In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the concept of being a bond slave to God, just as Jesus was. A bond slave listens to the Father's message and does nothing except what the Father says. The speaker highlights the importance of humbling oneself and following God's way, using the example of Jesus humbling himself and coming to earth to reveal the Father as a man. The sermon also discusses the significance of redemption in revealing the fullness of God's heart and the beauty of His love and mercy.

I hope it doesn't happen here, but it has happened, where to prove it, the Lord proves it to his people. I'm embarrassed. But if he has to do that, it would glorify him to do that, that's the way it should be. Jesus, the son of God, said, I can't do anything. I can do nothing of my own. Every one of you here is maybe just trying to be a little humble. I can do nothing of my own. There's a simple reason that he came to us to be a man amongst men, to take a lowly position. I better read the passage concerning it first, in Philippians chapter 2. We start out by exhorting this living person to take a humble position, not to strive after anything that's being glorious, to be lowly in mind, considering others, and being concerned for the welfare of others. And then he says in verse 5, Let this mind be immune, which was also in Christ Jesus, to be in the form of God, so that not robbery to be equal with God. You never come across the passage in the Authorized Version that says, and I use the Authorized Version, but God never allowed any man or any group of men to make an absolutely perfect translation. So I don't object to certain modern translations, and I'm quite confident that other versions bring this out more clearly. It speaks of grasping, and therefore they use it as robbery. But what Paul is saying, who being in the form of God, did not consider it to be a matter of grasping to be equal with God. He did not consider he should have a grasping attitude to be equal with God. And the context bears that out. Rather than having a grasping attitude to attain to equality with God, he met the opposite direction and made himself of no reputation. The literal rendering, I understand, being he emptied himself. He put upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And so Jesus is saying, Paul is saying, have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, who in the form of God. I'm not sure if this is the implications of all that. But there was a form of Godhead in which he lived. He mentioned this morning, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The Logos was with Theos, and Theos was the Logos. That's literally the way it reads. He was with God, and God was the Word. The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And so I also encourage you not to try to figure things out when God purposely leaves it in the realm of mystery. This God was God. So he was in that form of God as the Logos. So what is your word? Is it not the expression of something that's within you? You want to communicate that to somebody else? And so just try and find the right word. And hidden in the heart of God were all the attributes of deity, including wisdom, knowledge, love, truth, power. You could go on and on. And God wanted to express that, and he does so in the Logos. Just as you would express, the best you know, something that's within you in a word, God expressed himself in the Logos. Of course, in the Old Testament, he expressed himself so many different ways. The angelic visitation, even taking the form of an angel at times. And other times, speaking through angels. Speaking through the prophets. Paul says in diverse ways and in diverse manners, He's spoken to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken unto us through the Son. Or literally, two Greek words, in Son. The Son being that spoken thought of God. The Son himself being that. Not just that Jesus spoke God's words, but he was that full intention of everything that God had in his heart. The written word was inadequate. The word on tables of stone was not sufficient. It wasn't enough. The words of the prophets wasn't complete. But the Son was the complete unfolding of the heart of God. But he came down to earth to make that revelation here and there. So that the Logos was not really God the Son. God the Father stayed there. God the Son came here. But rather God the Father spoke a word. The Logos. And that Logos, that thought of God, that very expression of God, came down to earth. It wasn't another God. The Son was the incarnate expression of God the Father. The expression of God the Father. Yet coming from the Father, and then in the fullness of redemption going back to the Father. Now, I'm not trying to explain that. But I'd like to, I'm not trying to be theological or doctrinal in mentioning that the Son was the expression of God the Father. I'm just, to me it's the most beautiful thing. I grew up in front of Julia to get the thought that there's almost like three gods in heaven. And they had a discussion and they decided the Son would be the one to come down in the beginning. And the other two persons wouldn't, you know, they'd be involved. And so, you get the notion that there was a difference somehow. That God remained intact, but the Son did that horrible manner of suffering. One man told me, he says, I always loved Jesus. He said, I never had any problem loving Jesus. But he said, I always had a problem loving the Father. The Father seemed so distant and so cruel and so harsh. And he was a good friend of mine. And I never said anything at the time. But I loved Jesus, I always loved Jesus. But I found it difficult to love the Father. But when you see that when Jesus came down to earth, it is God Almighty humbling Himself in the lotus, the Son. And that the Son was the expression of everything that was in the heart of the Father. And He was humbling Himself and coming to earth to reveal the Father as a man. Because man was made in God's image. And Adam was supposed