 ways. I'm not gonna give it to you, at least this week. But let me give you a few ways that pride manifests itself in our lives and we don't even see it.

Number one, we can be proud of our accomplishments. King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel chapter four, verse 30. The king reflected. He looked at this incredible city, Babylon, one of the seven great wonders of the world, the hanging gardens of Babel. And he says, "Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself had built as a royal residence by my power, for the glory of my majesty?" Now maybe we don't use those words—I hope not. But all of us have a tendency to lift ourselves up because of our accomplishment.

Number two, we could be proud of our position, our status. Those spiritual leaders of Jesus' day, Matthew chapter 23, verses six and seven. They loved the place of honor in the banquets. They loved the chief seats in the synagogues, the respectful greetings in the marketplace. They love being called rabbi, teacher. They love those titles. They love the position. They love the status. And we too can be proud of our position, our status, whatever it is in our particular circles.

Number three, we can be proud of our spiritual activities. That also was the Pharisees, Matthew chapter 23, verse five. They did all of their deeds to be noticed by men. He's talking about their religious works, the good things they did. All of their spiritual activities were done so that other people would notice them, would praise them. They wanted people to see how spiritual they were. They wanted to be up because their hearts were so filled with pride. Certainly, we could be sensitive to that.

Number four, pride can express itself in our being lifted up because of our spiritual giftedness, our talents, our spiritual responsibility, our privileges even. Listen to Romans chapter 12. Paul writes in verse three, "Through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But to think as God has allotted each one a certain measure of faith."

Now Paul's talking about spiritual gifts there. He's talking about spiritual presence. Then he says, listen. You're gonna be tempted to look upon your spiritual giftedness, your spiritual opportunities, and your privileges, and you're gonna lift yourself up. Paul says, I want you to realize that this has been allotted to you by God. It's been allotted to you by God from before the foundation of the world. God has measured this out to you. We have no reason to be proud.

Number five, we could be lifted up in pride because of our knowledge. Which is a real temptation in a church like ours, by the way, which is committed to the relentless teaching of scripture over and over. We could be lifted up by the Bible that we know. Paul says in First Corinthians eight, one, "Knowledge alone puffs us up." If our biblical knowledge is not accompanied by love for others, then we are proud of our knowledge.

Number six, I want you to get this one. We can also be proud of our spiritual convictions. There's a great verse on this. I'm gonna give it to you. First Corinthians chapter four, verse six. Paul says, "Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to both myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn the meaning of that saying, 'not to exceed that which is written.'" In other words, not to go beyond what is written in scripture.

You see, there's a temptation in all of us to go beyond what's written in scripture. And by the way, the instruction of the verse—what Paul is saying is, it was such a problem in the early church that there was a saying among all the churches in the first century: "Let's not surrender ourselves. Don't go beyond what is written."

What happens when we go beyond scripture? We start applying our own personal standards, our own personal conditions, and we kinda convince ourselves that these are God's standards and these are God's convictions. And people aren't living according to our personal standards. They're not measuring up to what God wants for them. We become proud, proud of our convictions. They're not living up to our standards. Paul says, "Do not exceed what is written. Don't hold people to standards that God doesn't hold them to."

Listen to what Paul goes on to say next in verse seven. "So he answers the temptation to human pride against measuring ourselves above other believers by our standards. He says this, 'For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast like you didn't receive it?' The answer is we boast in what we receive. And if we do, that is sin, because it was given—even the standards we have are convictions given to us by God, and they may not be convictions others need to have."

So kind of summing all that up, whether it's your accomplishments or your wealth, whether it's some position or status that you have achieved in life, whether it's your ability to perform certain spiritual activities that others have a difficult time with, whether it's your spiritual giftedness, your spiritual knowledge, even your desire to obey God by setting certain good standards in your lives—all of it is a gift of God. All of it's something that God has planned for you. So Paul says, "Don't exalt yourself because you received it. We're so naturally prone to pride."

And here's the point. Pride is the greatest enemy of unity. And that's the point that Paul is making in our passage.

