Do Better - Walk Humbly

Hola, Pantano! I'm Belzora, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. No matter where you're joining from, we believe church is more than just a service. It's a community where people can find hope, grow in faith, and do life together. If you're here on campus, stop by Next Steps after service. We'd love to meet you and help you find the best way to get connected at Pantano. Joining us online? You're part of the community, too! Be sure to visit Next Steps online and fill out a Connect Card so we can stay connected Next week, we start a new series called Anchors, a series about the scriptures that don't just inspire us for a moment, but steady and sustain us through every season of life. These are the truths that shape us, strengthen us, and anchor us no matter what comes our way. Generosity is more than just an act. It's a reflection of God's love. We believe radical generosity reshapes our world. Every gift you give helps bring hope, healing, and transformation throughout Tucson, Benson, and beyond. Thank you for being part of that impact. If you feel led to give today, you can drop your gift in the giving box, give online through our website, or text GIVE to 46356. The Global Leadership Summit is coming back to Pantano on August 6th and 7th, 2026. Over these two impactful days, you'll hear from inspiring speakers and gain practical leadership insights that can help you grow in your workplace, ministry, relationships, and everyday life. Take advantage of early bird pricing by visiting Next Steps to register today. We're excited to see how God will use the Summit to strengthen and grow you as a leader. Stay connected with everything happening at Pantano by following us on social media. It's a great way to stay encouraged throughout the week and keep up with upcoming events, updates, and life around our church community. Thanks again for joining us today. We're so glad you're here. Hey, Pantano, we are happy you're here. Won't you stand with us?

Let's worship the Lord. We have the privilege to give praise to our God and celebrate Him and what He's done. Let's go! Come, let us worship our King Come, let us bow at His feet He has done great things See what our Savior has done See how His love overcomes He has done great things He has done great things O hero of heaven, you conquered the grave You free every captive and break every chain O God, you have done great things Redemption, your freedom, awake and alive O Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high O God, you have done great things You've been faithful through every storm You'll be faithful forevermore You have done great things And I know you will do it again For your promise is yes and amen You will do great things God, you do great things O hero of heaven, you conquered the grave You free every captive and break every chain O God, you have done great things Redemption, your freedom, awake and alive O Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high O God, you have done great things Hallelujah, God above it all Hallelujah, God unshakeable Hallelujah, you have done great things Hallelujah God, above it all Hallelujah God, unshakable Hallelujah, you have done great things You've done great things O Hero of heaven, you conquered the grave You free every captive, break every chain O God, you have done great things We dance in your freedom, awaken the light O Jesus, our Savior, your name is divine O God, you have done great things You have done great things

O God, you do great things He's done great things, yeah He has done great things O God Hallelujah, hallelujah Thank you Jesus Thank you Jesus Hallelujah Lord, hallelujah Hallelujah King of kings and Lord of all Behold the Lamb upon the throne Before you every crown will fall Jesus Christ, you stand alone Hallelujah, all the praise is yours Hallelujah, our song forevermore Sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord Hallelujah, all the praise is yours Hallelujah Day and night it never stops That ancient and eternal song Heaven and earth will sing as one To the one who was and is to come The one who was and is to come Hallelujah, all the praise is yours Hallelujah, our song forevermore Sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord Hallelujah, all the praise is yours Hallelujah Praise Yahweh, praise Yahweh

Praise Your name now and forever Praise Yahweh, praise Yahweh Praise Your name now and forever Praise Yahweh, praise Yahweh Praise Your name now and forever Now and forever Hallelujah ♪ All the praise is yours, sing it to Him! ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, a song forevermore ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, all the praise is yours ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, a song forevermore ♪ ♪ Sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, hallelujah, all the praise is yours ♪ ♪ Praise ye always, praise ye always ♪ ♪ Praise His holy name now and forever ♪ ♪ Praise ye always, praise ye always ♪ ♪ Praise your name now and forever ♪ Praise His name, hallelujah! Amen. Oh, you can be seated if you can. Try real hard and watch your screens. God bless you. Thank you. Well, hey there, Pantano, how are we? We're doing all right? Man, it is really, really good to be with you each and every week. We have people from literally all over the globe with us each and every week. I wanna welcome a couple of them in today.