to have been that expression of the Father in the earth. But He spoiled that image to a disobedient. And so we have the story of the habit that went on in the human family. A week in the day of redemption. Something that God had preordained and something that was in His plan from the beginning. Because only in redemption could the fullness of God's heart be revealed. Only in redemption could the fullness of God's heart be revealed. So that's the gift of love and mercy. Sacrificial giving and forgiveness. You couldn't manifest it amongst angelic hosts. You could only manifest the fullness, the depth of His eternal heart. As a man born in the earth from God, in the form of God. But coming down to earth, emptying Himself so that He could go into the very depths of humility on earth. Showing that God is loving and free and kind and merciful and patient and long-suffering. Whether or not you understand fully what I mean. I think you understand what I'm trying to say. And therefore, if you have any questions in your heart concerning what God might do. You could come to Him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He came to earth to reveal the heart of the Father. Don't think for one minute that the Father is up there just waiting for a chance to cast you into hell. But the Son is here to love you as if there's any difference. He came here to express the very heart of the Father. Jesus talked about the Father. The Father is so much there. They come to Him once a day. Well, you've been talking about the Father. Show us the Father and that's all we need. Show us the Father. If I've been with you these three years. You haven't realized that what I'm saying is a word for the Father. That the works I'm doing are the works of the Father. On another occasion, the Son can do nothing of Himself. Why? If He came forth from the heart of God to reveal God on the earth, why? Because the Word was made flesh and trampled down to the mummies. We were the ones whom He would redeem. And therefore, He took our flesh, our helplessness, our weakness. He took upon Himself even the likeness of sinful flesh. And Paul is careful to say that. The likeness of sinful flesh. Because He never sinned. It was the same kind of flesh that Adam had before he sinned. And He had to come down into that state of humility to bring about our redemption. God bless you. And so, as I mentioned, you know, how it boggles your mind. You think out and out and out there. And then how telescopes have been able to reveal some of those distant galaxies. So far from us that our minds can't even begin to boggle with it. The infinity of God. And yet, one of the early Russian astronauts who went up there was able to come back boasting, I was up there in space and God wasn't up there. I never found God up there. Do you know why? Too far away. God Almighty revealed Himself on the earth. It's down here. He revealed Himself and took upon Himself the form of a man. And what's a man like? It's the similitude of man. In every respect, except for sin. That He might be our Redeemer as well as our example. And I know that was always a great barrier to me. Yeah, I could see that He could be my Redeemer, but my example. And He was sinless and I'm a soul under sin. Until I realized that in the fullness of redemption is such a dealing with sin and the carnal nature that we are as He was. Not that we have attained to it, but that redemption is not completed here in our mortal flesh until the sinful soul has been crucified in the flesh. And we can live and move and walk on the earth as Jesus walked when He was here. Paul says, have this mind in me that is in Christ. He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself. Poured Himself out. Emptied Himself. I can't grasp the whole meaning of it. I can hardly say that He is no longer God. But He emptied Himself of everything rugged that God had. In the heavens. He was down on earth as a man. He wasn't in a position half God and half man. I'll go out and visit those people that are going across the lake in a boat. The storm has come up and so He walked on the water and therefore He is God. And then on another occasion He got tired and He slept. And so He must have been man. I used to have that sort of a thought. He's half God and half man. He could step out of one and into the other at will. I think many still have that concept. Then I realized He emptied Himself of all those prerogatives of power and authority to become a man in the earth. But a man in total dependence on the Heavenly Father. Total union and dependence on the Heavenly Father. Never stepping outside of that total dependence on the Father. And because of that He became our Redeemer. I say because of that. Because He went to the cross. I know but He went to the cross because He was totally dependent on the Heavenly Father. For every word He spoke, every healing He performed, every miracle He performed. And totally dependent on the Heavenly Father for guidance. He knew He came to die but He must die in the will of God. Not just to go on and go on and commit suicide. Some have that thought. He committed suicide. He came to die. Totally misunderstanding the nature of redemption. As we sought to point out. He came a light into the world to confront the darkness. Darkness and light won't mix. One must confront the other. And if the light is strong enough it dries out the darkness. He came to confront the law of sin and death. He came to overcome the law of sin and death with the law of life that functions within Him. It was life against death. It was righteousness and holiness against sin. It was truth against error. It was good against evil. And that's what brought His cross. Because when He came a light into the world. Immediately evil sprang up against Him. Hatred sprang up against Him. Simply because He was God revealing Himself in a man. Jesus said the world cannot hate you. Speaking to His own brethren. But me it hateth because I testify of it that it works for evil. Or you say I tell the world that it works