God shows you how to cope with the most difficult times

Click this immediately! – David Jeremiah – God shows you how to cope with the most difficult times

Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week.. Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First……. #boomchallenge

We are just three messages into this series which we have called, what do you think?
And we’re talking about the occurrences in the Bible of the word that has to do with our mind.
Last week, we talked about how the Bible tells us that we are to love the Lord, our God with all of our mind.
And what does that mean? And we explored that.
And today, we want to talk about the priority of a dedicated mind.
What does it mean when we read in Philippians chapter two and verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
It seems to say that you and I, the creatures of Almighty God can have the same mindset, the same mind that was given to the Lord Jesus.
Now, we need to be sure we understand that when the Bible says we are to have the mind of Christ, it doesn’t mean we become infallible and we start playing God to have the mind of Christ means that we can learn to look at life the way the savior looks at life, having his values and his desires.
It means to think God’s thoughts not to think as the world thinks, it’s an incredible thing that God has equipped us with this marvelous computer between our ears that this gift of God we call our mind can do what no electronic computer can ever create.
According to the Bible, our minds are capable of understanding God, communicating with God fellowship with God.
No electronic device will ever be able to do that.
God has given us a receiver and a transmitter as a part of our equipment so that we can know God.
That’s part of what it means when we are told that God has created us with a God shaped vacuum in our lives.
And until God is at home, the receiver and the transmitter are shut off.
But when God comes to live within us, we then have the capacity to know God and to fellowship with God.
And the Bible says, we even learn how to understand God’s word because the natural man does not receive the things of God, but he that is spiritual or he that is a Christian.
So today, we want to look at this verse in the book of Philippians that says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
When I began this series, I knew the verse, I knew it was in the Bible.
I knew it said we’re to let the mind of Christ be in us.
But I was quite surprised as I went back and learned just exactly what this means and you will no doubt be surprised as well.
How many of you know that when you want to understand a verse, you have to look at it in its context.
And, and the first thing you notice when you read verse five of Philippians chapter two is that it is connected with verse six.
And following, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus And there’s no period.
There, there’s a comma let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus who and then there’s a whole paragraph that follows that, that explains what is the mind of Christ.
Let us be sure today that we understand that we’re talking here about something that happens in our mind.
In fact, in the first verses of Philippians two, you will see the word mind four times.
Verse two says, like minded, one mind, verse three says, loneliness of mind. Verse five says, let this mind.
The book of Philippians has a lot to say about the mind.
Not just in the first chapter, not in the second chapter, but in the whole book, the concept of the human mind, the concept of our thought process is mentioned over 10 times.
Now, what we’re gonna learn today is that it’s not just our thinking.
For instance, if a friend does something that puzzles us, we might ask, what was it that he had in mind in doing it it is this sense that Paul uses this word here in Philippians two.
What was in the mind of the Lord Jesus? And then we read that section.
Who and it tells us all about what happened when Jesus came to this earth.
The passage that is before us describes the mind of Christ.
Now listen, if you study the gospels, you will learn a lot about Jesus.
All four gospels tell the story of the life of Christ.
Most of the gospels, most of the four gospels have to do with the death of Christ, his passion.
When you come to the epistles that were written to the churches, you find out what all that means because Paul and Peter and John, they explain the cross but only in Philippians chapter two.
Do you have a chance to see the cross through the eyes of Jesus himself?
What did it mean to him when he came to this earth to be our savior?
That’s what Paul wants us to know about the mind of Christ.
He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus who then he tells the story of the incarnation.
He tells the story of what it meant to the Lord Jesus to come to this earth.
Back in 1992 I wrote a book on the book of Philippians called Turning Toward Joy.
It was one of the first books that I wrote. It was a little commentary on the book of Philippians.
I remember when I first got my arms around uh Philippians chapter two.
And I thought this is the greatest, greatest passing in the scripture about the birth of Jesus and is coming to this earth.