We got Anthony and Amy in North Las Vegas. We've got Bennett in Juneau, Alaska with us right now. We've got all of our friends at the Gospel Rescue Mission, the Santa Rita unit at the Wilmot Prison, and our Benson campus, plus everybody online with us. Do me a favor, if you would, would you welcome all of them in? We are so glad you guys are here. I also, I wanna share something really, really cool with you. Many of you know, because we're in the prison, we started on this app called the Pando app that's in every prison in the United States. And our church has been able to have incredible impact because of your generosity there. In literally less than a year, we're about to go over a million prisoners that have engaged with our services online. So we're really excited for all of you. Well, today we wrap up this series, Do Better. Now, if you've been here for the entire series, you know that back wall for two weeks looked like a giant shoe store. If you know anything about me, I may have too many shoes. Because some of you keep bringing me shoes, which I'm greatly appreciative of, and my wife is too, because I'm not buying them anymore. But those shoes up there on the screen, like, I'm actually wearing those shoes right now, and they say do better.

So if you're following me and it says do better, listen. Okay, just listen to the shoes. Do better, okay? But the purpose behind, like, what do shoes have to do with the series? Well, it's interesting, because if you look at this series, the first week, Chris kind of tried on the shoes of justice. And he talked about, like, we need to be a people that walk in justice. Like, we need to do justice. And then last week, we talked about what does it mean to love mercy? So we tried on another color of shoes, right? We put on mercy. But here's the biggest reason, because this is the last week of the series, and I know justice, man, we get fired up for justice. We wanna go help people. And we start to look at mercy, and we're like, you know what, I need to be a little more merciful. But today, I think this is the hardest one, at least for me personally, and maybe for you too. And there's this little word in this scripture we're gonna talk about, it's humility, humility. Now, here's the interesting thing about humility. When you think you have it mastered, you no longer have it mastered. You're like, I'm the most humble person I know. Not anymore. You see what I'm saying?

Like, the minute you think you've figured out humility, that's the moment you've not figured out humility. And humility cuts to the core of who we are. That's what humility does. I wanna take you to Micah chapter six, verse eight. This is a scripture that we've been in all three weeks of this series. And this is what it says. It says, no, O people, the Lord has told you what is good and what he requires of you. We talked about that last week. And this is what he says. This is what he requires of you and me, to do what is right, to love mercy. And here's the last one, to walk humbly with your God. See, the goal is, is that you put on the shoes of humility and that's what you walk in. You walk in humility. How do we do better? Start with humility. So if we walk humbly, it's not occasional humble, it's not socially humble, it's not fake humble, it's walk humbly. And I don't know about you, but humility is one of those things that gets harder the more successful you become. It gets harder. The more talented you are, honestly, the more convinced you become that you're right, the harder it is to be humble.

And if I'm really honest with myself, and maybe you too, pride sneaks into my life way more subtly than I'd like to admit. Like pride's sneaky, you ever notice that? Sneaks up on you, smacks you in the back of the head. Like sometimes pride sounds loud and arrogant. I know, usually everybody knows who that person is. If you don't just ask them, they will tell you. In fact, don't even ask them, they'll still tell you. But most of the time, pride sounds kind of spiritual, actually. Have you ever had somebody tell you, God told me, and I know best. I go, first of all, I feel like God would've let me in on it too, if it's about me. Or how about, you know what, I can handle this myself. That sounds really good. I can do this myself, I can handle this, I don't need help. You ever said that one? People offer your help, like, I'm good. And when it's inside your head, you're like, I'm not good. But I'll figure it out. Or have you ever said this one, I deserve better than this? Like when you get there, you're dealing with some pride. Or, I can fix this on my own. See, pride is not always standing on a platform bragging. Sometimes pride is quietly believing you no longer need God moment by moment. That's pride. I remember a season years ago, I was doing life and ministry

in the church. And the church we were in, man, it was moving, it was growing fast, things were happening, the church was getting opportunities that we'd never had before, things were clicking. And somewhere along the way, I slowly started to shift from dependence on God to dependence on self. It was slow. Now, I still prayed, but they're mostly surface prayers. You know what I'm saying, right? God bless my food, as I eat a double cheeseburger. Blesses to my body. He's like, oh, it's gonna get blessed to your body, all right. You're gonna have one patty on each side, that's what's gonna happen. Blessings to you, sir. I was still preaching, but I was running more on gifting than intimacy with God. I was actually still leading, but underneath it, there was like this dangerous self-reliance that was creeping into my soul. And I remember hitting this wall. I hit an emotional wall, a spiritual wall, a physical wall, and a mental wall all at the same time. You wanna talk about full-on just blowing up the car, run into four walls at runtime. And I hit them all at the same time. I was exhausted. I was frustrated.

