Edgar Reich emphasizes the significance of cultivating a beautiful mind through humility and love, drawing from Philippians 2:2-5. He shares personal experiences of receiving and giving love within the church community, illustrating how esteeming others better than oneself leads to unity and revival. Reich reflects on the challenges of embodying Christ's humility and the transformative power of love in relationships, encouraging the congregation to practice esteeming one another. He concludes by inviting those unfamiliar with Christ to embrace His love and for believers to actively live out their faith in community.

Good morning, dear sisters and brothers in Christ. It's an honor to be with you this morning, and it's a special honor for me because of your love. You've been just incredible as a church to me, and I appreciate it so very, very much. I want to thank Pastor Roy, first of all, for giving me the opportunity to speak. Pastor, your messages on prayer have been so wonderful and encouraging, and I learned so much. So thank you for giving me the time. And then I want to thank seven people by name to come out to visit, to call regularly during my illness, and I've never seen such love. I visited you a couple of times in the beginning of this year, and then I went to Africa, came back, got very, very sick, and I didn't come back for a month here but some of you were just so beautiful and so kind and so loving, and I appreciate it so very much. And I want to thank Pastor Roy, who did very much follow up and also visits, Sister Maria called Brother Alan, Brother Emerson, Brother Herb, Brother Tony, and Sister Susan, I thank you so very much. And then I want to thank my daughter, Jen. She's here this morning. Jen, thank you so much for coming, and she came regularly every week to see what I needed, how she could help, and it's just such a wonderful, wonderful thing that she did that. So I appreciate you all very much. Your love is exceptional, and it really encourages me. So now let us pray. Father, we come to you in Jesus' name. We glorify you. We give you all the honor, all the glory. Please come in mighty power and reveal yourself and your son anew this morning by any emissaries from Satan that they may not be permitted to interfere and remove any curtains from our minds that we might understand and that we might then do. And I thank you, Father, for doing that in Christ's holy name, amen. Our scripture portion this morning comes from Philippians chapter two, verses two to five. Philippians chapter two, verses two to five. And while you're looking for that, the sermon this morning is a beautiful mind. We all want a beautiful mind, and these verses will help us to get that beautiful mind and to relate to one another in love. And thank you so much. The text is also up front here. In verse two, it tells us the purpose and the reason for the following verses. So we know what God wants us to do, and then the following verses will help us to understand how to get there. So it says here, fulfill my joy of being like-minded, being one in our minds, and that's very, very hard, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. And so that's the purpose, and now it tells us how to get there. Verse three, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. And if you read another version in your Bible, it will say there hold others in higher regard than yourself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So the humble mind of Christ, the Son of God, is available to us. So the question is, what then is a beautiful mind? And a few years ago, there was a movie called The Beautiful Mind. It was about a professor of mathematics, and he won a Nobel Prize for his brilliance, but he had a problem. He had schizophrenia, and at night, and when he was alone, he would fight with demons. He would fight with communism. He would do all kinds of things to ward off these evil forces. And you know, that movie reminded me so much of ourselves as Christians. We want to do the right things. We want to reach out to others in love, but yet somehow, somehow things go wrong. Some of our words we speak are not as loving as we wanted them to be. Some of our thoughts are not what they ought to be. And so that beautiful mind is evading us, but Philippians 2.2 speaks about the joy of being like-minded and having the same love. And if we want revival, then we need unity. It says, in lowliness of mind, esteem everyone better than yourself. What does esteem mean? It really means holding other people in higher regard than yourself. Now, that's very, very hard, and verse four makes it even harder. Not only do I need to think of you higher than myself, but I also need to consider that you have problems and issues in your life. And as I take care of my own problems and issues, I'm supposed to be there for you so that I can help in any way to carry the burden that you have. And now I remember a former great tennis player, John McEnroe, and I used to play a little tennis in my time. And whenever he got a bad call, he would shout, you can't be serious about this. You can't be serious about this. And you know, as Christians, I would say about 99% of us do not practice this verse. We somehow can't get there. And so when I read this verse, I said to the Lord, you can't be serious about this, Lord. How do I do that? How do I do that? And then in Philippians chapter two, verse five, it tells us how to understand that verse. It says, let, let, let this mind of Christ be in you. After we are saved, we assume that when Christ comes into our lives, that we automatically turn for the better, but we need the help of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he still gives us the free will after we are saved to be either miserable or to start to