And as I studied it, and I spent a lot of time writing the little chapter of the, of the incarnation, I began to realize that while this story is a very accurate report of Jesus coming to this earth, the purpose of the story is not to give us more information about jesus’ birth.
The purpose of this story is to help us understand what it means to have the mind of Christ.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, Jesus who and now Paul is going to tell us a story that will help us understand the mind of Christ.
I’ve taught this passage many times and I’ve never been able to come up with a better way to outline his descent to this earth than the one we’re going to look at today.
So let’s begin. There are some steps that Jesus took from heaven to this earth and we’re going to follow them through.
Remember, this is a story to teach us a lesson about the mind of Christ.
What happened when God, the father spoke to God, the son and he said we are going to invade the earth with the Gospel and it will take everything we have to do it and I’m assigning the task to you.
The Bible says the first thing that the Lord Jesus had to do when he came to this earth was he had to relinquish his place.
Notice, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God.
The word being here is used many times in the New Testament. It always refers to preexistence.
In other words that Jesus was always, God always has been, always will be, never, will not be.
He’s always been who he is.
And it says here that being in the form of God, having the very substance of God, Jesus in heaven had to do something that is, is mind boggling to all of us.
If we’re to understand the greatness of Christ coming to this earth, and if we’re to know the mind of Christ, we must see that it is a mind of humility.
We must try to comprehend the lofty position that he held before he was made man, not only had Christ existed eternally, he had existed eternally as God.
And when Paul says that he was in the form of God, he’s not just referring to how he looked outwardly.
He’s talking about the very substance of Christ. He was the very God of God’s God himself.
Once in a while, you hear people say, wow, you know, I, I don’t have a problem with you believing in Jesus.
He was a good man. I’m sure he was among the better of the prophets and all of that.
But don’t give me this nonsense about Jesus being God because the Bible doesn’t teach that when somebody tells you that you, you can pretty well rest assured that they don’t ever read the Bible because the Bible does teach that over and over and over again so that we won’t miss it.
John 14 9, Jesus said he who has seen me has seen the Father Colossians 1 19 for it pleased the Father that in Him Christ, all the fullness should dwell first Timothy 3 16 and without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God and friends.
If He were not God, then the Christian faith is a joke because no man can die for the sins of the whole world.
Only the God man can do that. Only Jesus Christ who was in the very essence and substance.
God could hang on a cross and his death be worthy of the death of everyone who would put their trust in Him.
So let’s understand that the deity of Jesus Christ, the Godhead of Jesus Christ is not an option for those of us who are Christians.
If you do not believe that Jesus was God, then you do not have anything to believe.
Because if He is not God, we are still in our sins.
It was Jesus Christ who came God in the flesh down to this earth.
And the point that Paul is making here is that in order for Him to become our savior, he had to walk away from the place that he had, he had to relinquish his place.
And then secondly, he had to refuse his prerogative notice. In verse six.
At the end of the verse, it says He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.
When the text says that Christ did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.
It means that He did not hold on to the outer manifestation of his deity. He was still God.
He always will be God. He never was not God.
But in order to come down here to be one of us, he had to lay aside some of the outward manifestation of His God head to become a man.
He became one of us. He did not view it according to Paul, something to be grasped to.
We do know that Christ surrendered that which he loved in order that he might minister to those that he loved.
What he did. When he left heaven to come down to earth was according to Paul.
In another passage, he who was rich became poor for us.
He who had everything in the outer manifestation of his God.
Him walked away from that took him down and be one of us.
And then in verse seven, we’re told he renounced his privileges. He made himself of no reputation.
Listen, Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation. Don’t forget the admonition.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.
What does it mean that he made himself of no reputation?
Some scholars say that when Jesus came to this earth, he laid aside his deity, he, he laid aside all of the attributes of, of his godhead.
Well, let me tell you something, diminished. Deity is no deity at all.
You can’t lay aside part of being God.
You’re either God or you’re not God, you’re not partly God, you’re not 75% God.
And I’m laying aside 25% so I can go down and minister to the people on the earth.