So now we're back to Philippians two. If you remember from several weeks ago, Paul gives us two twin sins of selfishness and empty conceit. Those are the great opponents of unity. That's the world. Selfish ambition. Empty conceit. No, no, no. God wants us to be different from our culture. And through the apostle Paul here in the end of Philippians one and all through chapter two, he demands our unity. And what Paul's gonna tell us in our passage is that unity can only flourish when pride is exchanged for humility.

The message of Philippians two, and I wanna continue in the first five verses. We've already spent two lessons. We're gonna spend at least one more lesson here. So let me read verses one through five for you.

"If there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves."

Paul has explained the main verb, main the same love for each other that God has for us, united in spirit. Remember, that's one soul. We become soulmates together. Intent on one purpose, one goal, the advancement of the church of Jesus Christ and his gospel. So that becomes the essence of unity.

And then last time we looked at the first half of verse three, and we saw the opponents of unity. And that was selfishness, empty conceit.

Now that brings us to the final point of this one section. It begins in the middle of verse three and it runs through verse five. There are gonna be four ideas here. I call it the mindset that guarantees unity. Specifically, Paul's gonna give us four attitudes that if we would embrace, they would promote and encourage unity in the body. And I call this for us as a church of Jesus Christ, corporately and individually, to embrace these four attitudes so that we might have the unity that God desires.

So what are these necessary attitudes? I'm only gonna go through the first one this morning: the virtue of sincere humility. Develop a sincere humility.

Look at the middle of verse three, look at the beginning of verse three: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but in contrast, humility of mind."

Now the word "but" there is important. I think it's important that we understand Paul is introducing here the opposite of the opponents of unity. So the opponents are selfishness, empty conceit. So when Paul gives the "but," the grammatical contrast, what he's saying is humility of mind is the one biblical antidote for selfishness and empty conceit.

That word "humility of mind" never appears. I find this interesting. It never appears in the Greek language before the first century when the Bible was written, because they didn't see humility as a virtue. So they didn't really use it as any kind of virtue in the Greco-Roman world. Now a form of it does appear in the Greco-Roman world in their language, but it's given in a negative sense. Like, who were humble, they're timid, and they're weak, and they're spineless. Who wants to be like that?

Now in the Old Testament, there is a related word. It's the word "lowly." It's the Hebrew word "lowly" that's translated in the Greek translation, the Septuagint of the Old Testament. It's used about 270 times. Now we meet that word in various settings in the Old Testament. I'll give you a couple. But for now, God dwells—you'll hear often something like this: "God dwells with the lowly-minded, the humble of mind."

Now it's translated here in Philippians two as that Old Testament word, "humility of mind." It means lowly-mindedness. Now I don't want you to get the wrong impression. It's not this person who's always kind of self-abusing himself, somebody who sits in the corner and just moans about how awful they are, how sinful they are. It's not this pessimistic approach to Christianity. This is instead a willingness to assume the position of a servant. Paul says it's a necessary virtue if you want unity. If you're in Christ, this is a necessary virtue.

Let me give you some verses:

• Acts chapter 20, verse 19. Paul says, "I served alongside of you with all humility."
• Ephesians chapter four, verse two. If we're gonna walk worthy of our calling, we must walk in humility, Paul says.
• Colossians chapter three, verse 12. If God has chosen you for salvation, walk in humility.
• First Peter 5:5. All of you clothe yourselves with an attitude of humility towards one another.

So humility is an absolutely critical virtue for believers. And this virtue has always been important to God. 270 times, I told you, you hear verses like Psalm 138, verse 6 where "Though the Lord is exalted, yet he regards the lowly. In other words, he's near to the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar off." God puts the proud at arm's distance. But he knows the person who is humble, lowly in his thinking.

I wanna give you an example of how God feels about this. Turn all the way back in the Old Testament to Second Chronicles. Second Chronicles, chapter 34. Let me give you a little bit of the background here if interested. The king in Judah at this point is a man named Josiah. He's a very young man. And he is a godly king, unusually godly. And he requires that they rebuild the temple. It's been torn down for a long time. He wants the people of God to get back to the worship of God. In the rebuilding of the temple, something happens that's astonishing. They come across the scriptures, which have been lost for decades. Unthinkable. But they find them in the ruins of the temple that wasn't even being used. So when the workers find the scripture, they bring it to Josiah.

