HUMILITY, THE SECRET STRENGTH of a CHRISTIAN - By Tim Burkholder

I thought that song was so fitting that we sang. "Father, I stretch my hands to thee. No other help I know. If thou withdraw thyself from me, of whither shall I go?" Is that actual. Is that an experience? Has God ever withdrawn Himself from you? And what did you do when He did?

You know, I believe, according to the Bible and according to Scripture, that there are Christians, quote Christians, that God resists. There are church activities that God resists. That might be hard to imagine, but according to James 4 it is so. We often like to think because we got together and did something, God is in it. That is not the case.

Do we know when God's Spirit is with us? Or when all of a sudden He has backed off and right then is when we should stop. Right then is when the whole program should stop and find out why God had to back off.

So before I go on and share the message that I have been asked to share, let's pray.

"Father in Heaven I thank you for your word and I thank you most of all for the spirit of the living God that has come and dwells among men. Thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray that you might speak to all of us here tonight. I pray that the Word that is shared might not be in vain, but Lord, that it might find root and fruit in our hearts. Lord, I just simply ask for your presence and your anointing. In Jesus name I pray. Amen."

The message I was asked to share, I entitle it "Humility; the Secret Strength of the Christian." And I say that on purpose because humility is a secret strength. The world does not understand it. The world thinks to get ahead they have to push, they shove and they campaign, they do it with their strength, they do it with their might. The world simply does not understand that there is strength in humility. Neither do worldly Christians. They don't understand it. Tonight, hopefully, you can see if you are part of the world or not, or if your Christian life is running according to the course of this world. Or is it running according to the course of God?

God purposely puts us through training so that we don't have to be according to the world. But if you are running according to the course of this world, your Christian life is something that you are having to do. If you are running according to the course of this world, you are having to earn your way through it. You are having to push your way. You are having to, and understand me when I say this, you are having to pray your way through. You have to pray, but there is in your prayers an effort to get hold of God instead of God coming and meeting your through your prayer. Do you understand the difference?

Sometimes we find men that pray with a loud voice, and that is good. It is a blessing to be in their presence. They pray loud, and they really get excited and we can all get excited with them.

And sometimes it is merely a fleshly effort to try to gain hold of God, when God hasn't put it forth in His word that we have to do that. It is not wrong to pray loud. I think sometimes when God gets hold of us we can't help ourselves. Though sometimes we pray loud because we want to really get hold of God, and that is not necessary.

Let's go to Micah 6,verse 1, "Hear ye now what the Lord" "saith, arise, Contend thou before the mountains and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye O mountains, the Lord's controversy and his strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me, for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants, and I set before thee Aaron, Moses and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, King of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord."

Now, notice verse 6, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings and with calves of a year? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Here is a man who is wanting to please God. Here is a man who is wanting to know "how do I get hold of God?" And most of us, if we are really honest with ourselves, sometimes in our prayer life we are trying our best to get that blessing to fall on us. We try to make the right confession. We try to renounce the right thing. We try so hard, and the reason I can say this is because I have done it, we try so hard to arrange the words just right, and we maybe even wait a second to see if the blessing comes. You understand what I mean?

This is what this man is saying here. "How can I get hold of God? How can I be in a position where God will hear me when I cry? Shall I give my first baby? Shall I give rivers of oil? What shall I do?" And many of us, all of us tonight have that question I am sure in our hearts, How can I better get in a place where when I pray God hears. How can I get into a place where Heaven's blessing is with me? Isn't that right?

We would love it when we get in our closet, here comes God. Well, here is how you do it. Verse 8, "He has shown me, O man, what is good, and this is what the Lord requires of us." "But to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. Now I ask you tonight, Are you walking humbly with God? Do you walk humbly with your God?

I am going to skip over justly and the others and I am going to look at humility because it is the secret strength of every Christian. If you see a man who is prospering in his Christian life, or a woman, you can know one thing, they have found a place. And it is a place called humility. They haven't found the loudness or the volume and how to pray. They haven't found and renounced everything that they can, yes probably everything that God showed them. But they are not continually searching for something more, yet they are trusting God to show them if it is necessary. But they have simply found a place, neither have they found all the dress codes that some of us have been raised up by. Yes, modesty. Yes, cleanness and neatness. And yes, separate from the world. But not continually thriving upon it. Rather they have found a position. It is called walking humbly with God.