No, no, no, God never ever ceased to be God.
Jesus never ceased to be God, but the Bible says, he emptied himself and he made himself of no reputation.
What does that possibly mean? Once again, it’s the picture of the condescension of Christ to come so that he could be our savior.
It means that when he came to this earth, he set aside the independent use of his attributes of his power so that he could identify with us.
If God had come in Jesus Christ with all of the manifestations of the power of God, it would have been so overwhelming, it would have been so overwhelming.
He could not have identified as the Bible says, that he was identified with us in his humanity so that he felt every temptation that we feel that he was under every pressure that we have ever been under yet apart from sin.
That’s what the Bible says. In order for that to be true.
The Bible says that when he came to this earth, he set aside all that he could be, although he still was and he submitted himself completely to the will of the Father.
And I want you to notice this.
I found all these verses right in the center of the book of John that teaches this so powerfully notice in John verse 19 of chapter five, Jesus said, the son can do nothing of himself.
Wait a minute. Isn’t the Son God? Yes. But notice the son can do nothing of himself.
But what he sees the Father do verse 30 I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father does not God have his own will is not Jesus God.
Yes. But what does the text say?
Verse 16 of chapter seven says, my doctrine is not mine but he who sent me.
Verse 28 says, I have not come of myself. John 8 28 says I do nothing of myself.
But as my father taught me, I speak these things.
John 8 50 says, I do not seek my own glory.
John 14 24 says the word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me.
What is this all about? Isn’t Jesus God. Yes.
Did he lay aside his God had when he came to this earth?
No, what he did was in order to identify with us, he voluntarily submitted himself to the will of the Father while he walked upon this earth.
So that he never did anything on this earth.
That was not first of all laid before the Father in heaven, so that he always did the Father’s Will.
In the book of Hebrews, Jesus said low, I come in the volume of the book.
It is written to do thy will.
Oh God, I want you to see that in order for Jesus Christ to be our savior, what he did, what he gave up to come down here to be part of humanity so that he could be our savior.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.
He relinquished his place, he refused his prerogative.
He renounced his privileges and notice also he restricted his presence.
I remember when this first hit me, when I, when I saw this and I got this picture in my mind and I hope I can put it in your mind too.
But here’s the picture verse seven says, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.
Do, do you know what God did in order that He could be our savior?
Listen to me, the Lord of glory.
The Son of God seated at the right hand of the father was willing to come and be a little baby in the womb of a woman and be born as a human so that he could be our savior.
The one who had the unbounded freedom of the whole universe restricted himself, first of all, to the womb of Mary and then also to a human body, Jesus Christ in a human body.
I’ve said over the years that Jesus Christ is God walking around in a body and that’s who He is.
The humanity of Christ is one of the greatest testimonies of his love for us.
Thomas Watson wrote this in a magnificent paragraph in Old English.
But listen carefully, Christ taking our flesh was one of the lowest steps of humility.
He humbled himself more by lying in the virgin’s womb than by hanging on the cross.
It was not so much for a man to die.
Men die, but for God to become man was the wonder of humility.
For Him to be made flesh. Who was equal with God.
Oh, what humility he stood upon even ground with God.
Yet he stripped himself of the robes of his glory and covered himself with the rags of humanity.
That’s what he did. That’s what he did.
And ultimately, in verse eight, we’re told that he realized his purpose and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross from heaven all the way down, down, down down until ultimately outside of Jerusalem, he hung on a cross and died as a common criminal.
And the death of Christ was not an accident. It was in the program of God.
The Bible says it was in God’s mind before the world began.
Nearly one third of the material in the gospels is devoted to the days that Jesus spent in the shadow of the cross because that was the very purpose for his coming to this earth.
For even the son of man did not come to be served, says, mark but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
When the Lord’s death is described here in Philippians as even the death of the cross, that seems to be almost the last straw for the humility of Christ.
