So the title of the sermon this morning is Humble Beginnings, and I want to just talk
about the fact that we see a lot of great things going on as far as other churches that
we're associated with.
Even our own church in Tempe has grown into a big church.
They've got a lot of people that are doing a great work for God, and that's what we desire
to have.
But I want to kind of just talk about the fact that even churches like that, they had
a very humble beginning.
We go look at the church up in Tempe and say, wow, why don't we have this?
When are we going to get all this?
All the people and all the work and the bigger space and everything else that comes along
with that.
But what we have to understand is that it hasn't always been that way.
That church is a church that started out literally in somebody's living room, the pastor's living
room, and grew out of that space over time.
It took years.
Even after that, it was a slow growth, and things that are going to be deep rooted and
established and solid are going to stand the test of time are things that take time
to grow.
I'm going to talk not so much more about churches, but just more generally speaking, if we're
going to be people that are going to do something for God in our lives to whatever capacity
or whatever role we fulfill, we have to understand that humility plays a big part in that.
We need to make sure that we're coming from a place of humility when it comes to serving
God.
It should never shy away or feel ashamed or get discouraged by the fact that maybe we
have to start out with humble beginnings, whether it's as a church, whether it's as
an individual and just serving God.
We see examples of this throughout Scripture.
We're going to look at a few of some of God's greatest men, like Moses, who started out
very humbly, who had very humble beginnings.
Moses literally decades went by before he's finally used mightily of God.
We think about Moses.
We think about the Red Sea.
We think about the Ten Plagues.
We think about Mount Sinai and the pillar of fire.
We think about all the great things that Moses did, the rock, the serpent, everything, just
all the things that he did.
What we sometimes forget is that he started out very humbly.
He started out with an existence of being basically somebody who was an unknown, fleeing
from Egypt as we read the story here.
He attempted at the beginning of his life there, about 40 years of age, he attempted
to go out and try to start a work for God, to be associated with the people of God, and
to lean.
We read the story this morning about what happened.
He goes out.
It says in verse 11, it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out
unto his brethren and looked on their burdens.
He spied an Egyptian smiting in Hebrew, one of his brethren, and he looked this way and
that way.
That's a good sign right there.
That's a little self-defense tip right there.
If you're talking to somebody and they start doing this, you should probably pay attention
to what their next moves are going to be.
Anyway, I'll just throw that in there.
It says he looked this way and that way and he saw there was no man.
He slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
He went out the second day and behold two men of the Hebrew strove together and he said
to him that did the wrong, why smite a style thy fellow?
He said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
Intendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian?
Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known.
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses, but Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well.
He goes from being Pharaoh's son to being a fugitive because he tried to go out and
do something.
Again, his motivation was noble.
I don't know that killing this Hebrew was the right thing to do.
It was murder basically, but his motive was pure.
He wanted to help the people of God.
He saw that God's people were being oppressed.
I mean, at this point in his life, he narrowly escaped being thrown into the river himself.
So we see that the Egyptians are already repressing God's people, oppressing them and persecuting
them.
So though his motivation was noble, though his desire was right that he wanted to serve
God, he wanted to do something big for God, he had some other lessons to learn.
You can go over to Exodus chapter three, but I'll read from Hebrews 11.
It says in Hebrews 11, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
So again, his motives were right.
He chose rather to suffer affliction.
He didn't esteem the reproach of Christ greater than what the ridgers and treasures of Egypt.
And that's a good motive.
That's good that when we get saved and we want to separate from the world, get the sin
out of our lives and live a godly life for Christ, that's a great motive, isn't it?
That's something we should want for our lives.
But there's other lessons that we have to learn along the way.
We can't just step out and say, okay, now I'm ready to set the world on fire for God.
There's lessons that God has to teach us along the way.
And probably one of the biggest lessons that we have to learn, if you don't get this down,
is humility.
And that's why we see Moses here.
He flees and dwells in the land of Midian, and he, what, sat down by a well.
He goes from this great, probably a very lofty position in Egypt to just this, he's out in
the sticks in some strange land, just hanging out by a well.
His motives were right, but God had some other lessons for him to learn.
You look there in Exodus, chapter three, verse one, it says, now Moses kept the flock
of Jethro, his father-in-law.
So that's what he ended up doing.
He ends up being a shepherd.
And it's interesting how many people that God has used that have had that exact role.
And I believe part of that reason is because we see that kind of translate to a spiritual
shepherd later.
God likens pastors and elders onto spiritual shepherds.
So he's kind of showing us, it's just an interesting thread through the scripture that
you see these men that, we're going to look at several of them, that they're consistently
using what, shepherds.
That's not really the thrust of the sermon here, but it says here, now Moses kept the
flock of Jethro, his father-in-law.
Now we think, we always like to think about that beautiful oil painting of the guy leading
his flock through some beautiful green valley down to some well-watered brook, and it's
just this peaceful, serene scene.
That's not really being a shepherd.
If you want to, being a shepherd isn't just this nice tiptoe through the tulips.
It's a lot of hard work.
When we go out onto the reservation, the Navajo reservation, they still do this.
They have a lot of flocks, even, well anyway, you go out there and they're riding around
on four-wheelers, they're in the dust, they're in the heat, they're trying to get these animals
to go where they need them to go, crossing lines.
It's a lot of really hard work.
It's not just this overly romanticized position that a lot of people have in their minds today
about being a shepherd or something like that.
Back in the day, that was something that you would go do because you weren't going to see
anybody.
Maybe it was the guy you didn't want around.
You're kind of like, which sibling, which child do we not like the most?
Let's go send them out for days on end out into the wilderness.