Many people do many things to try to gain God. And all that God asks is that we walk humbly with Him.

Now there are many different ways we do that. If George Bush was here I would walk proudly with him, I have to admit. And if other people were here, I would walk proudly with them. I would. But with God it requires humility. Why? The king of the universe. He made all of us. He made the trees, He made the beauty of it all. And yet with God we are required to walk humbly. And I think the reason is we want to take so much credit to ourselves.

Let's go to Proverbs 6, verse 16. It says, "These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him." And the first one on the list is a proud look.

Do you know, tonight, that it is possible to be in a position where God hates you? Not only is His blessing not on you but He hates you. And it is when we have a proud look. Now, what is a proud look? Fancy clothes? Can be. What is a proud look? A proud look is "I can do it." A proud look is when I can do it with my own strength. I can preach by my own talent or ability. I am able to provide for myself by what I am able to do. That's a proud look, and many Christians have it. They have a proud look because they can do it. How many of the books in the Christian literature that comes our way is "I can." "I can do all things through Christ." They might as well skip "through Christ." I can do all things, and they go out and endeavor to do it themselves. How many of us are the same way. That is a proud look. "I can." When God says that it is God that worketh in you. Does God work in you? Does He work with you?

You know, there is a man I know that it seems like, I think at times, he is surprised at what happens around him because God works in him. He goes and he meets with people and he talks with them and things happen. No because he can but because God does. That's the difference. A proud look says I can and a humble look says God does. And he takes God with him where he goes.

Let's go to James, where the Bible says that God resisteth the proud." How many times have we yearned and cried and asked for the blessing of God, and God resisted us. Can it be that God, all the time that we were so earnestly begging for Him, and I think it can be, because in Isaiah they were fasting and they were praying. And they took delight in coming unto God, and they wanted the blessing and direction of God, and yet God said, "Is this the fast that I asked for? Is this the way that I asked for you to humble yourselves before me? To fast for strife and debate? to push my way? to get my way? Or is it to loose bands of wickedness. Is it to humble ourselves before God and become nothing? That's what it is.

Now, let's go look at Lucifer for just a little bit. Ezekiel 28. "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man say unto the prince of Tyre," and as I understand this is Lucifer, this is the devil, "thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up and thou has said I am God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel." Notice this. Wouldn't this be a blessing to have more wisdom than Daniel had? The Bible recognizes Daniel as being a wise man. And here is says, "Thou art wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches and thou hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures; by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches, therefore thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God, behold therefore I will bring strangers unto thee and, of course in the end, bring thee down."

But I want to ask you a question tonight. Was it wrong that Lucifer had all this wisdom? Was it wrong? Was it wrong that he was created so beautifully? Was it wrong that he could get riches because of who he was? And I say it was not. That was the blessing and the crown of God on him. He was crowned with that. He was crowned with probably the highest position that we know of, besides Jesus. He was the covering cherub. Was that wrong? He was created that way. He was crowned with it. He was given it. But what was wrong? He took it for granted. He took it to himself. He said, "I am as God."

And you know, brothers and sisters, there are times when God comes in our lives and He crowns us with grace. He crowns us with salvation. He crowns us with victory over sin. He gave it to us. Was it wrong? No. But when it becomes wrong is when we take that honor to ourselves.