Even the death of the cross, the death of the cross was a death which was reserved for non Romans who were convicted of a crime while in Rome or for criminals of any nature.
The cross was restricted for their execution.
And when the Bible says that Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, it is saying that from the Lord of glory, he was humbled all the way down to a death like a common criminal from below Satan and all of his hosts assailed him from roundabout men heaped scorn on Him.
God dropped darkness on him and there arose this bitter cry from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me in this hell in this hell of Calvary Christ descended.
He came all the way down here for us.
He did all of that for you that you might ultimately be a Christian.
The Bible says that when he was finished with his death and his resurrection, Philippians 29 says, God also highly exalted Him gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.
The Father. This passage covers the entire life of Jesus.
It covers his preexistence, it covers his incarnation, it covers his humiliation, it covers his crucifixion and now it covers his ascension and his exultation.
Somebody said this is the passage of scripture that gives you the round trip itinerary of Jesus from heaven to earth and back to heaven.
No, all of this is given to us.
This story is given to us to help us understand what it means when it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, Jesus.
What does that mean? That means that the mind of Christ is a mind of humility.
It is a mind of condescension in this world of arrogance and pride and posturing and all of the rest.
And especially does that happen often when we get into the intellectual world of the mind?
That is not the mind of Christ, the mind of Christ is rather this mind of willing humility to come all the way from heaven to this earth and to humble himself even to the death of the cross.
And that is what Paul is saying when he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
And the Bible is replete with references to underscore this truth that God loves the humble spirit of his followers.
In the Old Testament, you will read it in the New Testament, you will read it in the words of the apostles, you will read it.
And in the words of Jesus in the Old Testament, we read that the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom.
And before honor is humility. Proverbs 29 says, a man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor and the words of Jesus, we read therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.
Luke 14 11 says, whoever exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Is that not what we just saw? He humbled himself and then he was exalted.
Luke 18 14 says, I tell you this, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
And then you add the words of the apostles like James who said, but he gives more grace.
Therefore, he says, God resists the proud and He gives grace to the humble.
Have you ever thought about resisting God? Some of us have done that.
But that’s, that’s one thing you don’t want God resisting you.
And the Bible says that God resists the proud, but he shows grace to the humble, the old Testament teaches it the words of Jesus, teach it.
The apostles teach it that God loves those who humbly follow after him, the instruction of the mind of Christ and the illustration of it and the implication of it.
I may have told you this. I can’t ever remember all that.
I’ve told you because I’ve been your pastor for so long.
But if I tell you something, I’ve told you before, just remember, I’m getting old and forgetful and just pass it off to another day.
I want to tell you about the, the person who had the shortest tenure who ever worked for us at Shadow Mountain.
It was not in days, it was in hours. He worked for us for about two hours.
We hired him right after we hired him, we were having a little, a little meeting over in the administration building.
So we were all over there doing chairs lining the chairs up, putting them in the rows and getting everything ready for this meeting.
There was a table in the back and I looked over and our new employee was standing there and I said, could you give us a hand?
And he said, I don’t do chairs? Hm.
We had a little talk and he found another place to work.
Can you imagine in light of what we have just read in light of what we have just seen somebody who says they’re serving Jesus Christ ever saying something like I don’t do chairs.
The reason Paul gave us this illustration of the mind of Christ is to help us understand that if we have the mind of Christ, we will have a mind like what that story teaches.
And there could never be anything for any of us that would be beneath our dignity if it has to do with serving Jesus, is that not true?
And we’re going to see this in a much clearer picture in just a moment.
But I want you to see how this all fits together in Philippians two.
In order to do that, we kind of have to read the passage backwards.
We’ve talked about verses five through 11, but let’s go back now into the first four verses and learn what it means.
If you have the mind of Christ, first of all, in verses one and two, you discover that the mind of Christ will always produce unity among God’s people.
Verses one and two. For if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love of one accord of one mind, you see all those words, like minded, same love, one accord, one mind, that’s all about unity.
And you say, well, why would Paul put this in his letter to the Philippians?