You kind of see that here with, I'm going to get ahead of myself, but you see that a
little bit with David, which is another guy we're going to talk about in a second.
It says there that he kept the flock of Jethro, his father, on the priest of Midian, and he
led the flock to the backside of the desert.
This is where Moses is.
This is where we find him all these years later.
He came to the mountain of God, even to Orib.
God had some lessons to teach him.
Of course, we can see the foreknowledge of God in this, Mount Orib.
These are that mountain range where it is Mount Sinai, which plays a very significant
part.
That's where the fire came down, the Lord came down, the Ten Commandments were given.
You can see how the Lord is kind of using him to show him the land, give him the lay
of the land so that he would know where to lead the children of Israel, how to navigate
that landscape and get to the promised land.
I'm sure it wasn't a lot of fun in the meantime.
I'm sure it wasn't a lot of fun for Moses just following these animals around, having
to deal with all that, and literally in a desert.
We wouldn't want to just go wander aimlessly in the desert.
I mean, we'll do it when we go soloing, but there's a purpose behind it.
But we wouldn't just go wandering around on the desert for days on end.
We would want to seek shelter, we would want to get out of the heat, everything, but that
was his life.
You have to think about how humbling that must have been for Moses to go from Pharaoh's
son-in-law, or Pharaoh's stepson or son, whatever you want to call it, going from that to what?
He was just this shepherd in this strange land, very humbling.
But we know that he went on to do great things, but what did he start out with?
Humble beginnings.
There was humility that needed to be learned before he could do anything for God.
It says that he led the flock to the backside of the desert.
He was leading this flock, and that was kind of his training.
He is going to be a leader of God's people.
He's going to lead another millions of people through these deserts, literally shepherding
them along, keeping them on the right path.
This is a principle that we could see in Scripture is that if you want to be a leader, whether
if you want to go into the ministry or whether you want to be a leader at work, whether you
want to lead in the home, whatever, if you're going to be in any type of leadership, leaders
learn by serving others.
Leaders learn by being followers.
People ask, how do I learn about leadership?
What's a good way for me to learn to be a leader?
Be a follower.
Follow somebody who is leading.
That's usually a good way to learn how to lead.
Find somebody else that's doing it and take note of what they're doing for better or worse.
You might say, hey, this is really good what they're doing here.
Maybe I would do this differently, whatever.
What we see here is that Moses is in the backside of the desert leading a flock for somebody
else.
It's not his flock.
It's Jethro's.
It's his father-in-law's.
It's his animals.
He ends up later leading God's people because leaders, they learn to lead by doing what?
By serving other people.
The best leaders are people that are usually the best followers.
Good followers make good leaders.
People who do not follow well will not make good leaders.
It's just a fact.
Moses and others, they had this similar occupation.
If you want to go over to 1 Samuel 16 of what?
The similar occupation of leading sheep, of following other people's animals, of taking
care of serving in that way.
We don't just see them jump right into being used of God.
We see them with this very humble position of literally being a shepherd.
You're going to 1 Samuel 16, but it says in Amos, that prophet and the minor prophets,
Amos 7, he says, then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was
I a prophet's son, but I was an herdman.
Amos is being used to go preach the word of God, to rebuke Israel, and he's saying, look,
who was I?
I wasn't a prophet's son.
I wasn't a prophet.
I didn't come from some great lineage of preachers.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with being a prophet's son, being a preacher's son, and going into
that yourself.
I'm not against that.
But what we do see Amos saying is that, who am I?
What is it, what pedigree do I have that I should go and preach the word of God?
He said, but I wasn't herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, and the Lord took me as
I followed the flock.
So when did God come get Amos?
As he followed the flock, as he was one that was following, Amos was taken by the Lord,
and he said unto him, go prophesy unto my people Israel.
So again, good leaders, they start out by doing what?
By following.
And I love the picture there in Amos where he says, I followed the flock.
We are considered a flock.
Jesus literally called us his little flock.
He called us his sheep.
Paul said to the Ephesians, to the elders, to what?
To feed the flock of God.
And I think that's a great picture of, if you are one that desires to go into ministry,
if you are somebody that wants to serve in the local church to whatever degree, you need
to learn to do what?
To follow the flock.
To be one that goes along with the program at the local church, and not be somebody that's
always fighting it, going against it, always trying to be contrary to what the church is
trying to do.
He's followed the flock, and then the Lord took him and said, go prophesy unto my people.
You're there in 1 Samuel 16, another great man of God that was used mightily, we think
of King David, slew Goliath, defeated the Philistines, reigned over all Israel, did
all these great works for God, set up, prepared the way for Solomon to build God's temple.
I mean, he did all these great things, but is that where he started out?
No.
He, again, like Moses, had what?
Humble beginnings.
Very humble beginnings.
He said, 1 Samuel 16, verse 11, and Samuel said unto Jesse, are here all thy children?
So remember, Samuel comes to anoint the first king, right, and Jesse brings all seven sons
before, or not all seven, he brings his sons before him, and he leaves out one, and it's
like he doesn't even think to bring them, or he thought of him, and he's like, but he's
got such a low reputation of David the youngest, it just says, well, there's no way it's David.
You know, it's probably one of these other sons of mine, and he said, are here all thy
children?
He said, there remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And you can see, again, there's this kind of, this disdain for people who, it's kind
of like, well, but he's keeping sheep.
Obviously, you're not going to use somebody who keeps sheep.
You know, you're going to want somebody who's been, you know, keeping the records, or somebody
who's been, you know, working hard, doing this or that, or doing some other more noble,
you know, important job than just following dumb animals around, right?