Verse 18: "Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, 'Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.' So Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. I mean, he has just overcome—they have found the Word again. And he says to inquire of a prophetess named Huldah.

Look at verse 22. So those who are with the king, the king had told them to hold the prophetess Huldah.

Now look at what she said, beginning in verse 23. "She said to them, 'Thus says the Lord, God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me, thus says the Lord. Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which you have read in the presence of the king of Judah, because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be poured out on this place and it shall not be quenched.'"

But because of Josiah's humility, look at verse 26. "But to the king of Judah, the one who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus you will say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, God of Israel, regarding the words which you have heard: Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and wept before me, I truly have heard you,' declares the Lord. 'And behold, I will gather you to your fathers, you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all of the evil which I will bring on the inhabitants of this place.'"

And then you turn back to Philippians. Here's the point. God responded to the humility of Josiah, and he holds off his righteous judgment for a generation, until after Josiah passes. You see, God has always responded in grace to those who approach him in humility.

Fact is, when you come to the New Testament, we discover that humility always accompanies genuine salvation. Remember the Sermon on the Mount, the very first beatitude. Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Literally, God favors those who come to him as spiritual beggars. They come with nothing to offer. They simply come as beggars. That's the first step, by the way, our Lord says on the road to salvation. It's coming to the end of yourself. It's recognizing you have nothing to offer God. You are a spiritual beggar. If you've never come to God in that attitude, by the way, you are not in Christ. And one day, you'll face God's judgment.

The story in Luke chapter 18—great story. A Pharisee and the tax collector, and they both go to the temple to, quote, worship. But the Pharisee, in his pride, he comes in his arrogance. And you remember he stands before God and he prays and he says, "I thank you. I'm not like other men. I do this and this and this, and I don't do this. In other words, you ought to be happy to have me worshiping you."

The tax collector can't even look up. He falls on the ground. He beats his chest. He says, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner."

Remember Jesus' commentary on that story? Jesus says, "I tell you that this..."

Man, the tax collector, he went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalted himself, I will be humbled. But those who humble themselves I will exalt.

You see what our Lord is saying? Humility always comes with a heart that's seeking salvation. Moreover, both in the Old and the New Testament, God directly links humility in the heart of a believer to Him giving grace to that person over and over again. God's grace is measured out to those with a humble heart.

There's a very famous verse in the Bible. It starts back in Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5. Each of those verses basically gives the same idea: God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

I want to show you something from one of those passages. So turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. I think you'll find it very helpful. I would think if you want us to walk you through the passage because it is practical application you'll find anywhere in scripture as to how you can pursue humility, how I can pursue humility.

Remember, the heart of the passage is that proverb. You see it in verse five in all caps: "God is opposed to the proud." That comes from Proverbs 3. God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

The word "resists"—it's a military term. It literally means to take up arms against. You can put it this way: God desires to conquer those who are proud. He resists the proud. He picks up military weapons against the proud. But He offers His grace to those who are humble.

Now, those who are humble don't deserve His grace, right? I mean, grace by nature is unmerited. It's undeserved. But God for His own purpose has chosen to bestow grace on those who are lowly at heart.

Now here's what I want to show you in this passage: verses five through seven. Surrounding this little proverb there at the end of verse five are three very practical commands. Those practical commands are the pathway from pride to humility. So do you want to lose the pride that is so wrapped like a straightjacket around your heart? If you embrace these three commands, you'll be on that pathway.

Three Commands: The Pathway from Pride to Humility

Number one: Submit to your elders. "The younger men likewise, be subject to your elders." Listen, that's not referring to older men, though, right? I could prove that to you. I'm not gonna take the time to do that. It's actually referring to the office of elder, the office of pastor in the church. I mean, just to briefly defend it: if you look at chapter 5, verses 1 through 4, it's all about pastors. "I exhort the elders among you." He's talking about pastors. Verse two, "shepherd." He doesn't change the context in verse five. He continues to talk about elders. Beyond that, the word "subject" there in verse five—Peter uses it six times in the epistle. Every time he uses it is to those who hold an official office. So not just any old person, but those who have an official office in the church.