for evil. That's not what this testimony was about. He was such a living expression of the righteousness and holiness of God that by His very presence. He testified of the world that it was evil and they knew it. They hated Him for it. So it's not just a case of marching on Washington and saying we don't agree with this thing. That's not the kind of testimony that God's going to raise up. I'm not condemning them for doing that. They've got to change that. When God has a people who are the living testimony of Jesus Christ in the earth. You'll be hated by the world. You think you've got freedom down here in the states and up there in Canada. Because of your form of government. They tell you it's because that presence of God is not permeating the church of Jesus Christ. That's why we're not persecuted. That's why we have this false freedom. Freedom to do anything they want. They don't care what we do. They don't care what the church does. As long as the church leaves them alone. They're not making any inroads into the areas of darkness in the earth. By marching, by protest, by getting involved in the political scene. Getting involved in social things. Not making any impact on the powers of darkness. I know I get into trouble saying things like that. What are you going to do with all this sunshine? Are you just going to sit there and let them do it? Are you just going to let them do it? Aren't you going to object to it? I'm not talking about being passive. I'm talking about unless the church of Jesus Christ comes to a place where they're in union with the Son. And are walking and ministering in union with the Son of God in heaven. I don't care what kind of political power you've got on the earth. You're not going to change it in this nation or in any other. Until we come to the place where we have power against those principalities in heaven. They're the ones that hold the stronghold over the affairs of man. You can get in the White House or you can get in the judicial system or in the Supreme Court. You can fill it with Christians. But until you have a voice that penetrates the heavens to shake those principalities and powers there. You're not going to change any situation in this country, in the world about us. So we're not talking negatively. And I know I say that because although of course we can't do that. And so you can go on your hopeless way trying to resolve things by getting in charge of the government and you won't succeed. We come into union with Him who is King of all kings and Lord of all lords and do what He says. We will accomplish in the earth exactly what Jesus wants accomplished for this day and hour. And I qualified it for the simple reason. It's not a case that we come into union with Jesus. We just go forth over the land and wipe out all the evil and establish the kingdom of God here or any other nation. I said according to the mind and the will of the Son of God. We'll do anything He wants us to do. Because Jesus himself has been reigning on the throne of glory for 2,000 years almost. With all power in heaven and earth and still the world is full of evil. For the simple reason that God told Him to rule and reign in the midst of His enemies until all enemies are exterminated. He's given the mandate, you rule in the midst of your enemies. Rule in the midst of it. I'm not going to destroy all enemies yet. It's going to be little by little. It's going to be according to my plan and purpose. But the time is coming when the Father said all enemies are to be put under the feet of Christ. And He revealed to us that glorious mystery which we've only seen in part. That we are to be joined unto Him in that one body. And that we are to be His hands by which we would serve Him. We are to be the feet by which the gospel of peace will go to the nations. And that when the kings of this world are put under the feet of Christ, they'll be under the feet of this church because we are that. Those members of the body of Christ. All according to God's timetable and God's schedule. Away with the thought that once we get this great power we're going to go forth into the earth and make things really worse. Jesus Himself with all power in heaven and earth has allowed, permitted the evil to be in this earth for these 2,000 years. And yet all through that time there has been a people sometimes very insignificant. Sometimes it seemed that there was no real church in the earth. But all through church history God had a people who so walked with Him and learned obedience that they were able to shake those powers of darkness. And to bring forth the mighty work of God that God intended for that day and hour. Amen Lord. We shall show the full conquest. Because God says you rule in the midst of your enemies. We're anticipating ultimate triumph. And I don't know what might immediately happen in the earth, in the church. In the next year, two, three years we expect mighty things from God. But far be it from any of us to say once that thing comes we're going right on and we're going to subdue the whole earth for Christ. There's no room for any of that kind of boasting. God just wants the people to know His voice so clearly. If God says to a group of people and it doesn't have to be a large group. God will be able to speak clearly to His people. I want you to stop this whatever is going on. Whatever it might be in this city or in this nation. I want you to get together and speak my faith. In intercessions that you might overthrow those principalities that are controlling this horrible evil. Whether it's abortion or homosexuality or anything else. If God indicates as well I want you to deal with that. Then the Spirit of God hears what the Son says. And the Spirit of God communicates it to His people. And because the Spirit of God communicates it to you and I it lays upon us the burden that's on the heart of Christ. And it comes forth in intercessions to pray to God to do that thing and it's done. And it's happened all through church history and it will happen again. Amen. God