He's saying, and that's kind of his attitude.
He said, he's keeping the sheep, and Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we
will not sit down till we come hither.
So again, very humble beginnings for David, right?
But we see this again, that that is God who God uses, not, it doesn't necessarily have
to be a shepherd, but it has to, you know, we see this principle of people coming from
very humble beginnings before God begins to use them, even having to go through seasons
of serving others.
And this is something that God reminds David of.
You can go over to, go over to, go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter
1.
God later reminds David of this, in 1 Chronicles, we'll see it in 2 Samuel 2, he said, Now therefore
thus shalt say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from
the sheep coat, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people.
He's saying, look, I took thee from the sheep coat, you know, I took you from the pen, I
took you from following them, I took you from following the sheep, that thou mayest, you
know, be a ruler over my people.
God, you know, and I believe there's a lot of lessons that David learned as he was following
the sheep that made him the ruler that he was, that made him the king that he was.
God uses people that have humble beginnings.
And I'm just going to say this, if you don't have humility, God's not going to use you.
I don't care how many, if you dot all the I's and cross all the T's, if you are proud
and lifted up and you lack humility, God will not use you.
God requires humility, and we'll see why here in a second.
Look at there, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26, now that's Old Testament, God doesn't
work like that anymore.
He's looking for the brightest and the best, right?
Not really.
Look at verse 26, he says, For you see your calling, brethren, how not many wise after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
He's not, you know, the church isn't filled this morning with, you know, the senators
and the state representatives, they'd probably be in so much sin they wouldn't be allowed
in anyway.
You know, but it's not filled with all the big brains and the, you know, not, you know,
we have, obviously we have people at all different degrees of intellect and intelligence, and
it's not that, you know, we have to be dumb to come to church or something like that,
but this is just how it plays out in life, is that God doesn't look for like what the
world would consider, you know, these great mighty people, because those people lack humility.
That's the problem.
That's the problem with them.
You know, if there was some guy who had some huge IQ, you know, was just super intelligent,
you know, you know, very successful and had humility and love the Lord, yeah, he could
be used by God, but that's typically not how it goes, does it?
It's people that, you know, have had more humble beginnings in life, people who work
more menial jobs, people who are just trying to scratch out a living in life that God tends
to use, people who are just shepherds, people who are just trying to survive, people who
are just trying to raise a family.
That's who God tends to use, why?
Because those are the people that typically have humility, and that's what God's looking
for.
It's not about intellect, it's not about bankroll, it's not about looks, it's about humility,
and God is looking for people who have that.
God uses people with humble beginnings.
He's used people who are not many wise, not after the flesh, right?
They're not wise to the things of this world.
Not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world.
What the world would look at and say, well, you know, there are nobody.
That's who God has chosen.
He's using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of
the world, and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are
not.
What has God chosen?
Things that have what?
Humble beginnings.
Things that the world would esteem very low.
People who station in life is not, you know, some grand exalted position in the world that
the world's going to exalt.
It's people who are, you know, despised, the base things.
Those are the things that God has chosen to bring them not the things that are, why?
Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
Why does God use the more foolish things, you know, according to the world?
Why does God use the weak and the base things?
Because those things are the things that are going to give God the glory.
Those are the ones that are going to give God the glory.
They're not going to say, yeah, I did this.
You know, I'm the one that built this church.
You know, I built, you know, Faithful Word, and I did, no, God did it.
God did it through his people.
You know, and of course, God gives leadership to guide and direct, but, you know, God is
the one that builds the church.
That's what he does that.
It's through his word, you know, if people, if the preaching of God's word changes people's
hearts and their lives, and they start living for the Lord and give glory to God, you know,
what credit is that to the preacher?
It's the word of God that did the work.
It's the word of God that is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword.
That's what's going to change hearts.
It's not, you know, it's not some, you know, eloquent speaking of mine, you know, obviously.
I'm sure I don't have to convince you of that this morning, right?
It's not because I'm just some great orator or something like that.
I can move people with my words and demeanor.
It's because the word of God has power.
You know, I like it that way because that gives me confidence because I know the truth
about me, that I'm not some great speaker, that I'm not some powerful, you know, motivational
speaker.
I know this isn't Tony Robbins up here, okay?
I'm not going to get up and move everybody to tears Sunday to Sunday.
You know, maybe I can squeak one out every once in a while that is, you know, worth listening
to a second time.
But this is just the day-in and day-out grind of the ministry, and I'm glad that God's Word
is the one that does all the lifting for me, that if I just preach that and leave the Holy
Spirit to it, He'll work on people's hearts.
And you know what?
But in turn, I'm not going to sit back and say, well, look what I've done.
Of course you've cleaned up.
Of course you're doing this.
Of course we're in Florida.
I'm the preacher here, right?
Of course you would, right?
No, it's God's Word that did it, and God gets the glory for that.
I just say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you for building this church.
You know, and we just need to focus on not losing sight of the fact that God wants humility
in each and every one of us, and that having humble beginnings as a church, like, I mean,
this is pretty humbling this morning, right?
You know, one-third of your audit space is gone, you know, like, oh, it looks like a
full house.
It's the same amount of people, pretty much.
It's just we're all crammed in here right now, okay?
You know, when the floods, and you're wondering about your space, you know, that can be a
little humbling, but you know what?
God uses things that have humble beginnings.
If we're struggling with this, you know, need I remind you of our original location?
That was some humble beginnings, you know?
That was, you know, those chairs and everything, I won't go on and on about that.
But that's who God uses, humble people who are going to give Him the glory.
You know, there's other examples we could look at.