live that new Christian life. And Colossians tells us in Colossians chapter three, put on that new person, put off the old one. And here it says in this verse, let, let this mind of Christ be in you. To give you an example of that, suppose I had a physical illness and I had a tumor in my brain. I'd have to go to hospital. And as I'm admitted into hospital, I have to sign various forms. And one of the forms that I have to sign says, I let you doctor operate on me. I cannot do it myself. And so as I sign that form for surgery, the doctor will then operate on me. I cannot do it myself. I cannot open up my brain and insert tools and cut and do the things that a surgeon does. Likewise, to have this beautiful mind of Christ, which we have already, but it also says, let, let this mind be in me. So I must practice, I must do. I must use the mind of Christ for it to come out and to blossom and to shine. And for you to see it and for me to see it. In the winter of 2004, I got a phone call from Germany. It was a Sunday morning. There was snow outside, a lot more snow than this morning. And my sister called and said, mother is dying. I said, how do you know she's dying? She said, well, her liver shut down and her other systems are shutting down. And the doctor said, she'll be gone within hours. You better come. And I looked outside and I saw all the snow. And I said, yes, sister, I'll try to make arrangements, but I'm not sure whether airplanes will be flying, but I'll make the arrangements. And so I was very sad. I was downtrodden, but then I said, well, I better go to church anyhow. I still have time. And it was by that time about quarter to 11. I didn't have time to go to my usual church. And I drove around my condominium and I saw a little church not too far from me. And it said Mount Zion Baptist Church. And I said, Baptist, that's good. They believe in the Bible. So I might as well go there. And so I went, I opened up the door. And as I opened up, it was an all African American church. They were all black people in the church. I was the only person walking in. And I said, well, that's all right. If they believe, I believe. So I went in and I worship. After the morning service, the pastor asked for visitors and I didn't have a place to hide. So I had to stand up and say why I was there. And I said, well, my mother is dying and I didn't have time to go to my own church. So thank you for letting me worship with you. And I sat down and the pastor said, well, we're gonna pray for her. And so the whole church and the pastor start praying for my mother. And come Monday morning, first thing in the morning, I get an urgent phone call from Germany. My sister is on the line and she's shouting, don't come, don't come, don't come. And I said, why, what is happening? And she said, well, mother's system started up again all of a sudden. The doctors have no idea what happened, but she's well, she's alive and you don't need to come. And so God did a miracle in response to the prayers of that church. And then the Lord said to me, from now on, this is your church. And I said, Lord, why, why should I go there? And I had noticed when they take up an offering there, they have the offering plate up front and the pastor stands there and you gotta go up front and put your offering up front. And the pastor watches how much money you put in the offering. So I thought, Lord, I'm not sure the culture is a little bit different here. Some of the people wouldn't shake my hand. They don't love me. Father, I don't wanna go there. And the Lord said to me, it's all right if they don't love you, you go there and you love them. And then I said, but Lord, my job and all this other stuff of position and everything else, I feel a lot more comfortable elsewhere. I'm sorry, I gotta be honest with you, okay? That's the human flesh in us. And the Lord said, well, you have not learned how to love. So I want you to go there. I want you to go to that church and love them regardless of whether they love you. And the Lord knows my background. So I gotta explain my background a little bit to you. At the age of 10, I was sexually misused. And at that time point, I made a decision that it must never, never happen again. And because of that, because of that psychological pressure and psychological statement, I kept people at bay. You could come so close to me, but not closer. And I had a white castle on the inside. It was actually a prison where I felt safe, where I could not be touched, where I could not be hurt. But you were not allowed to get close to me. And so that's how I grew up at the age of 10. And later on, that gave me great success in business because I wouldn't trust anyone. And in business, you know, all of the politics that are going on and all of the backstabbing. Well, I could watch everything and make sure no one backstabbed me. And I made it to the top of a $900 million corporation and I ran a $600 million corporation at the same time. I'm, but at the same time, relation-wise, I was at the age of 10. I could not love, I could not reach out to you. I could not care for you. It was all about my power, my status, protecting who I was and what I wanted. And so, beloved, until the age of 61, I was a 10-year-old in my relationship skills. And God somehow had mercy on me. And if you have a chance tonight to come and hear how the Lord saved me, the Lord will bless your heart. If you know anyone that has not come to the church for a while, give them a call. If you know of anyone who doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, please invite them. But I leave that up to you. As I then joined this church, I said, Lord, I don't know how to love. And the Lord said, well, start with thinking of every person better than you. And I was shouting again, as