just wants the church to walk in His glory and in His harmony with the Son of God in the heaven. He's King. Don't think that He's coming back here to be King. He's King there in the heaven. Hallelujah. He will be King when He comes back but He's King now. Amen. Seven, eight, ten times as a reference or a direct quotation or a reference to the Psalm 110. Where it so clearly declares that Jesus Christ when He rose from the dead was not appointed to rule on any throne in earth. Because that would be inadequate. And that's what the Jews didn't understand. If He'd get on the throne there in Jerusalem everything would be lovely for them. Because they knew that they were God's chosen people and were under the bondage of the Roman emperor. If Jesus gets on the throne there in Jerusalem then everything will be wonderful. And to their consternation and amazement and dismay and perplexity when He rose from the dead He says, I'm not going to be here long. I'm going back to the Father. And it devastated them. So it was good that He was going back. It was good for them that He should go back. Because God hadn't just appointed Him to subdue the Romans in Palestine. But to subdue sin in this world and to subdue principalities and powers in the heaven. And therefore He gave them a throne higher than any throne in the earth. And higher than any throne in the heaven. That He might have authority over the whole realm. Isn't that much better than if they build a throne room over there in Jerusalem or in England or here in the United States? That some believe it's going to happen? Sitting in the White House, what does Jesus want to get in the White House for? When He's seated on the highest throne in God's universe. He's got authority over all that. And His people have it in union with Him. But they've got to come into union with Him God's way. And He shows us the way. And the mind in you which is in Christ. Through though He was in the form of God, did not consider His qualities as God's functions. He leaped out after to strive after. But emptied Himself. He took upon Him the form of a servant, a doulos, a bond slave. And was made in the likeness of man. Coming in the form of a man was great humiliation for God. Right. But God is a humble God. I don't know if I've ever read that in the acrobatics of God. He's a humble God. Humblest Himself. To behold that still in Him alone. And He humbled Himself. He came down and identified with you and I. So you can see the depth of humility in God. God's a humble God. Let's say of the high and holy ones that inhabit the Trinity. I dwell in a high and lofty place with Him also. That is true and at a constant, humble and at constant peace. And so you go up there and you see the high and the holy ones. But you can't really find them there. You know He's there. As we were talking today as kids, you know, and I did it too. You just think about God, where does He come from? How big is He? And your mind goes out and out and out. Oh, I don't know, billions of miles, a few more billions until you have to stop thinking. And then still you're not there. The high and the holy one, the lofty one that inhabits the Trinity. But He says, I dwell there, I know. But He says with Him also that it's the contrite of a humble spirit. To revive the heart of the contrite one. And to revive the heart of the humble. That's what I dwell on. If you want to find God, first of all, to show you have a humble heart. And then He will show you that humble place where God is. Because God is going to reveal Himself in you once again. And people will be traveling through and through when they hear of great things happening. God's working over there. I've got to get down there if I can scrape up a plane fare. I've got to get there because I hear God's working there. And they go and they see God's working there, all right. But did they find God? He says, surely if I go where God's working, I'll find Him. That's what Job does. Sitting there in the asphalt, devastated. Lost everything. He says, I go forward, I can't find Him. I go backward, I can't find Him. I go to the right hand where He's working, I can't find Him. I go to the left hand, I can't find Him. Right where God is working, didn't find Him. People can sit in a meeting where God is working. They don't see God? But then something came to Job that encouraged him. You know it's the way that I take. And then I try to put Him forward. And God was leading Job to a place where he would find God. And so He led him this way. God led him that way. I know from your faith leaders, it's good to point out that Job brought his troubles on himself. It doesn't say the thing that he fears came upon him. So he brought it all on himself. Don't fear anything. Then you won't have it. Because God didn't witness it that way. He said, Job has spoken right. He said it to me. God did that which is right with Job. And what He did was in response to a challenge from the devil. He said, Job is serving you because you're good to him. When you take away what he's got, then Job will thirst at your feet. If God hadn't challenged him, the devil probably wouldn't have done anything about it. God literally started this thing in Job. Satan appeared one time with the other sons of God. I shouldn't say the other sons of God. He appeared with the sons of God before the throne. God says, where are you? He says, going through his own earth and walking up and down in it. God says, why are you doing that? Do you ever notice Job not serving? He says, Job, did he serve God for nothing? He made a rich man out of him. He loved him. Prospered his family. Everything loved him. He never listened to Satan's ears for his own honor and glory. So God says, go ahead. And we won't go through this trouble with you. But you know what happened. Satan kept coming back to get more and more in front of you. More and more in front of you. And God let him have it so far. He won't touch his life. Wonderful to know that God puts his constraints on the devil. He can only do what he permits