Go back, keep something in 1 Corinthians 1, but go back to 2 Kings chapter 3, 2 Kings,
I'm sorry, go to Exodus 17, Exodus 17, Exodus chapter number 17.
You know, David is one that started with humble beginnings and then was used mightily by God.
You know, he started out as a shepherd, became, you know, the king of Israel.
You know, he did great things for God, wrote large sections of the scriptures and used
mightily.
Well, what did he say when he was told that he could build the house, that he could prepare
the way for Solomon to build the house of God?
He said, who am I and what is my house that thou has led me hither to?
He didn't say, well, it's about time you recognized how great I am, Lord.
It's about time you recognized how I pulled myself up from the sheep coat and got right
and has been faithful all these years.
You know, he said, who am I and what is my house, you know, that I should, you know,
be used of you?
You know, every time I read that verse, it's always, you know, and I see other people,
that verse hits people.
That's one of those verses where it's just when you hear David say that, who am I and
what is my house?
Like, we could think about that probably for ourselves, you know, if we've gotten saved
and we're living for the Lord and we're winning souls and we're going to church, we're doing,
we're living for God and all that encompasses, right?
We might find ourselves saying that, who am I, you know, well, where was I headed?
What was my life going to amount to in terms of, you know, spiritual worth before God got
involved and took me from a sheep coat or rather put me in a sheep coat maybe, you know,
that's probably the more applicable example.
That's really what's going on is God has put us in the sheep coat.
This is the humble beginnings, okay?
But there's several examples of this.
We looked at Moses.
We'll come back to Moses in a little bit, but the other example would be that of Joshua,
you know, or you could also talk about Elijah, right, or Elisha.
Elisha was known when he got anointed, or not anointed, but when Elijah cast his mantle
upon him and he went to follow him, you know, Elisha, you don't hear from Elisha for a very
long time.
You don't hear anything about him.
And then you hear about him in 2 Kings 3 and it says, Jehoshaphat said, is there not here
a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him?
And one of the kings, one of the kings of Israel's servants answered and said, here
is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, that great, mighty, powerful prophet of God that everybody
knows, right?
No, he said, here's the Elisha, the son of Shaphat, which poured water in the hands of
Elijah.
I mean, that was his reputation.
That's how people, Elijah who?
All you know, the one that poured water on the hands of Elijah, you know, because that's
kind of a humbling job, don't you think?
You know, I'm going to follow this preacher, you know, Elisha's thinking I'm going to go
with Elijah, I'm going to see all these miracles and he's going to do great works, he's going
to teach me all this cool stuff, I'm going to learn how to preach, I'm going to learn
how to just, you know, tear it up, call on fire from heaven, you know, he sees all these
things that Elijah does, right, or hears about them.
He's thinking, yeah, all right, and you know, he did eventually get that.
He did get that double portion of that spirit, right?
But what came before that?
Beautiful beginnings going unknown, even to the point where when he is in the ministry,
when he is the man, people are still saying, oh, it's the guy who poured water on the hands
of Elijah, right?
He started out just, you know, he gets with Elijah and I don't know why I always have
in my mind that Elijah might have been a bit of a cantankerous guy.
I don't know that he was like the easiest guy to get along with.
I don't know why that's in my, just because he's such a raw preacher, you know, and everything
he does, you think, man, this guy's probably pretty intense, right?
And you just think about Elijah just being, all right, Elijah, what's on the schedule
today?
We're going to call down some fire?
He's like, why don't you go get some water?
I got to eat, you know, and you can pour some water on my hands so I can clean them.
Oh, anything else?
No, that's it.
I'm going to bring a towel so I can dry myself off later.
I mean, that's pretty, that's pretty humbling, isn't it?
But that's what Elijah did, you know, he was just his servant.
He was just there helping out where he could, jumping in where he could, helping the man
of God, and that was a very humble beginning, but you know what?
That's what makes good leaders, is people who can do menial, humble tasks that aren't
just in it to be in the limelight, that aren't just in it to, you know, make a name for themselves.
And you don't see Elijah in 2 Kings saying, hey, wait a minute, you know, I used to pour
the water, but that's not me anymore.
You call me Elisha, you know, the man of God.
You know, that was a name that he probably didn't mind.
Another great example of this, you know, whenever I think about this topic is Joshua.
You know, when people, people that are going to be great leaders have to start out as great
followers first, they need humility.
It says in Exodus chapter 17 verse 9, and Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men
and go out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek and Moses and Aaron and
Aaron.
So you got Moses just kind of telling him what to do, right?
And why is that?
Go over to Joshua chapter number 1, Joshua chapter number 1.
Because Joshua, who went on, has a whole book in the Bible named after him, who led the
children of Israel into the promised land and defeated the Canaanites and established
Israel and divided the land among the 12 tribes, that was a great work, something that was
intended for Moses to do originally, but we know through his disobedience that God made
an example out of him.
We know the story.
Joshua was the one that ends up going in there and doing that, but what was leading up to
that point?
It's just a servant.
He was being told what to do there in Exodus 17, but it also says in Exodus 24, and Moses
rose up and his minister Joshua, that's what Joshua was to Moses, he was his minister.
And Moses went up into the mountain, Exodus 33, again it says, and the Lord spake unto
Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend, and he turned again to the camp,
but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man departed not out of the tabernacle.
So again, it's just this pattern over and over again that you see in the scripture when
it comes to people who are being used of God, specifically leaders, people that are going
to be leaders.
They start out very humbly.
They start out as servants.
They start out as people who are following the flock, keeping other people's sheep, people
who are serving other people, serving other leaders that are, yes, in the ministry, but
in a subservient capacity.