You see, you are not able to earn the victory. You can't fast enough. You can't pray enough. You can't earn a good speaking ability. You can learn it, but it is not grace. You cannot earn grace. It is given by God solely, and I see why He does it. He does it because He is the giver and we are the recipients. But you know, there is a little saying and it goes like this, "The taller the bamboo grows, the more it bows." You see, Satan, Lucifer, by right, by creation of God, by the way God appointed him to be, was higher, and he was way up here. Nothing wrong with that. But one day in his heart he forgot to bow and give God glory for it. And you know, that can happen to us? Despite having salvation, despite having grace given that other people can see, it was given for the glory of God and not for ourselves. And when we take the honor to ourselves, then God has to bring us down. That's why it is important. I don't care if God has given you victory, if He has given you grace and some gift, whether it be the gift of giving or the gift of preaching or the gift ruling, or what ever it is, give God the glory for it. You never earned it. You never deserved it. And if you fail to give Him the glory He has to bring us down, just like He did Lucifer. It is not wrong for us to have grace. It is not wrong to have salvation. It is not wrong to have all the things that God gives. But it is wrong when we forget to bow and give Him the glory within it. That's what's wrong. That's what brought Lucifer down. What was wrong was that he forgot to bow and give God the glory for doing what He did.

But I tell you, there are people who have lost kingdoms by not giving God the glory. There are people who have lost all kinds of things, all kinds of positions, victories, grace because one day they forgot that they never earned it. It is not of themselves, it's of God. And they forgot to give Him the glory, and God had to bring them down where He could again do something in them.

The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bows. The higher, you can always tell a true man of God because the higher he comes the lower he bows down. The higher that elevates him, the less you see of him and the more you see of God. That is a true man of God.

When you see a man who has good abilities and eloquence, it seems the more fame he gets the more you see him, mark it down he is in for a fall. And probably it is not God working in him but it is some natural ability, some natural talent, something that he can do. All men are drawn unto him rather than God.

Now let's go to 1 Kings 21. Let's look at Ahab. He was the king that wanted the vineyard and he couldn't get it so he cried or he fussed around until his wife "I'll get it for you." And it says that after Ahab had obtained the vineyard, sometime after that the prophet came and he pointed his fingers right in Ahab's face, and he said like this, he said, verse 25, I'm sorry, "Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat. And him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat." Verse 25, notice this verse, "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up." There was none, nobody, that did worse than Ahab did. He was a wicked man. And not only that, he sold himself to it. And it came to pass when Ahab heard those words that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth." Look at his reaction, he rent his clothes and he put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days but in his sons days will I bring the evil upon his house."

Now what I want to get out of this. Here is a man who sold himself to do wrong. Here is a man who sold himself to sin. Here was a man who really didn't care, but as soon as he humbled himself all of Heaven noticed. He had an open heaven immediately because he had humbled himself. Heaven noticed. You, know, so often we are looking for all the right things to get Heaven to notice us. We are looking for all the right things to say and all the right things to do and all the right whatever we can do to get Heaven to notice, but it is not what we can do. It is can you get yourself in a position of humility before God.

Do you know where that position is? Have you in your life found that position? You know, that is why I believe God answers some of the simplest prayers. Not because the prayer was so good but the person was in the position. That is why God can answer the sinner's prayer who doesn't hardly know what to say. It is not because of what he says, it is because of the position he is in. His heart is where God can move. His mind is where God can move. He sees himself as nothing before God. You see, it is not according to our eloquence. It is not according to our ability. It is can we humble ourselves. Forget eloquence, forget ability from the least of you in here to the greatest. If you can find this position, you can have an open Heaven.

How should it be with us? Shouldn't we know this position?

Now I want to look at something else in Deuteronomy 8. This is important. If you are here and you are born again and going on in your Christian life, seeking for the baptism of the Holy Ghost or of having it, being baptized and going on there is a wilderness for you. And we will all go through it, but it is for a divine reason. Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness." Look at what He put him in the wilderness for, To humble him, to prove him and to know what was is in that heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments." Verse 3, "And he humbled me." And notice what he did. I can't understand this humbleness. "And he suffered me to hunger." Now why would God suffer His people to hunger? Why? Why would God humble the people? Why? Why does God put us through the times we go through? Why do we go through times when our finances almost don't reach? Why do we go through times when it seems so barren and dry? Why do we go through times that are rough, we struggle and it seems we almost can't make it? It's not the devil. Not always. Sometimes it's God. And I tell you, God is looking for a pure people. For every man and woman of God who is divinely born again and filled with the Spirit of God, I believe there is a wilderness. And it is in that wilderness where most people make it or break it. I don't want to say that God is careless about His people, but it is a divine appointment in that wilderness. Jesus was led there as soon as the Spirit of God came on Him. And I believe it is in that wilderness where God sees what we are going to do. And many times we see somebody fall and we see somebody make a mistake and we wonder why. And we think, Why? How come the circumstance? Forget all that. God had many people right where He wanted them.