John McEnroe did. And I didn't know what to do. And I was greatly upset. You see, I said, Lord, you can't be serious about this. I want to follow your scriptures, but give me some examples of people that cared for others more than they cared for themselves. And the Lord did. He gave me two examples at that time point. I was supporting a missionary couple. They had witnessed about Christ in a number of Middle Eastern countries. They had been asked to leave those countries. They were in Muslim countries. They went to Spain. And then they came back home to the United States. And they called me from the East Coast down near Atlanta. And they said, we had to come back home from the mission field. And please don't send us any support anymore. And I said, why? I said, have you got money? They said, no. I said, you have two children? Yes, we have a daughter, seven and nine year old. I said, have you got medical insurance? No, we haven't. Have you got any income? No, we haven't. And I said, well, would it be all right if I helped you for another while until you got back on your feet again? And he said, yes, that would be very kind of you. But then about 10 days later, I got a letter in the mail and I was speechless and it shocked me because in the letter it said, the missionary said he and his wife had prayed. And he said, we are in a country where we will always be able to get some food. But don't send that money to us. We don't want it. Send it to missionaries out in the Middle East who are giving the word because we want Muslims to find out the truth about the son of God. And I couldn't get over that. It just shocked me. How could they possibly, they could have easily said, God send us money as a provision while we are suffering here. And they didn't. They were willing to suffer more without food so that the word of God would go to their Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East. And then there was a second couple and it was a missionary couple also in an extremist Muslim country. I cannot tell you their names for security reasons but they're still there now. You know what they do? They stand out on the streets and they give out tracts. Now that's not so unusual but they have written their address on the back of the tract and they say to people, come to our house, we'll feed you and we'll have a little Bible study if you want to. Now, how do they know that they don't give that tract to an extremist person who will come and kill them? And their love was greater for others. They esteemed others better than themselves. Now, please come back with me to the African church and the Lord then said, well, as you esteem others, I'm gonna help you a little bit. And there were three principles that God gave me that I might understand how to esteem others better. And the first principle is that when I see you, I see that you are made in the image of God because in Genesis, it tells us 126 and God said, let us make men in our image according to our likeness. So when I see you, I know you are made in the image of God. Now, the second principle God gave was that every soul has a greater value than this world because in Mark 8.36, it says, for what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? You see, your soul is worth more than all the diamonds in the world. Your soul is worth more than all the gold in the world. Your soul is worth more than all the oil in the world. And God loves you so much. Now, some of you look a little bit unsure whether that's right because you know some of the other passages in scripture that say we're worth nothing, but think of it this way. Would God have sent his son to die for you if you were worth nothing? You see, God came down from heaven in person himself through his son to die for you and for me. And all of the angels are rejoicing in heaven when someone repents. Now, the other passages you might be thinking about might be in 1 Corinthians 3.7, the apostle Paul says, so then neither he who plants anything nor he who waters is anything but God who gives the increase. As you read those passages, yes, and that is in comparison to God. In comparison to God, we are but dust. And then in Isaiah 64.6, it says that we are like an unclean thing. And then some people says we're just filthy rags. No, that's misquoting scripture. It says our unrighteousness is as filthy rags. That's the old self. That's the old flesh. But the inner man that is born again is a son and daughter of the most high God. Praise God. The third principle is, I realize that each one of you can do at least one thing better than me. Each one of you can do at least one thing better than I can. And so I can esteem you better. So as we go back to the African church, I started to watch people. And here next to me was an old deacon. He couldn't read or write. And he always opened up his Bible to look at it, but we knew he couldn't read. He was just so downcast about himself because he couldn't read. And then I watched him and he was in church so very faithfully every Wednesday night, every Saturday, and often twice on Sundays. When there was a second service on Sunday, he was there. Now that's not so unusual, but then one day I drove him home and he lived two miles from home. And so every Sunday he would walk two miles to church and back home. And then for the evening service, he would walk two miles to the church and back home. And you know, the Lord said to me, do you see the beauty of that man? Do you see his faithfulness? Do you see his love for me? That's far more important than what you ever did in business. That is what I love, said God. So can't you esteem him better than yourself? And I did, beloved. I really esteemed him better. And then one of my daughters went to the mission field on a short-term missions trip. And