Very simply, if you read the whole letter, you’ll discover the church in Philippi was having some spats among their members.
They were having some stress in the church. Now, we don’t ever have that in our culture today.
But back in the Bible days that happened, in fact, let me just show you a couple of illustrations of this.
Back in the first chapter, we read Paul’s in prison, writing this letter to the Philippians.
And while he’s in prison, some of the people in the church were preaching Christ from envy and strife and from selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to Paul while he’s in prison.
In the second chapter in verse 14, Paul gets a little dig in and he says, do all things without complaining and disputing.
In the fourth chapter, he uncovers the core of this whole descension in the church.
It’s a disagreement between two women. Forgive me. Listen to what it says.
Philippians 42, I implore EOD and I implore synthe to be of the same mind in the Lord sisters, get it together and quit fussing with each other.
We must never forget that this whole passage that we have just unloaded and unpacked the background against it is these two quarreling women, the quarrel that was threatening to destroy the unity of the whole church.
The Apostle made it clear in this letter that the secret of maintaining unity is humility.
And I know that I speak to a group of folks here.
Some of you came to this church, maybe you came from a church that was just exploding and it’s just it imploded from the inside with dissension and fighting and all of this kind of thing.
I hear these stories every week, not just from this community but from around the country because of what we do on the radio, people write me letters, what should I do?
This is going on in my church.
I used to ride with people from the airport when I was going to go speak in their church and made the mistake of saying.
So how’s it going? I don’t do that anymore because it’s just really depressing to me to hear what’s happening in the churches.
Let me tell you what I’ve learned in every situation where there is a fight in a church.
It’s always about the pride of somebody in the congregation who thinks their way is the best way.
And if you don’t want their way, it’s the highway and it just breaks out into all kinds of stress.
Let me tell you something. If you have the mind of Christ that can never happen to you, the mind of Christ is he came from glory.
He laid aside his robes of royalty.
He was willing to be born as a baby in a major so that he could ultimately serve us through his death on the cross.
The mind of Christ is the mind of unity.
So the mind of Christ is the mind of unity.
But the mind of Christ is also the mind of usefulness. Notice verses three and four, let nothing be done.
Don’t do anything through selfish ambition or conceit. But in loneliness of mind, esteem others better than yourself.
Let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interests of others.
You know, we’re always a little bit nervous when we talk about humility.
I read about a guy who wrote a book on it, humility and how I attained it.
That was a best seller. You know, I heard about a pastor who was awarded a medal for being the most humble pastor in his community.
The next week, they took it away because he wore at the church.
You know, you just can’t do that humility.
Paul is talking here about the attitude and the perspective that we have as we reach out to one another as we help one another.
I’m talking about the willingness to serve one another. It’s not about what the job is.
It’s about your willingness to be humble and to do whatever it is that God has called you to do.
I say this again. If you understand this passage, there can never be anything that God would ever ask you to do that would beneath your dignity.
Now, there’s only two places in the Bible that I’m aware of in the New Testament, only two scriptures where we are told that we are to follow the example of Christ.
Only two places. That doesn’t mean those are the only two places where we should look for Christ and follow His example.
But it’s just the only two places where it’s spoken.
One of them is in first Peter chapter two verse 21 where we are in a context of, of suffering where Jesus talks about suffering for something you didn’t do.
And in that passage, he tells us that we’re to respond to that in a certain way.
And he says, let this be your example and then he gives himself as the example.
But the one that I want to talk with you about as we close today is from John chapter 13 where after Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples, we read in verse 15 of John 13 for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
Let me recreate that scene for you.
So we’re all together as we close our bibles in a moment, the disciples had gone to the room where the last supper had been prepared.
Now watch this on their way to this last supper dinner.
They had been having a disagreement among themselves over who was the greatest disciple of all the disciples.
Can you get this on their way to the last supper? They’re fighting over who’s the best?
Who is going to have the place of prominence in the kingdom?
This is going on between them as they walk in for this supper.