You know, assembly lines put their products on test to see if its worthwhile or not. Is that right? Many products are sold only after they are tested. Can't God do the same? Does God deal with His people as babies and pamper us all the time? No. He tests us to see exactly what we are made of. And right there is where many people fall, thinking it's the devil, thinking God has forsaken them.

There is a wilderness in us to humble us. God didn't get us born again to lift us up with pride. He hates that. We are born again to be humbled, to suffer need, to be proved.

That's not the end of it though. There is a blessing coming. Verse 3, "That he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord does man live. Thy raiment wax not old upon thee, neither does thy foot swell these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so doeth the Lord chasten thee." And that's something. Those Old Testament Christians went through the same thing we are going through, only in a physical way.

"Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways and to fear him; for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land." There is a good land after the wilderness. There is something coming. A land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomagranets. A land of olive oil and honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest eat grass. When thou has eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee." Notice verse 11,"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I command thee this day." Verse 12, "Lest when thou hast eaten and are full and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness." Notice the terminology. There was a great and terrible wilderness. And God put His people there. "Wherein were fiery serpents and," Do you think God didn't know that? Do you think God didn't know the trouble you've got ahead of you? Do you think God doesn't know the struggles you are about to face? He knows it all. And He did it on purpose. Can you believe that? But He did.

And drought. "For there was no water. Who brought thee forthwith out of the rock. Who led thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not. That he might," what? Somebody say it. What kind of a God do we have? Do you see, there is purpose for every struggle, there is purpose for every trial. And it is not always the devil. "That he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end. And thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth." Do you see what God is doing in the wilderness? He is taking everything out of you that you think you are good at. That is exactly what the wilderness is for, that God can teach us that it is not by me and what I can do but it is by Him and what He has gotten out of us and He can given us more. Amen! That's the whole purpose for it. When God gets us to that humble position where we realize that it is not me, God. It's not my will. It's not my talents. It's not my abilities, but it's yours. Then He can start giving us other things. That's when you see. That's that position where God can give grace. That's that position when God begins to make it easy for us. That's when the rain comes and the manna comes, without scarceness and all the good things. When we get to the position. But until God can get us there, He puts us through trouble. He hates a proud look.

And many people who are proud go up against wall,and wall, and wall, and they think it's the devil. They try to push around. The best thing they can do is say, "O Lord, I can't do it. And they get that position of humility and then God can start doing something with them. Quit pushing. You know I heard a man that is like this "Well, if this doesn't work then I'll try this. And if it doesn't work, I'll try this." You know, if he would just quit trying and say, "Lord, I can't. Would you do it for me?" That's what God is trying to do with us through this wilderness. That's what the trials are for. That's what the struggles are for.

When God can get a man to the point where he says, "Lord, I know it's not me, but I know it's you that works in me," then He's got him somewhere.

Are you in that place? Or is going still bringing you trouble? I don't think many people understand what that position is, where they can say, "God, I can see that it's not me but it's you." And they know there is something else working with them." And it's not their push and their shove any more but it's God. That's why Paul could say, "I rejoice in my infirmities." Because he realized that God's grace was with him then.

You see, a humble person is the one who can lay down and let God. And a proud person is the one who has to say, "God called me to it and I am going to do it." I don't mean that we don't need to stand up and walk and put shoe leather to the Holy Ghost or to God's will for our lives. What I mean is, humble yourselves to where God can put grace on you. Humility is the secret strength of the Christian because it's not them, it's God. It's secret.

The world doesn't understand it, and neither do worldly Christians.