Now the command here is to be subject. You say, "Well, wait a minute. Why does he single out young men here?" Because they can have a big problem. We've entered into a feminist society. That's a whole message for another time, and you young ladies have that same problem now. You wanted it. You got it. But we're all to be subject to our elders.

The general principle that flows out of this: the first step on the pathway to humility is to cement yourself to all of those who have proper authority over you. In this context, the pastors of the church. And other pastors by the way, it's your employer. The government. Maybe you're a child, it's your parents. Your wife, it's your husband. But humility begins by recognizing that God has ordained certain authorities over us in this life and that we must submit to those authorities. That's where humility begins. Proud people refuse to do that. That's why Peter urges this upon them.

Number two: Clothe yourself with humility. Not only submit to the elders of the church, but clothe yourself with humility. Look at verse five: "Clothe yourselves with humility one towards another."

The old technical phrase "clothe yourself" refers to tying and anchoring an apron around your waist. That's what distinguished in Roman culture a free man from a slave—the kind of clothing they wear. A slave would wear a certain kind of apron.

Of course, you remember Peter's remembering that one great event in the life of the Lord—the night before His crucifixion—where Jesus stood up at the Passover and they were all too proud to wash each other's feet. And He took off His outer garment. He took off His inner garment. Then He wrapped Himself with the apron of a slave, and He washed their dirty feet.

Peter, since I definitely forgot that—I was so proud I refused to do it—now just disgrace yourself with humility. What does it mean? Be willing to be a servant of others. Be willing to be the servant of others, not a user of others. Be subject to those God placed over you in authority. Be willing to place yourself as a slave of others.

Number three: Humble yourselves before God. You see that at the end of verse five again. The word "humble" literally means to bend low, to make one low. It's a military term. To place yourself under the rank of another, to submit. Choose to submit your will to the will of another. In this case, humble yourself to the will or the word of God.

Look at verse seven: How do we do that? Here's one example: "Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

Now, again, the word "casting" is a participle. It explains to us the main verb, which is "humble." It modifies the main verb in the sentence. So the idea is: how do we humble ourselves before God? In this case, it's casting all of our anxieties upon Him. In other words, to humble ourselves before God means that we trust His sovereign providence in our lives. We don't complain about every circumstance that comes down the pike. We don't let our minds be filled with sinful anxiety, but we cast our anxieties on Him because we trust Him. We believe He is sovereign.

It's a prayerful spirit of dependence on the God whose power has no limits and whose providence only has our good in mind. You see, true humility begins with the recognition of the sovereign providence of God. That's always where it leads. We kinda get a picture of who God is. When you begin to see who God is, you begin to see who you are. When you see who you are in light of who God is, you see yourself as humble as you ought to. That's the pathway.

So we must—and you go back to Philippians 2—we must seek or develop a genuine humility:

• Number one, by submitting to proper human authority.
• Number two, by becoming a slave to others.
• Number three, by humbling ourselves before God in prayerful dependence, trusting Him for the providence of our lives.

Now what Paul wants us to understand in Philippians 2 is that when each of us cultivates that kind of humility, it's like a magnet and it unites us together. So if we want to pursue the mindset of humility, we must cultivate a sincere humility.

Now Paul gets three more attitudes. I'm gonna save them for next week, but stick with me for a few moments. Alright? Because I want to identify one motivation that I kinda skipped over several weeks ago for the sake of time, but it's very important to include because Paul includes it. It's important to me. Important to the elders of the church.

After calling upon the divine motivations for unity in verse one—that all of us are being encouraged by our position in Christ, that all of us are comforted by the love of the Father, that all of us are enjoying the fellowship of the Spirit—I mean, those are the highest levels of motivation that Paul could ever give us. You can't get any more lofty than those motivations.

But then the apostle kinda comes back down to earth. It's a bit shocking. He gives us a kind of unique and very personal motivation for unity beginning in verse two. And Galatians, when I first went over it, it almost seemed like it was beneath him to make this request. But I took note. He wrote it. He recorded it. And the Spirit of God in Scripture read it. So we need to deal with it.