him to do. He's not all powerful. He doesn't have mastery. Jesus is Lord. But perchance you feel the impact of Satan. Recognize it. God let him do it. Jesus said to Peter, Peter, Simon, Satan has asked for you. I'm told the gate says he has got you because he asked for you. I pray for you that you're safe there now. God didn't hesitate to let Satan have a time there with Peter because he was from Job. He'd come out all night. And he'd come out the better for it. So did Job come out the better for it. And unknown to Job, God's purpose in it all was that he might reveal himself to Job in greater things. Good. And I think unknown to many, many of God's people, many of whom I know, God is a dear, dear partner. People learn more of this. And Peter's coming for it. Peter's coming for it knowing God is there. So we don't ask for something. We just ask the Lord to lead us in his way and to bring us to a place where we would know him. And to do that, God may use any instrument he chooses. But Lord, we want to know you better. We want to know you. So it is all over. God lifted his heavy hand up to us. He was able to say, I heard of you before, but I never saw you before. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ears. But now my eyes see you. And I will take you back to me. I heard of you, now I see you. I really believe that God has a revelation of himself that's far beyond what we've known. We rejoice in the word. The written word, the word we hear, which Paul calls the word of healing. The word of healing. In other words, it's the word that God has given the spirit of healing to hear it. Since there's such a thing as having ears, we're not hearing. And we rejoice in that healing that God has given us. We want to know you. You have it. But there's something better. So it says, I heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. And therefore I pour myself in repentance to you now. I'm talking about seeing him, and I don't mean in a vision. I don't know really what form it will be. But in a manner so clear that when we see him, we'll be able to say to one another, I've seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord. Don't think for one minute, because we're 2,000 years removed from the day of resurrection, that we lost out. And that great visitation of Jesus that we wrote from the dead, from Peter's psalm, from the women's psalm at the tomb, we told Peter. And John went down, and they saw the empty tomb, came back, and they gathered together, and the Lord appeared somewhere to Peter and to James and all the apostles and the prophets. What a marvelous experience. I used to think I probably missed out by not having lived in that place. I believe the Lord Jesus had the revelations himself for you and I just as great and just as glorious as any visitation that they had in the Holy Church. Paul had a visitation that was just as real to him as the one that came to Peter and John. Because it seems that it is recognized for a man to be an apostle, he had to have been with the Lord Jesus and he's seen him. Paul wasn't around those days. Yet he was made to be an apostle. As Paul said, right into his 30s, that the Lord Jesus, when he rose from the dead, he was seen of the apostles and he saw them too. I saw him. I saw him, he said, just as Lelius Peter saw him. He took that as a credential for his apostleship because he said, well, Peter's an apostle and he saw Jesus. Paul said, I saw him too. He saw that same Jesus appearing in glory from light with riches and he's enthroned in glory. God let the light come down to earth and he saw him as truly as Peter saw him. And that was after the resurrection. It wasn't the first appearing of Christ. It wasn't the second coming of Christ. It was in between. There was that glorious appearing of the Christ. And so if you did it once, you can do it twice and you can do it again. And I believe that before that it's certainly going to happen. There's nothing to hinder him from appearing to God's people any time he wants to. That same Jesus. And I anticipate that. He walked with his disciples there prior to his ascension. I believe he walked with them once again prior to his coming again. That same Jesus which was taken up from you into heaven shall so come and like man as you've seen him go. He went communing with them, talking with them, revealing himself and went. I believe he'll come back and reveal himself to them and talk with them before he's openly manifested to the inhabitants of the earth. But we have to be prepared to see him. We have to be humble to see him. Humble shepherd. A major. And he was the king of Israel. Wise man. He was very militant. Humble. He came from the east. He saw his star. Where is it? And he called the tribes and authorities together to inquire where Messiah was to be born because Herod was afraid that another king was due to be born. Or they said in Bethlehem of Judea for that it is written in the prophets and thou Bethlehem of Israel in Bethlehem of Asariah in Bethlehem of Asariah tho the least of the tribes of Israel unto thee shall come forth a governor he shall rule my people Israel. He had the scriptures right on his hand. And so he told these wise men to get down to Bethlehem of Judea. The tribes went forth and that's when they were humbled their hearts were humbled They would have said, the Messiah is born in Bethlehem, we thought, that's where it fits in. So he grew up in their midst, and then they would tell him that while still a baby was taken into the temple. And there were prepared hearts to make them. Simeon's son, Hannah's son, Mary and Joseph, of course, Mary's eight sons. And speak of him to all those in the temple area. Milling around in the temple area, so busy with their relations, bringing the goats and the bullocks and the pigeons. Dedicating their babies and everything, carrying on with this glorious institution. And we thought, a great church, you know, see what's going on here. And the Messiah was there in the midst of the medicine. Right. Simeon came along