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of you lust that war in your members? Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and can't get. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not." Doesn't that sound like us sometimes? I think we all know this position if we would be honest with ourselves. Trying so hard to do as good as somebody else. Well, he preached and he had ten people respond and I preached and didn't get anybody. So what is the object? Fire at him. Tell people how his interpretation isn't the best. His speaking ability is not good. We fight and we war and we want the blessing on us, but God can't give because we are not in the position to earn the give and He is resisting. "Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and," notice," ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is hatred or enmity against God." You see, that is where many worldly Christians are. They are at friendship with the world, where God can't give them anything. They are in a position where they can do it, and they want it for their honor and their glory. And God can't give them, if fact, He's resisting.

And I ask you tonight, point blank, Is God resisting you or is there an open Heaven? Are you in a position where you have laid down your lust? Or is that thing, you know it says right here that spirit within us lusteth to envy. And it is so true. We want honor. We want it. It is born in us. We want it so bad. We want to be recognized as a man of God. We want to be recognized for this or for recognized for that. We would crave it. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, the friendship of that is enmity against God. We are all born with that, and that's the very thing that God brings to death at the cross. Then is when God can bless us with grace. What did he say? "Humble yourself before God."

Notice verse 9. When was the last time you did this? You were afflicted and you mourned and you wept. I hardly new this was New Testament. In the Old Testament they put sackcloth and ashes on and in the New Testament God says "Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into heaviness. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up." You no longer have to do it yourself. He will. That is a blessed position.

I hope by the time that we are done tonight you all will be searching for that position before God. That is a blessed position. That's where I quit and God begins. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. When did you last practice it?

Weep over that spirit that lusteth for envy.

The Devil is not too strong for God. He can give you what's due you and He can take away what is not due you. But most of what happens in our Christian life depends on if we can find that position. If you as a church can find this position, there is no end of what God can do with you exactly what He wants to do. He can; you see, that's the blessing of it. God can do with me what he wants to do. And God can do with you and God can do with your family and God can do with your church what He wants to do. He can crown you with an outreach. He can crown you with grace and victory beyond what other people have. He can crown you with an anointing, what He wants to do. But most of us are in a position where we are trying to get to do it. You see the difference? Some people are trying to get God and other people God is doing. One is a position of twisting God's arm, and the other is a position of God lifting up.

What position are you in? Are you still trying ever so hard to get ahold of God.

Now let's go to 1 Corinthians 4, No, John 3. This is an account I absolutely love. John the Baptist was such an extremist. John the Baptist, by many people would have been labeled a proud man. He came out and he told people to repent. He called them snakes and vipers. People would have told him, "John, your proud."

But look at John, verse 25 says, "Then there arose a question among some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold the same baptiseth and all men come to him." Quite a challenge, isn't it. Here was Jesus and John baptizing, and some people come up and say, "John, do you see that all men are coming to Jesus?" Now, isn't that something when we are compared with somebody else. Somebody comes up and says, But he does it a little better. Hurts, doesn't it? The spirit within lusteth to envy. It hurts. But I thank God for that. It means we need to die. John pitted up against Jesus, and all men were coming to Jesus. What was John's answer? John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven." Do you see what he realized? It is important to understand this. You can't receive more than what Heaven will give you. You can fight and pray and struggle to get it, but until God is ready to give you can't, and I am convinced more and more of that. You can't give what Heaven won't give. If God withholds the grace, you will not get it. People are trying so hard. I think so many people are trying so hard to do things, trying so hard to get ahold of God, when it's a position, and they won't get because they did this and because they did that and because they did the other. It is when God decides to give. You cannot receive more than what God will give you.

Well, John the Baptist had a humble heart. And he realized "I can't get more than what Heaven gives."

Are we as happy as we can be when somebody else gets more then we got?

You see, walk humbly with God. It's kind of hard, isn't it. You see that it is not of a sad countenance. It's when we can lay down envy and jealousy and strife, and when we can recognize that God is the giver and there is an amount that is given me. That's true. 2 Corinthians 10. Two points here. Look at verse 13. Paul said, "But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach out to you." Do you know that the apostle Paul realized that there was only a certain amount that he was going to win for the Lord. There was a measure given him. But he sought with all his heart to fill that measure.