And it really is a request that is born out of Paul's great love for the Philippian believers. He really wants what's best for them, and that is unity. And remember, they're experiencing disunity in the church, right? We've looked at that. He wants it for their good. But he also requests it for his own personal joy.

Look at verse two: "Make my plea for you to do... Make my joy complete by being of the same mind."

Don't you just interject yourself here, Paul? I mean, what do you actually have in mind here, Paul? He's appealing with his beloved church on a personal basis. And I want you to know that the elders here understand the passion of the apostle. I mean, if we would speak to you, we might say it this way: If you can't get in touch with the encouragement that you have in your relationship with Christ, if you can't get in touch with the comfort that you have from the Father's love, if you can't get in touch with the fellowship you have with God through the Spirit of God who indwells you, then we would say with the apostle Paul, can you do it? Can you pursue unity for our sake?

See, that's humility. It's humility from Paul because he's coming way down low, and he's opening up his heart here, and he's expressing his genuine love and care for these believers. He's saying, "This is how much I love you. My joy in part is dependent upon your unity. Will you do it for my sake?"

There's something that's so warm about this in my own mind. There's something that's so pastoral. He's saying, "Listen. Can you do it for my sake? Can you do it for Jesus' sake? Can you do it for the Father's sake? Can you do it for the Spirit's sake? Can you do it for my sake?"

I understand why he said that. I understand why he says, "My joy will be complete." You see, one of the greatest fears of every pastor is written for us in Hebrews 13, verse 17. It's very important along these lines. The writer says, "Obey your leaders and submit yourself to them. Why? Because they keep watch for your souls. They only have your good in life. They need to give an account to God. They can't get serious." The writer goes on to say, "Let them do it with joy and not with grief. Desire your church leaders' joy. That's a biblical plea. It's a legitimate biblical plea."

Paul's appeal here is in relation to them. He knew that they loved him. Look at chapter 1, verse 8. He says these words of affection. Paul said, "Let me tell you something. For God is my witness, so what I'm about to tell you? How I long for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus. I love you at some level with a Christlike love."

You know the elders of the church had that kind of affection? We love you and cherish you. So when you are tempted to be divisive, when you are tempted only to think of yourself, when you are going to insist on your own way, you choose your own gift? From my sake, will you choose unity for the sake of the elders? So that we don't have to experience the sadness that disunity brings?

Paul's appealing at their hearts here. For him, it's relational. Keep the unity of the church because your relationship to God calls for it. Keep the unity of the church because your relationship with the elders calls for it. It's a pastoral plea.

And I want you to recognize kind of the drama that's beyond this plea. Remember, Paul is writing from a prison in Rome, and at this point, he doesn't know if he's going to live or if he's gonna die. There's a lot of things happening about him being in prison. Their hearts were broken. That's the whole occasion of this letter.

Paul writes, "Don't worry about me. I'm content. I have joy." That's why it's in the beginning to the end of this epistle: joy, joy, joy—eleven times. They were worried about him. They were brokenhearted. They were picturing Paul, full of despondent, in a Roman prison chained to a Roman guard. So they sent, I believe, one of their elders, Epaphroditus. We're gonna see him later in chapter 2. Great story. But Epaphroditus, you go and you visit Paul and you take care of him. And what the path of God is, they send an offering. Take this offering to God. Whatever he needs, make sure that you care for him.

And Epaphroditus did the gift. In chapter 4, Paul thanks them for the gift. In chapter 2, he thanks them for Epaphroditus. And listen, he was such a thankful ambassador for the Philippians church. He almost dies. Hearing from the apostle Paul. In fact, it's almost like Paul said, "Listen, I need to send you back for you die here. So busy trying to help Paul, all you've killed yourself."

And when Paul sent Epaphroditus back, he sends him with this letter. And basically, the thing of the letter says, "Don't worry about me. I'm rejoicing. Chapter one: joy, joy, joy. Chapter four: rejoice in the Lord all things. And, again, I say, rejoice. You don't have to worry about me. But then he says this: If you want to think like joy can do, if you want my joy to top and spill over its cup, then have the mindset that maintains unity in the blessed church of Jesus Christ."