They're there to minister to the minister in a way.
He said in Joshua chapter one, verse one, did I have you go to Joshua one?
Joshua one, verse one, it says, now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord.
Notice that.
It's not like once you become a leader, you're your own man.
You're still somebody's servant.
He's just the servant of the Lord.
He might, you know, Elijah for a long time might have been the guy that poured waters
on the, on the hands of Elijah, but eventually he became Elisha, the man of God.
You know, eventually he did step into that role, but after he learned the lessons that
came with humble beginnings, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of
none, Moses, his minister.
So you get this, you know, Moses is the servant of the Lord.
And then Joshua is Moses, his minister saying, my servant Moses is dead.
Now, therefore rise, go to this Jordan, thou and all those people go to Joshua 24.
And look, people, people can get discouraged by that.
You know, and, and I think part of the reason why God does things this way is to discourage
people that shouldn't be in leadership.
People that can't handle going through this should not be in leadership.
People who can't submit to other people, take directions, take correction should not be
in leadership because they won't know how to dole it out.
They won't know how to dole it out when the time comes with humility, with tact or being
very stern when appropriate.
They won't know how to do that if they themselves have not been subjected to the same.
And you know, Joshua went through that.
Joshua's following Moses around.
I mean, and I don't, I don't see how you could get disgruntled in Joshua's position.
I mean, to follow Moses around, it's been pretty cool.
I mean, to see everything to be, you know, rubbing shoulders with a guy like that and
seeing everything that he did, it had been awesome.
But eventually, you know, Joshua, who's known as the minister of Moses, the minister of
Moses, Moses' servant, all through the scriptures, eventually does become known like Moses was,
who also started out, you know, as, as keeping Jethro's flock, eventually becomes known as
the servant of the Lord.
He graduates into that position, right?
Says in Joshua 24, verse 29, it came to pass after these things that Joshua, the son of
Nun, the servant of the Lord died.
So yes, as a young man, he started out as Moses' minister, but then he steps into that
role to lead the children of Israel in and through having his, accomplished his own works
and proving his own work and doing, you know, he is known as the servant of the Lord.
He eventually proves himself in that position.
But what happens?
What happens, you know, why does God do it this way?
Why does God have leaders start out as servants?
Why does he require humble beginnings?
You know, whether it's in the role of an individual or a church, you know, this church
is starting out with very humble beginnings and as the Lord builds his church and as it
grows and we continue to do more and more works for God, God is only going to get what?
More glory.
That's why God does that.
That's why God has people start out with humble beginnings so they don't forget so that they
stay humble all the way through so then God can begin to exalt people, you know, so it
doesn't go to their head.
You know, Joshua spent so much time being Moses' servant, Elisha spent so much time
being Elijah's servant, David spent so much time in the sheep coat, Moses spent 40 years
wandering around in the backside of the desert keeping Jethro's sheep that when all those
men finally graduated to the place of being used mightily by God, it didn't go to their
head.
You know, that's why I think it's so important for people to just get in a local church and
just serve faithfully and just, and not get so caught up in what's going to happen 10
years from now.
Not get so caught up in what they're going to do, well why don't you just, you know,
make sure you can get here, you know, the next service, the next Sunday and do what
needs to do week in, week out and live for God day in, day out and just like I was preaching
last Thursday, you know, trust the Lord with all thine heart and he shall direct thy paths.
Just be faithful, be humble, serve God and he will lead you and he will guide you.
And he'll end up getting all the glory for what's accomplished.
That's why God does it that way.
You know, Moses and David, they responded to the call of God with humility and I already
talked about this in 2 Samuel chapter 7 where he said, you know, oh Lord, what is my house
that thou has brought me hither to?
That's what he said.
You know, that was their response with humility.
Are you still in Exodus?
No, I had you in Joshua.
Go back to Exodus chapter 3.
It's interesting that both these men have a similar reaction.
You know, when God has begun to use them mightily, when God's telling them about the things
that he's going to do with them, they respond with humility.
Why?
Because humility has been ingrained into their character.
You know, that's the thing about humility.
It's not something you can fake and people that fake it, you know, it's usually not a
good sign.
People that feign humility, it's usually because they're, you know, they're either hyper-spiritual
or they're trying to convince people they're something they're not.
It could be even very, you know, they could be malicious people a lot of times, right?
They're trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.
What I'm getting at is this, is that when Moses spent so much time in that desert, you
know, David spent so much time in that sheep coat, but when the same time for God began
to use them, humility was just ingrained in them.
It was just part of their nature.
They didn't have to turn it on.
It was just who they were.
You know, and a lot of people don't get there because, you know, a lot of times it means
getting beat down a little bit and about getting humbled.
You know, how do I, how do I, how do I grow in humility?
Well, a lot of times you just have to get humbled.
A lot of times it's, you know, life has to do it to us.
The Lord has to do it to us.
Other people have to come along and take us down a notch sometimes.
So a lot of people don't last when it comes to that.
A lot of people don't last in churches that preach the whole counsel, the word of God,
because eventually something comes their way that's hard and hits real close to home.
And if they're proud and they're puffed up and if they lack humility, you know, they're
out the door.
You never see them again.
You know, that happens all the time.
You know, we haven't seen a lot of it here.
You know, I don't know that we've seen any of it, but I guarantee if you stick around
long enough, you're going to, you're going to start going, well, where's so-and-so?
You know, what happened to them?
You know, and sometimes people leave for other reasons, but I'm telling you, if people who
lack humility, they will not make it serving God.
They won't make it living for the Lord because it's all about giving Him the glory.
It's not about getting, you know, accolades or recognition for ourselves.