and picked him up and said, Simeon the Messiah, let me find our Lord. He literally said that. Elder Austen's father pointed out that it was a burden on him. And because God had said, you're not going to die until you see the Messiah. Well, apparently he was getting older and older and getting more people and wished he could die, but he couldn't die. He died because God put a burden on him, you can't die until you see the Messiah. And then he says, now, Lord, the word is despotic, from which we get the word despot. Not that I'm recalling God Almighty a despot in the way that he is, but it does signify a misproletarianism. He put me under this burden, he gave me this vision that one day I would see the Messiah. And now, Lord, I see the salvation of the Lord, the light that you have prepared for a bunch of Gentiles. Now let me go and die in peace. Release me. Release me, Lord, as I fulfill my duty in the earth as a father to my children. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Not only with the vision of living to see the Messiah, but with any vision you have that God gives them, be it of a lower plane or a higher plane, I don't care what category you might put it in, because God does give an expecting people's vision of hope. And we only pray that God will increase and enlarge and purify that vision, that it might be the vision he wants us to have. But with that vision, there comes with it a burden, which we must carry. It sounds good when you see it, when you hear it, it's great, it says, Lord, my son, thou shalt be a great prophet of the Lord. Thou shalt stand and prophesy my, you know, and get some great promise. With that vision, there'll come a great trial, or a fire, or a testing. Ask Ezekiel, ask Jeremiah, ask Isaiah, ask John the Baptist. Ask any two prophets of the Lord. They didn't ask to be a prophet. He'd rather lay down a minister any time. He said, Jeremiah, lay with us. He means that he's going to bring forth a people walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Grace is good. But to do that, he means that there's a humbleness that he gives. No matter what they're calling us, no matter how great they might be in the eyes of men, a prophet that can speak forth words that reveal the secrets of man, a healer that can heal the sick, raise the dead, and no matter how great it might seem in the eyes of men, God sees that ministry must humble himself within a bond system. We're in the likeness of man by birth, so we don't have to be made in the likeness of man, but be made in the likeness of bond system. Bond slave. You've got to look at your calling. You've got to be called a slave. Call a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Call to be in the family, to be treated, to be in our eyes. Call a bond slave of Jesus Christ. I, therefore, call a prisoner of the Lord, a prisoner of the Lord. He takes a humble position. You say, God led him that way. I know, but the reason God was able to lead him that way was because Paul had said, like his master, Lord, I will follow you. Let this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. You read that and you stumble over it because you say, Lord, I'd like to. I'd like to be humble and meek and lowly as my master. Help me to do that. Show me the way. And so then he begins to show us the way. And he reveals to us that he's the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Life, that's what we want. Truth, that's what we want. To find truth and to find life, we must know Jesus as the way. In other words, we must walk in his way. If we're going to know peace, if we're going to know love, we must learn to walk in his way. And as we walk in his way, God's way brings us down to dementia. Because God's a humble God and God wants to walk on earth with man, but he will not walk with the proud or the sponsored. Humble ourselves to walk with God. O'er him that leads the king in spirit and in power, give it all to him. Humble ourselves to walk with God. Just as a stream finds a bed that is lowly, so Jesus walks with the pure and the holy. Cast out thy pride and his heart shall consist of you. Humble thyself to walk with God. We talked about the river of God that's not going to release a river that flows through the land. It's going to flow in low places. We can always seek out the lowest place. And so Jesus said, have this mind, Paul said, have this mind that is in Christ Jesus. Seek out the lowliest place. The apostles argued amongst themselves, he's going to be the greatest. I don't know if Jesus heard it physically or heard it in his spirit. But they were lagging behind a little and they drew up close. He said, what was that you're talking about? He was silent. Take a little child and put him in the midst. He would be great amongst you, let him be in the kingdom of God, let him be servant of all. Let him take the lowest position. You come into the banqueting house, you don't know where you're to sit, well go down to the end of the table, sit there at the back. And then if the lowest seat fits, he promotes you, he'll call you up. Take the lowest position. So they hear the sermon just before the meeting. What is it that man can be used to murder his God? Man has proved the end of the life what it's tried to be, that somehow he's trying to get away from that original humility they had. What does that even mean? That he's got to walk in God's ways. Well, haven't they walked in God's ways? Who am I to judge? Well, it must be that somewhere along the line, they listen to the voice of repentance. Because they had a great ministry, they've got to keep it going. If God is saying, let it dry up, let it fold up, oh, that must be the voice of repentance. God doesn't do things like that. Man has a great ministry of healing and God comes to him and says, you've been healing the sick now these many years. I'm going to lay to your side as far as that ministry is concerned. Keep my faith and walk with me and let me be with you. I wonder if God has said that, whispered that to many of these, some