You know, sometimes we think we want to win the whole world. God hasn't given it to you individually to win the whole world. He has given you a measure. Find that measure. Find that rule. Find that calling. And go after it with all your heart.

Was it wrong that Peter went to the Jews and Paul went to the Gentiles? Together they won the whole world, didn't they? And you see, that is how it is. God has called this church to a measure and a rule. Find that rule. It may not be to win who you wish you could. It may be to win somebody else. Find that. Because by doing that, somebody else has been called to win that other person, and together we can fulfill it.

God has called you all to a measure and a rule. Now, that may be against your thinking, and I wouldn't have thought this way either until recently. But God called Paul to the Gentiles for a reason. And He called Peter to the Jews for a reason. And they didn't try to cross over each other a lot. They did some, but together they got them both. And I believe that ,that would stop a lot of striving between a lot of churches. If we would find the measure and the rule that God has called us to.

And that's not the only time Paul talks about other men's labors, being careful not to build on something somebody else has done. Paul realized he had a measure. Verse 17, "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."

Now let's go back to verse 12. "For we dare not make ourselves of the number," notice this, "For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are What? Don't compare yourself. Don't compare yourself with anybody else but Jesus Christ.

Walk humbly with God. You see, there are a whole lot of things in this. And it hurts. Compare yourself with Jesus. And when you measure up to Him, then you've got something. But most of us are lacking. But when we compare ourselves with the Other Churches we think we've got it don't we. When we compare ourselves with them we got a step ahead. We are comparing two wrong things, and we are not wise.

Compare yourself with Jesus Christ. Don't stretch yourself beyond your measure. But walk humbly with God. There is more to it. There is a lot more to it than just a humble faith.

You notice when Lucifer lifted up himself, when the kings lifted up themselves they lost their kingdom. You realize, when we can lift up ourselves, we can lose what we had. We can lose what we have. Do you have the victory you had a year ago? That was grace on your life. Or did you lift yourself up and say, "I got the victory by doing this and that and the other thing." That is a proud look. Do you have it? Are you where you were a year ago? Or is God having to humble you again? Do you understand what I mean? Did He have to take away from you what he gave because you took it to yourself?

There is all kinds of grace. Grace to be a ruler. Grace to give. Grace to have mercy. Grace to be a pastor, a teacher. Grace for this and grace for that. Find your measure of grace. Operate as best as you can in it. And give God the glory for it. And there will be fruit in the church and in your lives. But you see, it's so humbling sometimes just to be what God calls us to be.

You see, the spirit within us lusteth for position. It lusteth to envy. It lusteth to fulfill more than what we are called to fulfill. Find where you are called to fulfill. If it's an usher, thank God for it and do with all you got. If it's the janitor, thank God for it, the humble position, and do it with all your might. If it is just simply to show mercy, do it with all the grace God has given you. If it is to give, thank God and do it. We are asked to operate according to the grace that God has given us. Walk humbly with God.

You see, in war there is murder. In war there is a line. If you step across that line you are shot. We have all experienced that, haven't we. Right in church. There is fear. When you come to church and you are almost afraid to be there. You get around certain people and you fear them because you never know when they are going to shoot out at you. You never know when they are going to tear you down. There are enemies. James said it is right in church, and it is. It is because of that spirit in us. Walk humbly with God. We can stop a lot of wars, stop a lot of fighting by walking humbly with God. And fulfilling what God has called us to fulfill.

I don't believe that one person was supposed to do everything in church. We are all supposed to find our position where God can give us grace and fulfill it, and together we can be a church to the glory of God.

"For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Can you think of a higher position to be in than to be right with God? Is there a position higher? Tell me one. Well, a man who has found this position where he couldn't do it himself, where he is walking in the measure that God has called him to walk, no matter how lowly it is, the man that is walking humbly with God is as high as you can get.

Is there any better position than having God with you? That's the ultimate. It's the ultimate in the Christian life. The ultimate isn't to be an evangelist. The ultimate isn't to win a thousand souls. I don't know how many goals and ambitions you have for your Christian life. That's not the ultimate. The ultimate is to dwell with God. And in that dwelling place you will find the rest.

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God."