I mentioned that to the adult Bible class that I was teaching then. And one of the ladies came up afterwards and she gave me $100 for Angela. And the Lord said to me, do you know what she just did? And I said, no, Lord. And the Lord said, she gave out of her poverty. She didn't give out of her abundance. She gave out of her poverty in love. Now, do you see her beautiful mind? And you know, tears came to my eyes and I esteemed that dear sister much better than myself. And then there was another brother who sat very often close to me and he did a cleaning job in the hospital. But every time a testimony was asked for, he would jump up sky high and he would have something good to say. And he was full of the joy of the Lord. And he said, oh, oh, oh, I gotta thank God for my bed that I had a bed to sleep in last night. I gotta thank him for the air I can breathe. I gotta thank him for the sandwich I had this morning. And he would go on and he would praise God. And God said to me, look at this man. He's got a beautiful mind. Esteem him better than yourself. And beloved, as I did, and I did this for seven years as I grew. And you know what happened? As I esteemed others better, love came to my heart. I could love the other people before I couldn't love them. So now all of a sudden love came and went out to the others. And then the other incredible thing happened is that the other people started to love me back. And you see, as I esteemed others better, they esteemed me better. And as we esteem each other better, we become one. And so as we became one, it was such an incredible thing. Later on, I studied three years for the ministry as God called me. And that black pastor ordained me in that church, beloved. That's how much love there was. And so that Philippians two, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. And the reason that I've applied for membership here with you, and the reason I did that is because in, I saw the love in you for me, whom you didn't know. So I thank you so much for that. Now, some of you have known each other for a little while, and you know some of your strengths and weaknesses. And you sometimes go to the weaknesses and not the strength. Sometimes you go to the ugly and not the beautiful. But when you see your sisters and brothers, go to the beautiful, leave the ugly behind. And go to the strength and leave the weakness behind. Now, I thought I was starting to do okay, but then God gave me some other little tests. But I wanna just share, I'm getting close to my time, Pastor, but I'm gonna use a little bit more time if that's all right. But as I joined Queensway Baptist here, when I meet each one of you, I see you are made in the image of God. I realize your soul has a greater value than this world, and I know you can do at least one thing better than I can. So I noticed Pastor Roy, and Pastor Roy has such great strength and faith, and his preaching and his consistency in the walk before the Lord. It's easy for me to esteem you better, Pastor. Then there's Brother Emerson, with his gentle love and his kind demeanor, and I can esteem him better than myself. There's Sister Maria with her passion for the lost and the seniors, and I can esteem her better than myself. There's Sister Grace and Brother Stan and their joy for the Lord. And so I esteem you better than myself. And there's Brother Paul and Sister Libby, who have given their lives for the Lord, and he's such a good teacher. And Sister Libby is such a wonderful lady, and I esteem you better. And there's Brother Herb and his love, not giving up and calling me. I can esteem him better. I met Brother Tony and his dear wife, Susan, and I see their patience, their love, their service, and their reaching out to people, and I can esteem them better than myself. I see so many ladies working so hard. I see so many brothers working so hard for their church, and so I can esteem them better. I see Brothers Peter, Matt, and Gary in their beautiful quartet, and I esteem you better than myself. And I see Sister Belinda. There's a brother today, Sister Belinda, who does the technical work. I esteem her better. And Brother Mark, what can I say? He's got a hockey stick, so I esteem him better. And Brother Sam, he's so very clean. I esteem him better. And Brother Tito, with his gentle love and kind servant's heart, I esteem you better, dear Brother Tito. And Brother Zachary is not here today with his guitar and the drums. I esteem him better than myself. And then there is Jocelyn and Moses going to Urbana, and I esteem you better than myself. So Sister Lynn, Brother Gordon, Brother Javier, Sister Valerie, Brother Robin, Sister Eva, Sister Sonia, Sister Annette, I esteem you all better than myself. I cannot mention all of your names because time isn't available. But you see, Jesus Christ himself gave us a beautiful example of his mind. Jesus is God, and he humbled himself before you and me that we might love him. He was talking with his father in heaven, and father said, I need someone to save mankind because mankind has gone off on its own and is in sin. Will you go, son? And Jesus said, Dad, I'll go and die for them if this is the only way that they can be forgiven and to receive eternal life. And so the Lord Jesus Christ went, and he gave an example for us. Now, I have told you all of these good things about me, and I gotta set things straight. I'm just a sinner saved by grace because God sends us tests. And I went for four days to the Jersey Shores to a Christian community there, and there was a convention there, and I was at the convention. And after the convention, I was outside standing with three other people, and I saw a little bit far off, I saw a little lady walking towards me. And as she walking towards me, she's looking at me, and I