I was dry, emotionally and spiritually. When you start looking at everybody around you, wondering why everybody's so dumb, it's probably you. Some of you guys, like, write that down, husband of mine. I know what you're doing right now. And I remember, I'm an early person. Like, I like to be up early. I'm in the office early. I like to be in the office early because there's nobody here. And I can get so much done from like 6.30 to nine o'clock. See, even that kid agrees with me. Sorry, that was hilarious. And I remember sitting in my office at like six in the morning, and I remember sitting in my office at like six in the morning, and I realized something painful. I'd started doing ministry for God instead of walking with God. And see, some of you, you're doing ministry for God. You show up all the time, but you're forgetting to walk with Him. And you can't figure out why you're dry even though you keep serving. And see, there's a massive difference between doing ministry for God and walking with God. Here's what you need to understand. God has never asked us to impress Him. I just tell you, there's nothing we can do

that God's gonna go, I'm so impressed. I know I created the cosmos and the planets and the stars, but bro, that sermon you gave, whew, you outdid Jupiter. He's not asking that. You know what He asked me to do? Walk with Him. That's why humility matters so deeply to God. Humility is what keeps you close to God. And the closer we walk with God, the smaller we realize we are, the bigger His grace becomes in our life. So what about you? I wonder how many of you came into any of these spaces today exhausted because you're carrying things with you. because you were never meant to carry alone, because of pride. Like how many of us are trying to prove ourselves constantly that we're good enough and that people wanna be around us? We're trying to prove that we matter. We're trying to prove that we're enough. We're trying to prove that we're successful. Or just trying to prove that you're right. Trying to prove that you're strong enough. And here's the crazy thing about pride, is that it often disguises itself as strength. Oh, I'm strong. Oh man, you're so strong. Maybe you're prideful. Because underneath pride is usually fear.

And here's the fear that kicks in. At least for me, and I'm guessing for some of you, like fear of not being enough. You ever had that fear? I'm not gonna measure up. Fear of losing control. Any control freaks? Not if you raised your hand. The control freak's like, I'm not listening to you. Raise your hand. No, because I'm one too. The fear of needing help. The fear of appearing weak. And so we build our lives around this little thing called self-sufficiency. And here's the problem. Self-sufficiency and dependence can't coexist with God. They don't coexist. Like some of us are so busy trying to hold our lives together, we've forgotten how desperately we need God. That's why the self-help section at any bookstore is the largest section. You wonder why people keep writing about it? Because it's not working. See, others of us, we struggle with comparison pride. You ever do this? You look at others and you think, at least I'm not like them. You're walking into church,

you see them in the parking lot, and you're like, I'm glad I'm not like that guy. And it's like, oh, and now you are, just like that guy. Or have you ever said that, at least I have it together. By the way, that's the biggest lie you can ever tell yourself. If you think you have it together, everyone's like, oh, they're a hot mess. Or how about this one? At least my sin is not as bad as their sin. You know what's interesting? I've read the Bible cover to cover a few times. Nowhere have I found where God's like, there's a book on the categorization of sin. It's like, here's the book of bad sins. Then you go to the second book of bad sins, but they're not as bad as the first book of bad sins. That's not how it works. We all are sinful people. And before we know it, pride has started to harden our heart because we think we're better. And the truth is this, every one of us, every one of us, desperately needs grace every single day. Like, how many of you knew today when you got up you needed some grace? Some of you parents with young children stepped on a Lego this morning. And you're like, I should go back to bed and start over.