When they get into the room, apparently there was no slave there to wash their feet, which was so much a part of that culture.
And when that wasn’t true, normally those who participated in the event would take turns washing the feet of one another so that they would have clean feet during the dinner.
You may wonder why that was. Maybe you haven’t seen the actual pictures of the, of the last supper.
They didn’t sit in chairs like this.
They reclined around the table and their feet were quite prominent in their reclining.
So you’d like to have clean feet for the dinner.
Apparently when they got there, having discussed who was the greatest among the disciples, no one took the initiative to wash anybody’s feet.
No. So they’re sitting there waiting for the last supper.
Having not had their feet washed and Jesus walks in and he found them in sulky silence.
And throughout the dinner, it must have been a gloomy meal because they actually ate their meal, having not washed their feet.
And now I want to read to you from the scripture.
Exactly what happened in John chapter 13 verse two and supper being ended, Jesus knowing that the father had given all things unto his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself and began to wash the disciple’s feet and it was every bit as quiet then as it was right now, can you imagine?
Can you imagine these men who had followed this man for all these months?
Watching him love people do miracles on behalf of people.
Can you imagine their sense when he walked in and the Lord of Glory did for them?
What they had not been willing to do for each other? Now, I want you to notice this.
John tells us that Jesus performed this act while vividly conscious of his divine origin and nature.
It says he knew that he came from God and he knew that he was going back to God and he became a servant and washed the feet of the disciples.
Now, we can understand why there are many who believe that this hymn that we have read in Philippians 25 to 11 was written about this story in John 13, that this hymn was written to capture the majesty and significance of the God of glory who would come to this earth and so humble himself that he would stoop to wash the feet of his own disciples.
And if you go back and you put John 13 over here and Philippians two over here, you can see how they’re, they’re together.
Let me just do that for you quickly.
It’s really a beautiful thing to watch how this fits in John 13 4, we read that Jesus arises from the table and lays aside his outer garment in Philippians 27.
We are told that Jesus makes himself of no reputation.
And one of the paraphrases is that he emptied himself and laid aside his robes of glory in John 13.
Jesus takes a towel and he wraps it around himself and he puts water in the basin and he begins to wash his disciples feet in Philippians two, Jesus we are told takes the form of a slave being born in the likeness of human beings and being found in human form.
He humbles himself in John 13 12.
When Jesus finishes washing the disciple’s feet, he takes his outer garments, puts them on again and sits down at the table in Philippians chapter two and verse nine, we are told that God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name which is above every name and in John 13 13.
When this is all over in the upper room, Jesus says to his disciples, you address me as teacher and Lord and rightly.
So for that is what I am.
And in Philippians 2 11, we read every tongue will openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Philippians two is the commentary on John 13.
And it says to us, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ, Jesus.
If Jesus can do feet, we can do chairs. Amen.
If Jesus can humble himself, we can get over how impressed we are with our own resume.
Get off our high horse, quit thinking about us and start to think about others.
Remember that we are so blessed to be his Children.
What a picture he gives us about the mind of Christ.
It’s not anything like what I thought it was going to be. What is the mind of Christ?
It is the mind of humility which is willing to be a servant. Mind.
Some of you come to this church and you are served by others, but you don’t ever serve anyone else.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
We have some wonderful people in this congregation who take care of the babies in our nursery.
That’s something like washing feet, isn’t it?
We have people in this church who stand out in the parking lot and just get people scheduled to do all kinds of things.
That is the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is the mind of humility. It’s the mind of loneliness.
It’s the mind of willingness to be a part of God’s kingdom. In the Kingdom of God.
The way up is always the way down.
If you want to go up in the Kingdom of God, you have to be willing to humble yourself.
And in order to get into the kingdom, the Bible says, you got to become like a little child and be willing to accept what God has done for you.
I have preached the gospel to you this morning. My friends, I’ve told you what the gospel is.
It’s the love of God and the obedience of Christ to come all the way to this world to give them.