thought, well, I don't know her, or do I know her? And she was heading straight for me. And then I didn't know her, and she came right up to me and she said to me, you look like a good Christian. Can I speak with you? And I, well, I really didn't wanna talk with her, but then I thought, well, maybe I can give her a witness. Maybe I can talk about Jesus, you know? And so I said, all right. So we both walked, and she was walking, and I was walking next to her, and there was a bench over there. And we went and sit on the bench, and she sat a little bit close to me, and her clothes was dirty. She had a torn shawl, and I was a little bit worried about fleas and bugs and things like that, you know? And just the normal reaction of a normal human being, you know? And just then, a homeless person walked by like this. And as we sat down, her hand went up. She shouted, Paul, Paul, Paul, remember that I told you about the Lord Jesus? Don't give up. There's hope. Don't give up. I'll talk to you later on. And Paul never turned, never did anything, you know? And I looked at her in astonishment, and she said to me, don't look at me so astonished, because I am a Christian. I'm a missionary from Israel, and I'm over 65. I get a pension now. I had to come back from the mission field, but I've adopted the homeless people here to take care of them. And then another homeless person walked by, and she shouted again, and she said, brother, brother, we have a God who's able to undertake even in your situation, and I'll talk to you later, but don't give up. I'll come and I'll talk to you. And I was sitting there, you know, I was supposed to be the good Christian. Now, was it me who raised the hand? It was that little old lady that I had not esteemed better than myself, dear sisters and brothers. She told me her story and all the things she did. She was taking care of all kinds of people that had real, real problems. She was taking care of a woman that had five children. The five children were from her own father, and she so detested herself, she couldn't even wash herself, and Amy, the sister's name was Amy, was the only person allowed to even come close to her. And then she said to me, you see this little cap I have here? Do you see this man over there? And I saw, maybe a couple of hundred yards away, I saw a man, he had no hair, he was all burned on top of his head. And she said, you know, he's getting burned every day, but he doesn't know where he's at. So she said, I spend $1.50 to take that cap to him for his head. And then she said, I'm sorry, I haven't got time for you anymore. I've got to do the job that God has called me to do. And then I was sitting there, you know, with tears running down my face. She had the beautiful mind of Christ, and I didn't. I was just starting, I was just starting to let this beautiful mind of Christ be in me. And so beloved, this morning, you might be struggling yourself about what is a beautiful mind. And I want to remind you that every person that you meet is made in the image of God. Your soul has a greater value than this world, and you can do at least one thing better than I can. And then I want to remind those that are here this morning, maybe as visitors for the first time, that there is a son of God who has this beautiful mind, who humbled himself so much that he gave his life that I might live, that you might live, because there's a future, there's a hope, there's a heaven. This life on earth isn't finished when we think it's finished, when we go into the grave, but it will continue for eternity. And so for those of you that are visitors and don't know the Lord Jesus, I beg you that you would also ask that son of God to come into your life and to save you for eternity. But for those of you that are Christians, I'd like to go through just a little step of practicing something, four little steps. And you might say, you can't be serious about this, but I am serious. And so I'm gonna ask you to do something for your neighbor this morning, something very important. And in a moment or so, I'd like you to turn to two people, one on the left and one on the right, or if you're alone in the row, reach to the front or to the back and say, it is a privilege to be able to sit next to you. Sorry, it is a joy to sit next to you. I see you're made in the image of God. It is a joy to sit next to you. I see you're made in the image of God. Would you do that for your neighbor? Would you turn right now and say to them, it's a joy to sit next to you. Thank you so much. We're going to do now the second step, please. And the second step of practicing the mind of Christ, which is in you. The second step for you to practice the beautiful mind of Christ that is in you is to say to the person next to you, it is a privilege to be able to sit next to you. Your soul is worth more than all the riches in the world. Would you say that? It's a privilege to be able to sit next to you because your soul is worth more than all the riches in the world. Would you do that? Now, the third step, please. The third step is, if you now would say to your neighbor, it is an honor to sit next to you. You can do at least one thing better than I can. It is an honor to sit next to you because you can do at least one thing better than I can. Would you say that? And now comes the last one. The last one is the hard one, okay? The last one is the hard one. It combines the first three. And would you say to your neighbor, you're important to God and to me. Would it be all right if I esteemed you better than myself? Would you say that? You're important to God and me. Would it be all right if I esteemed you better than me? Would it be all right if I esteemed you better than me? Dear brother. Yes, would it be all right if I esteemed you better than me?