I mean, it's such a significant plea by Paul. It really becomes the pinnacle of the epistle. Paul says, "I'm rejoicing. God's providence has been preached. I don't know if I'm gonna live or die, but I trust Him. I've been in prison ministry. I'm rejoicing. But if you wanna fill my heart with full joy, then maintain a single line of unity."

This is the compelling passion that every pastor carries in his heart. The fear of disunity—always working, always praying that God would help us to be united in the church.

And why? Why are we so motivated to seek unity? Well, that's the desire of Christ. It's the desire of the Spirit. And it's also the desire of our heavenly Father—that His children will be united in everything on this earth. Our Lord understands that.

So I submit to you, beloved, what the apostle Paul does say here at the beginning of chapter 2 is very, very practical. Just know this: Those of us who have received the encouragement of Christ...

Those of us who have received the comfort of the Father's love, those of us that enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit, we should exchange our pride for humility, that we might give back to God the deepest longing for His children, and that's unity.

And Paul finally says, "After all of your concern about me, if you really care about them, you could fill up what I'm asking by maintaining the unity of the church." How do we do that?

Number one: by maintaining an attitude of humility with one another.

So next week, I'll give you three more mindsets that produce unity. That's pretty good.

Oh God, You have been so gracious to us that You would bring us together—all different backgrounds, wealth, status, age, ethnicity—and You would bring us together as one. The joy of unity, the blessing of the unity of the church of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to pursue these attributes of unity so that You might be pleased and the elders here will have their joy made full. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.

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A sister is going to obey the Lord and go for the waters of baptism. I'm going to read a testimony. It was her desire to read herself, but knowing she would become emotional in the midst of reading it.

My name is Joanna Provenzano. I'm 60 years old. For fifty-four years I've believed. My faith was absolutely right. I grew up Catholic, and faith was always a part of my life. I always believed in God and trusted in Jesus. But growing up, my understanding of faith was mostly based on religion, tradition, and sacraments—because that was what I was taught from her. I followed what I learned, but I never read the Bible for myself or understood what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

At sixteen, my father was brutally murdered—a random act that shattered my life and devastated my entire family. The profound trauma of his death left me with relentless anxiety and countless sleepless nights, clenching rosary beads so tightly in fear that nightmares would return. To find any sense of safety, I watched *The King of Kings* every night before bed, especially the final scene of Jesus resurrected, His meeting with the disciples and His ascension, holding on to the words: "I am with you until the end. My peace I give you."

That's how I managed the aftermath—to stay in my faith in Jesus in the midst of overwhelming pain.

Decades later, I came to realize that much of what I understood as faith had been formed by traditions I was born into. As I faced the lasting impact of that profound trauma, I'm reexamining what faith means to me. Now I'm seeking a deeper, more authentic faith that honors both the suffering I endured and the strength that helped me survive.

In addition to my father's murder, I went through a terrible divorce with my son Thomas, who was two, and Christina was just eight months old—a rupture that left me feeling my relationship with God. The profound trauma of those years bore countless sleepless nights, talking to God through waves of guilt and the fear that I had ruined life.

I grew up in a large Italian family where marriages endured. I longed for what my parents and grandparents had, even though my mother and father were given only twenty-four years together, and my many aunts and uncles stood as examples of lasting commitment. The combination of my father's murder and his divorce left me more anxious than ever. Still, I held on to my faith in God, faced with what was in front of me, and devoted myself to being the best mother I could be.

Fast forward to March 2020: the man who murdered my father was released from prison after thirty-eight years. My brother had worked tirelessly all those years to keep him incarcerated for life. Yet he was released and now lives not far from Osceola County. Even though the pain runs deep and never fully disappears, I continue to live by the grace of God. His release reopened the old wounds, triggering more profound trauma and brought back many sleepless nights. Still, I keep carrying all of his scars and the faith that sustains me.

I felt a missing piece in my relationship with God—something I now see I deliberately walked off at sixteen just to survive. I buried it so I could keep going. And as I grew older, this desire, asking to be faced with the courage and clarity I didn't have back then.

About six years ago, my son Thomas introduced me to his Bible in a completely different way. He encouraged me to start reading the scripture for myself and showed me how important it is to compare everything to the Word of God. As I began reading the Bible, God slowly started opening my eyes and changing my heart.