It's about bringing glory to God.
And some people can't handle that.
They have to be, they have to be in the limelight.
That's why humility is essential.
And that's why God, you know, put Moses through that testing, that trial.
That's why God led him into 40 years of servitude in a desert, right, to teach him humility.
And by the time he comes and says in Exodus chapter 3, verse 10, where you are, and says,
let's go get my people, let's go do what you wanted to do originally.
Look at his reaction.
Come now, therefore, I will ascend the end of Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my
people, the children of Israel out of Egypt, like you wanted to do 40 years ago.
Like you wanted to do all those years ago.
Remember that?
But now he's got a kind of a change of heart here.
He's kind of thinking, well, I'm kind of comfortable, whatever.
And Moses said unto God, who am I?
That I should go into Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt.
And I believe that's coming from a genuine place of humility, that Moses wasn't just
trying to, you know, skirt that he's just trying to get out of the doing it.
He's probably just a very humble man, who's just thinking, well, who am I?
You know, I tried that once before and it didn't go so well.
You know, who am I?
I'm just a sheep.
I'm just keeping sheep.
I mean, I live in the desert.
Who am I to go into Egypt and do this when God's saying, well, you're the perfect guy
because you're the person who thinks you're the least capable.
You're the one who thinks you have such a low opinion of yourself when it comes to doing
this job.
You're perfect.
Moses, you're exactly who I want because when I do use you, and when I do do those miracles,
you're going to give me the glory for it.
You're going to make sure that all the glory goes to God.
So that's why humility is absolutely essential when it comes to being in leadership and serving
others.
Because, you know, that's what leadership is.
That's what leadership is.
You know, you want to talk about in a church or any other setting, leadership is serving
other people because what is it?
It's leading.
And leading is just helping other people, guiding them along, you know, showing them
a way that they need to go, showing them how to live, you know, preaching to them the Word
of God, saying this is what the Bible says, this is what you should do, this is what you
shouldn't do.
That's what leadership is.
I mean, in a job, that's what it is.
The manager is there to make sure everybody else gets their job done.
That's serving them, right, helping them to accomplish their job.
That's what leadership is.
Leadership isn't this position where you just get to stand up and, you know, just bask in
the limelight and just have people praise you for how great you are.
That's not it at all.
And if that's what you're in it for, you're going to fail because there's no humility
there.
Leadership is serving other people.
That's why it takes humility to do it.
Go over to 1 Peter 5.
I'll wrap it up here in a minute, but 1 Peter 5, you know, humility is something the Bible
brings up over and over again.
I'm going to read to you a few verses why you go to 1 Peter 5.
It says in Proverbs 15, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor
is humility.
Before honor is humility.
You know, people want to be honored.
They want the position.
They want to be lifted up.
They want to be exalted.
What they need to understand is that humility comes first.
You know, humility doesn't come after honor.
It comes before it.
People aren't going to get lifted up.
People are going to be put into places of leadership, at least they shouldn't be until
they've proven themselves to have some humility about them because again, it's all about serving
other people.
The Bible says before destruction, the heart of man is haughty.
You know, haughty is proud, puffed up, lift up, arrogant.
That's what the heart of man is, what?
Before destruction.
You know, pride goeth before a fall, right?
And honor is before, and before honor is humility.
So it's just, you know, when the Bible repeats itself about things, it's because he wants
us to get something through our heads.
Is that before honor is humility.
You know, and like I've heard it said, the way up is down.
It's a paradox.
You know, it seems backwards, right?
What do you mean the way up is down?
If you want to be exalted and you want God to use you, you have to be humble.
You have to abase yourself.
You have to have humility.
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life.
So humility and the fear of the Lord, these are the things that are going to allow God
to use us because when humility comes first, then the honor can come without the danger
of being lifted up and being puffed up.
So humility comes first.
And why is that?
You know, why is it?
Well, if you noticed when I was reading those verses, it's the fear of the Lord is the instruction
of wisdom and before honors, humility, and again, by humility and the fear of the Lord,
you see how humility and the fear of God are mentioned in the same breath more than once.
They go together.
That's because if you'll be humble before God, you know, you're going to be humble before
other people.
You know, that's the humility that we're talking about.
That's the humility, not just this fake show of humility, but a real genuine humility before
God that nobody else sees, you know, because that humility is what translates into humility
before other people.
And that's what we need.
If you're going to serve other people, if you're going to lead in whatever capacity,
you have to have humility before God because that's what you need to do in order to serve
other people.
It says in Ephesians chapter 5, you're in 1 Peter 5, submitting yourselves one to another
and the fear of God, you know, that submitting ourselves one to another is what?
Humility.
You know, sometimes it takes humility to submit to another fellow brother or sister in Christ,
doesn't it?
You know, that could be a real, you know, that could maybe that could be a stumbling
block for me.
You know, somebody else gets some other soul winning time or they've taken charge of some
other ministry in the church and, you know, I'm on their time now, I show up to their
soul winning time and they'll say, okay, Deacon, go over here and knock these doors.
Don't tell me what to do.
I'll go knock those doors.
Go knock the exact same doors, right?
But, you know, that could be a thing, right?
And I'm just using that as an example.
And you know, that's a real sign of humility is when you can show it doesn't matter who's
telling you what to do as long as it's to the glory of God, it's for the work of God.
Who does it matter who it comes from?
It shouldn't matter.
It's for the work of God, okay?
So we should be willing to submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Now look at First Peter chapter five, it says, likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto
the elder.
Now the elder there, you know, that is just talking about somebody who is older, okay?