of these who have fallen. And they were not prepared to do it. I know apostles that went to some of these outstanding leaders. I know apostles that went to some of them and warned them that they were on the wrong road. They didn't listen. But God does give warning. He gives opportunity to humble ourselves. And by his grace, he has given us the ability to humble ourselves. Because he leads us in the way he wants us to go. And if we walk in the way he wants us to go, and avoid the pressure, that because we have something from God, we could enlarge our ministry, avoid that pressure, God will be patient. He leads you and I on the right way. And so before our Lord Jesus, before the Father permitted him to go forth in ministry, for one thing, he was 30 years of age. I'm not saying that's a pattern in any sense of the word. Nevertheless, he was mature. Even though he had the gift of God. Even though he was God's gift in the earth. Even though as a young boy he was able to confound the doctors of the law with his wisdom. It wasn't the Father's time for him to go forth and minister. I've always felt very sorry when I hear of some young child that has been gifted with the Lord's gift, a great gift of the Spirit. As a young man, I've heard of that when I was younger. He was a prophet as a young man. He organized his itineraries and had him preach all over the nation. Drawing thousands of people. Because he was a prophet, a saint of God. Had a true prophetic ministry. Maybe God will raise him up yet, as far as I know. But his son of God went back and left the work of his father until he was 30 years of age when the Father released him. And then he gave to John the Baptist the word that when you see one coming and you baptize him, and as you baptize him the holy dove will come down from heaven and rest upon him. That's the one that I sent you to introduce to Israel. He's the one. And John recognized him even as he saw him walking up. He told the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. And he baptized him and the dove came down from heaven. And the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased that Jesus goes from there to hold these big evangelistic crusades. Because he was a martyr. He was driven by the spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. God is going to lay upon his son the greatest ministry the world has ever seen. Or ever will see. The ministry of Messiah, the Son of God. But because he came as a man, he had to live as a man fully dependent on the Father. He couldn't rely on his deity. He laid aside all that. What shall I say? I don't know how to express it. The prerogative of his deity to live as a man on the earth in union with the Father that he might be a pattern and example for you and I. To show us who are not divine. He came to the place where he put himself in our position not only as a man but as a bond slave. A bond slave is one who simply listens to the call of his master. Does nothing except what the Father says. Doesn't try and do all sorts of things and then is subject to the correction of the Father but waits for the Father, for the Master to tell him what to do. A bond slave. Stands before God as a bond slave. To hear what the Father has to say. Jesus was that. Paul became that also. And until we become bond slaves of the Lord, God prevents us from going out into any great ministry. I figure that's much of the problem. I got filled with the Holy Ghost. I got this gift from God. I can heal the sick. Away I go to change the world. Without having been driven into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Well a man, he can't go into the wilderness and find that. I'm just saying that if he has this knowledge of God and this understanding of his words he will say to God, God don't send me forth in ministry until you have proved me and found me. Don't send me forth in ministry until you have proved me and found me. Without knowing these truths that I'm speaking as a young man I did pray to the Lord. Lord I know you have a ministry for me but don't let me go forth if you know I'll make supper until I'm ready. If that means maybe speaking on me. I was ready and willing to go but I still say that and I go out there and love it. I thank the Lord when he does release me because I feel as a person and I think I know his voice and I pray that I'll always know his voice because I like going out when he sends. But I got frustrated at times when I went when I thought maybe he was sending and wasn't sure and I don't want to go through that. I don't know when he sends I don't know his voice today. I felt I heard his voice to come here so I was coming with anticipation. But it's not that I'm trying to get on the road traveling in ministry. I say God don't send me out. You know the pitfalls that are there. I don't want to go out Lord if I'm going to make shipwreck at this late date. I nearly made it younger years I could have made shipwreck very easily. I started out in ministry and I couldn't find that all that anointing. I couldn't find that pleasure of God in it and decided I'd go back to work and I saved it my job but I could see if I had to continue on I could have very easily made shipwreck because of the temptations around about you if you're not walking in God. I don't think ministry is a place to make you spiritual. Ministry is not the place to go if you want to be spiritual. You stay in your home church and seek God and love him and do his will and learn his voice very clearly until you're ready. When God's ready until there's a standing by his Spirit that you're aware of the voice of God. God will be pleased and he knows where you are. People have tried to prod me all my life to go to ministry because you've got this word for this church and you know it. I say God knows where I am. This one man, a friend of mine he used it against me. What's George doing? Oh he's up there in Canada carpentering. He told me God knews where he is if God wants it. But I didn't say it with that thought or that attitude. There's