John 8:31-32 says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

That scripture became very real to me.

I want to be honest and say that I do not have a dramatic salvation story at one specific moment or day where everything suddenly changed. I cannot point to one exact thing and say, "This is when I'm saved." In many ways, I feel the Lord was always pursuing me and that belief in Jesus was always in my heart. But over these past years, my faith has become much more personal and alive.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."

And that is exactly what began happening in my life. As I continued reading scripture, I developed a real hunger to know Jesus and what deeply. I found myself wanting to pray more, read the Bible more, and understand God's truth for myself instead of simply following traditions.

God also began awakening my heart. I became more aware of sin, more aware of my need for grace, and more aware that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, "And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put in you."

I truly believe God has been transforming my heart little by little through His Word and His grace. I'm still growing every day, and I still have fears and struggles at times. But now when hardship's coming, I found myself running towards Jesus instead of away from Him.

James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."

And I have experienced that personally in my walk with the Lord.

I know that I have been saved—not because of my own works or goodness, but only because of Jesus Christ and His grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

My salvation is also based on Jesus the Lord—His death, burial, and resurrection. And I believe He is the only way to salvation. Though I am still learning and growing, I know that my hope and assurance are found in Him.

Today my relationship with Jesus feels personal, alive, and real. What changed my heart is not abandoned belief in Jesus—because I always believed in him. What changed is that I began truly seeking Him for myself through Scripture, prayer, and a genuine desire to know Him more deeply.

I thank God for His patience, mercy, and grace. And I thank Him for continuing to draw me closer to Him every day. Every closer to him every day.

And as we roll out, we've made things new based on your system meeting with the salvation and work that was done. I blessed you, my sister, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. It is like first, please, to emphasize the first. Obadiah's met with the membership committee, we become convinced that over the past year she has grown to put her faith on Jesus Christ alone. I make a motion to recommend her for membership. Do I have a second?

All those in favor, raise your right hand.

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Let me give you some announcements.

We have fellowship one stop through the week. We invite all of you to come into our faith. We would so desire.

We are going to have a special Thanksgiving service this week. Usually on Thursday, obviously, we won't be counting that Thanksgiving week, but it'll be a Tuesday before Thanksgiving service. It's going to be a bit special and different. It'll be from 7 till about 8 PM. We invite you to come out as we just gather together as a church family on that Tuesday to praise the Lord.

This Friday, our church ministries going to have a special celebration for the historic Reformation—how God pulled the church out of tradition, religion, and ritual into a more biblical focus five hundred years ago. So there's going to be a short movie on William Tyndale, the man who really put together the first English Bible. There'll be some games. There'll be some food. This Friday at 6 PM, normal Awana time at the church. But this time, we can't just drop your children off at Awana. You need to stay. There'll be no drop-offs for this Friday. And everyone actually is invited to come. So anybody in the church family who wants to come and just get involved—we encourage you to do so. You can see Elias Darcy. He's in the back if you have any questions.

Finally, nursery workers: those who might desire to be nursery workers or who desire you to be a nursery worker, ladies—five minutes after the service there's going to be a meeting in the last room on the right upstairs, the nursing moms' room, for all nursery workers and all of those who desire to be involved in the nursery. You can go to that meeting and listen to Kathleen. Right? She always has your best interest in mind, your children's best interest in mind, and we are a proud nursery. We want to do things decently and in order.

So let's stand, and we'll be dismissed in prayer.

Dear heavenly Father, Lord, we come before You. We have thanksgiving for this day. We have fellowship and worship, Lord. We just thank You that we can get together as a church like this and hear Your Word preached faithfully. And we just pray and thank You, Lord, for the salvation that You came down as a perfect Son of Man in order to be the final sacrifice for all those sinners, Lord—the propitiation for God's wrath, Lord. And we just pray that we continue and that You continue to work through the Spirit and bring this church body together in unity, and that we clothe ourselves in humility, Lord, and just come to You in humility always. And we just thank You for this day and ask that You bless this time with fellowship of sisters and brothers and bless the food and make it good for us, Lord. And we thank You and pray this all in Your Son's name, Jesus Christ. Amen.