And, you know, typically, of course, you know, we could say, we could say, well, spiritually,
you know, there could be people who are older spiritually and the younger spiritual people
could submit, you know, to them and get advice and help from them.
And that's a perfectly good application, okay?
But let's not forget the other application here is that younger people should submit
themselves unto elder people.
Young people should be kind and respectful to their elders.
And I don't care who it is.
I don't care, you know, if they, and this is, I'm going to park it here for a minute
because this is important because we have a lot of young people in here.
And we have some older people, okay?
And it's important that this dynamic is not lost.
It's important, okay?
And he says, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
You know, that, having respect for your elders, that's not something that just, well, I've
been saved longer, you know, or I do more in the church, you know, or I'm on a better
path or I, you know, whatever.
That you can't just use that as an excuse to be disrespectful to older people in the
church.
You know, just by, even, you know, this will help you out in the world, by the way.
Just carry this out into the world too, because this is lost in the world.
You go to the job with what I'm about to teach you here and you'll be a standout.
You know, and God, you say, well, you're making a big deal out of it.
Well, you know what?
God makes a big deal out of it.
We won't go there, but it says in Leviticus 19, thou shalt rise up before the hoary head.
The hoary head means white, the hoarfrost.
It's talking about the white hair, right?
The gray headed man.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear thy
God.
I mean, he puts that in, it's in so vidicus and it's a thou shalt.
It's not, you know, a suggestion.
This is a commandment from God.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man.
I mean, if you took that to the very literal, most literal sense and just started standing
up when somebody else that was older walked in the room, when your boss at work who's
got, you know, decades on you walked in the room, instead of just casually looking up
for your phone and going, what's up?
You walk in the phone and he walks in the building and you're just like, what's up?
He might not say it, but his thoughts of you just went woo.
His esteem for you just is way down here.
He's not going to expect much from a guy like that.
But man, you put that thing away, I don't know why you're on your phone at work anyway.
You know, but if you stood up, hey, yes sir, at attention, ready to go, what do you need?
And if you were respectful and appreciative, you know, that would go a long way.
Because this is something that's lacking today and that's why I'm kind of parking it here
for a minute.
You know, a big, you know, people who cannot submit unto the elder just on the basis of
age alone lack humility.
There's a lack of humility there.
There's a pride, there's an arrogance that needs to get checked if you cannot humble
yourself to somebody simply because of the fact that they're older, okay?
That's something that needs to get said.
You know, the hoary head, it says in Proverbs 16, is a crown of glory.
The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness, okay?
If it be found, meaning it doesn't matter what somebody's past is, if they are found
in the way of righteousness and they, you know, and they have the hoary head, that's
like twofold.
That's twofold the honor.
You know, you got a brother or sister in Christ that is, you know, an elder to you and they're
living for the Lord, you know, they are worthy of your respect and they deserve it.
I'm gonna move on from that.
I got just a few other things to say, but let's go over to, go back to Exodus chapter
3, Exodus chapter 3.
So that's just a practical example of humility, you know, in the local church.
And we could talk about other ones, you know, we could talk about, you know, being willing
to submit ourselves one to another in all manner of ways, you know, but we should never
have this haughty, arrogant spirit that just thinks that nobody can tell me what to do.
I don't care who it is, you know, we should love one another, we should be, as the Bible
says, we're gonna look at it a minute, clothed with humility.
That should be something, well, that's where, you know, we were, but it says we should be
clothed with humility.
That's what it said in 1 Peter 5.
Likewise, the younger submitted yourselves in the other, yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to
the humble.
I mean, do you want God to fight you in life, or do you want God to give you grace?
I don't know about you, but I prefer grace.
In fact, I need it.
I find myself often needing the grace of God in my life.
So I make, you know, one way that you could secure that, and if you're anything like me,
you need it too.
One thing, what you could do in order to secure that is to, you know, be clothed with humility
and to not be, what, proud, because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
You can see how important humility is.
God's not, God resists proud people.
God is not going to use proud people.
It's not just that he's gonna put them on the shelf and say, well, I can't use you.
He's going to actively resist you.
I mean, that's, you know, I, there's a lot of people I don't want to get into a scuffle
with, but God's on the top of that list.
If there's one person I don't want to tangle with, it's the Lord, okay, because that should
be pretty obvious why, right?
So if we want the grace of God, we need to be humble people.
And by the way, you know, that resistance, a lot of times, is God trying to humble you.
You know, if you keep running into that, that resistance, if it feels like God's fighting
you, it's probably because he's trying to humble you.
He's trying to take you down a notch.
And so, you know, the goal of leadership is the glory of God and the edification of his
people.
That is the goal of leadership.
The goal of leadership is not to exalt itself.
It's not to make itself seem like it's, you know, all that and a bag of chips.
It's not to get the, you know, the praise of man.
It's not to exalt itself.
What is the goal of leadership?
It's to bring glory to God and to edify his people.
So you could see why humility is so important, that it can't be about self.
It can't be about the person doing the leading.
It has to be about the glory of God.
And it's interesting.
Are you in Exodus 3?
Is that Moses gets brought back to the place of his humble beginnings.
I already talked about this earlier in the sermon, but it says he kept the, verse 1,
he kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law and the priest of Midian.
And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mount of God, even
to Orib.
So it's interesting that that's where he started out.
That was his humble beginning, but when he, after God, if he goes into Egypt and God uses
him mightily and God, you know, does all those miracles and delivers, uses Moses to deliver
his people from Egypt miraculously and brings them through the Red Sea, he brings them back
to the same place and there he is exalted.
You know, he was, Moses was the one who was humbled in private, you know, 40 years by
himself in the desert was probably a very humbling thing, but nobody was there to see
that.