only one thing I ever had in mind to do in my life and that was to do a ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God I don't want to go forth and make unprepared of you and anointed with you and bled of your Spirit. I still say that. I want to be bled of the Spirit of God wherever I go. I want to be confident that God is leading me. Did you hear me this verse one time? As I anticipated ministry several years ago and I was out for two months and I thought maybe now is the time when I'll be out full time. And I was out for two months and came back and I was curious and didn't see really the depth of anointing. Didn't see any particular fruit from it. Not that that always matters. I didn't feel confident that it was a profitable thing that I did and I had left my job to do it. Came back and the boss heard I was home and sent me back into the cabinet. And then on I don't think I was anxious to do that. And that's why I said to my friend, God knows where I am. And I want to be hearing from him and I'm glad to know that he knows he's got my address. And someone said, well maybe you should be out there and you can't hear God. He wants you to go out I'm sure but you can't hear his voice. And the answer was so clear. If I can't hear his voice telling me where to go I don't want to stand before the people and declare God's way to them. I can't hear his voice leading me where to go. I don't want to go to ministry. This is the pathway that Paul says I want you Philippians to take. Compare that with any other pathway that you have in mind that will lead to success. That will lead to the fulfillment of your vision. That will lead you to an enlargement of your vision. The cross will come, people will come. The temple will come to show you how you can enlarge what you have. Isn't it logical to enlarge what you have? To increase what you have? Isn't today a big thing? Isn't God a big God doing big things? God is a big God doing big things. But the big things are insignificant in the eyes of the people. And the great things in the eyes of the people are insignificant in the mind of God. What are these things? Is John the Baptist a great prophet? Yes, how do you know? He had his history. And you just heard that there was a John the Baptist, a voice calling in the wilderness, calling the people to repentance. He had that written account of it. Did he go down in his history as the greatest prophet that ever lived? He performed no ministry. He didn't go around holding to his faith. He went out in the wilderness. He camped out there. That's what a big prophet has to go out there. Somehow the word spread around. There was a strange prophet out there in the wilderness and people began to go down to see people. What did you go down to see? A leaf shaken in the wind? A prophet? Jesus said among those born of women there hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptist. We'll put that at least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. It is never a greater prophet than John the Baptist. Jesus said that he reminded his disciples of that. It didn't appear that way. He started to get disciples around him and all of a sudden he started to lead them. Because he said here's the Lamb of God and he started to lead people. Lead John to follow Jesus. When he comes along he's concerned about this stuff. He says I must teach you. But he must teach you. Teach you. Jesus said he was the greatest prophet of all. He had the right attitude. I must become small that he might become big. I must come to nothing that he might be everything. The Son of God said of mine own self I can be nothing. As I hear I judge and my judgment is just. I say because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father that sent me. The Son of God said that. So it mattered not to Jesus if he preached to 15, 20,000 people or if he did anything or go and sit down at a well at Samaria and minister to one poor old devastated lady that was there. If God arranged to be there when he got there before it could happen it's a shame to him. Because in either case it is the will of the Father. To do the will of the Father and to know that the Father is pleased with it ought to be our greatest joy. Our greatest pleasure. God no doubt looked down upon us. That was a great meeting we had there. I think God would take notice of that. Because God takes notice of little things that people do in his name. Because we're a people that want to do big things for God. That are big in the eyes of men. God wants us to do things that are big in his eyes rather than big in the eyes of men and that. And so as we stayed there in the temple doorway and the people were throwing their money into the treasury and a little lady came along a widow woman. She didn't have much. She said she might, Jesus gave attention to her. Jesus gave attention to her. To this little woman that put in too much. The lady said this to the little woman she said about it. She put in more than all the rest. Throwing in the gold coins. She put in most of all. That's God's estimation of greatness. So let's carry God's estimation. Because God's idea of greatness is far above our thoughts. It's amazing. You can hardly believe it. How far is God's estimation above ours? It's by natural reason I mean. The natural reason we have. It's natural now. Because the heavens are high above you. So are my thoughts higher than your thoughts. And my rage above your rage. That's the chasm that exists between God's way and God's thought. And your way and my way as man sees it. You can't keep it shut. You go down to any Christian bookstore and you can find all kinds of books on how to be a successful Christian. A successful leader. A successful pastor. A successful apostle or whatever. If you want to know the roadway to success, go down to the Christian bookstore and it's flooded with books along that line. If you want to know the pathway to success in the mind of God, read this passage over and over. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...