No one was there to behold Moses's, you know, humility, but Moses was there and he later
returns to that same place, go to Exodus 19, he later returns to Orib as what?
A great leader.
I mean, I challenge you to find a greater leader than Moses in the Bible other than
Jesus.
I mean, I just don't think there is one.
I think Moses is the greatest leader in the book.
I mean, he, I mean, it's the biggest group of people, probably the most difficult task.
I mean, trying to get millions of people through the desert, you know, with no food and water,
fleeing from a, you know, the greatest power on the earth at that time, you know, until
God took care of them, you know, he's a great leader, you know.
I mean, if you've ever tried to corral people, get people to do something, it's like
herding cats.
It can get crazy, you know, you just got to learn to go with the flow eventually, right?
But that's why I give, you know, I tip my hat to Moses.
I mean, he was a great leader, but he started out very humbly, right?
That was, but it's interesting that he starts out in Orib and then when he's exalted and
magnified in front of the people is in that same place where he was humbled.
He returns to Orib as a great leader and was magnified.
Look at Exodus 19 verse 16, and it came to pass on the third day in the morning that
there were thunders and lightnings, we got a taste of that last night, right, and a thick
cloud upon the mount and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people
that was in the camp trembled and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to do what?
See what God's doing with me?
Do you see how great I am?
How great I've become in your sight?
Just this mega maniacal, just egomaniac.
Just give me all the praise.
He brought the people out to this great site to do what?
To meet with God.
He said, hey, let's go meet God.
And God, yeah, he used Moses in a great way, didn't he?
Very, very powerful.
Go over to 1 Corinthians 1, I should have had you stay there.
He used him in a great way.
I mean, the thundering, the lightning, and I mean, Moses later comes down, his face is
shining, right, because he spent so much time in the mount with God and the people feared
to look on him.
Obviously, he was exalted in their sight to some degree, but that's not what Moses was
in it for.
He wasn't in it to exalt himself.
He was in it to do what?
To bring forth the people out of the what to do what?
To meet God.
That's what leadership, at least within the local church and in our homes is about.
It's about getting people to know God.
And it's not about us.
It's not about the preacher.
It's not about you as a person in any capacity as a leader.
It's not about you.
It's about serving other people.
And specifically in the church, it's about, hey, we're trying to meet with God here, trying
to introduce us to the Lord, trying to help us to get to know the Lord better through
his word and through the preaching of his word.
You go on to 1 Corinthians 1, just start in verse 27, but God, we read this, I know, God
has chosen the foolish things of the world that confound the wise and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of
the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not
to bring to not the things that are.
Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him, our even Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
You know, God is all these things to us, not some man.
God is who we need to get to know.
Verse 31, that as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Like, you know, if there's anything I want people to glory in in this church, it's the
Lord.
It's in his word.
It's not in me.
You know, it's not in some earthly vain accomplishment that has my name attached to it.
I want people to glory in the Lord in this church.
That's what I'm concerned about.
You know, that's what we should all be concerned about.
But that's going to take humility and whatever degree you're going to serve the Lord, you
know, you have to have humility.
And we're all going to serve God.
It's not like this is the only place you can serve God.
In fact, you know, you can do just as great a work, if not greater works out there for
God.
You know, I'm not downplaying this role.
It's important.
Someone's got to do it.
But the fact is, you don't have to be behind this pulpit to do great works for God, to
be a leader for God.
But I am saying this.
If you want to lead for God, if you want to be somebody that God's going to use, you have
to have humility.
And you have to, you know, and if you can't show that one to another, the Bible is telling
us to be clothed with humility, to treat one another with humility, to submit one to another.
You know, I wonder how far you really are going to go with the Lord, how far you will
take it.
Because here's the thing, you know, any wisdom that comes across this pulpit, any wisdom
that we share with our families, any wisdom that we impart to other people that's of any
eternal value, it doesn't come from us.
It comes from God.
God's the one that gives grace.
God's the one that gives wisdom.
So you know, if you desire to be used by God this morning, and I trust that's everybody
in the room, I mean, if I'm going to do something in my life, I want God to be, I want it to
be to the glory of God.
And if that's you, if you want to be desired, if your desire is to be used by God, then
you have to learn humility.
You have to accept the fact that there are humble beginnings, and you don't get to just
jump to the head of the pack, you don't get to just immediately, you know, be in the limelight
or whatever, that you have to learn the lessons of humility.
You have to learn the lessons that come from humble beginnings.
You know, and I've been talking a lot about individuals, but this really applies to us
as a church.
You know, if we want this church to grow and to do more and more works for God, to knock
all these doors and see souls saved and see lives changed, which to me is the most rewarding
thing.
It's very rewarding.
You know, I don't just look at this job as, you know, some burden that has to be endured.
You know, I actually like preaching, if you can believe that.
You know, and why do I like it?
Because I'm so good at it.
Because it's rewarding.
Because like I was saying earlier, God works, and people change, and the Lord moves.
And there's a lot of reward to that.
It's very fulfilling.
And if that's what we want as a church, then you know what, we have to accept our humble
beginnings here.
We have to accept that, you know, we're in the small space, we're a smaller group, but
God can still use us.
And if we'll stick with that and not just get discouraged, not get disgruntled and quit
on the church, you know, God will build upon that and exalt us as a body.
So if you want to be used by God, you've got to learn by humility.
Why?
Because humility, you know, those are the beginnings of service.
Humility is the beginning of all this.
It's the beginning of service, it's the beginning of submission, it's the groundwork for effective
leaders.
Let's go ahead and pray.