I lost Jesus before I got to the bathroom, right? See, justice and mercy that we've talked about, you know what they actually begin with? Humility. That's why you walk in humility. That's why you walk with God. And so this is what I think we need to understand. When we humbly walk with God, we have to remember we are recipients of grace before we're dispensers of it. You gotta understand, you gotta receive grace before you can dispense grace. So let's unpack Micah 6. Because we've looked at one verse. Now, here's what I would tell you, when you read the Bible, read it in context. Before you stitch it on a pillow in your living room, know what it means first. I've been to some people's houses, I'm like, why is that on a pillow? They're like, it's my life verse. I'm like, really? Did you read the chapter around it? Because I think you're trying to smite yourself now. Like, if you understand Micah 6.8 that we've been reading, I wanna put it in context for you. So the prophet Micah, in this text, he's actually speaking to the people of Israel during a season where they become deeply religious externally,

but spiritually corrupt internally. By the way, you could take this out of the book of Micah and put it into the modern day American church. Like, externally, we look really spiritual. Internally, a little corrupt. Here's how you know, they were offering sacrifices. Like, they were still showing up and giving. They were attending worship at temple. They're going through religious motions. They even knew when to do touchdown Jesus when the chorus got big, you know what I'm saying? But their hearts, far from God. So they're exploiting the poor, they're acting unjustly, they're living arrogantly. So God confronts them in Micah 6. And here's their response, verse six. And you gotta hear this with a bit of a sarcastic tone. I hear almost everything with a sarcastic tone, so I have to really filter that. But it says this, what can we bring to the Lord? Should we bring and burn offerings? Should we bow before him? For God most high with offerings of yearling calves, should we offer him a thousands of rams and 10,000 rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? Do you hear how dramatic they're being? They're not being passive aggressive, they're being aggressive aggressive.

The people are basically looking at God going, God, what do you want from us? When we show up to temple, we give our 10%. We even serve a little bit. You want more offerings? You want bigger religious acts? And then Micah, the prophet, responds with one of the clearest summaries of God's heart. This is where he goes, no, O people of Israel. And he had to have said it that way. I promise you, he was like, seriously? Y'all wanna do this? Game on. It's biblically on like Donkey Kong, let's roll. Says the Lord has told you what is good. He goes, the Lord's told you what is good. This is what he requires of you to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God. I feel like Micah should have just dropped the mic and walked off. Maybe that's why his name is Micah, that's funny. In other words, what he's saying is God is not impressed by your performance if your heart is disconnected from him. He's not impressed with our performance of religiosity at all, he wants your heart. He says, do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God. Notice that humility is connected to walking. Humility is not just thinking lowly of yourself. Humility is daily dependence on God, it's relational. Walking implies closeness.

I can't be close to you when we're running. First of all, if you're running, I do not want to be close to you. You can run all you want, I'm gonna keep walking. But if we go on a run, I can't be close to you. First of all, I'm trying to live. I'm trying to breathe. If we're running and you're like, hey, you wanna talk about life? Nope, I wanna live. I wanna have oxygen so that I don't pass out in the desert. I can't build a relationship with you while we're running. But if we walk together, then we can build a relationship. I can learn things about you. If I say, hey, let's go for a walk, then we can talk, we can learn. Like, when my wife and I, we were dating, I used to love going on walks with her. I'd be like, hey, sweetie, you wanna go for a walk? She'd be like, yeah, let's go for a walk. I'd be like, here, let me hold your hand for protection. It's a little game right there, I'm just saying. Like, hey, before we get over the street corner, let me hug you real quick, just make sure you're warm enough. That's some more game right there. Gentlemen, if you're dating, I'm giving you tips right now you didn't even know. Take her for a walk, man, it's great. You know what I did on walks? We could get to know each other.

We could spend time together. You don't sprint humbly. It's consistency, it's direction, it's dependence. You walk humbly, it's part of how we love. It's hard to love people sprinting. Walking is where we love people. When you walk with people through life, that's where they find rescue. And honestly, our culture doesn't celebrate humility. It doesn't. Our culture celebrates self-promotion. Build your platform, build your brand. Protect your image. Make yourself the center. I used to joke when my kids were little, my daughter Ella, she's a beautiful woman, getting married in like a week and a half, and she literally, I used to joke, I'm like, hey, she's the main actor in life and all of you are supporting actors. Unfortunately, that's some of us as adults, is we think we're the center. And yet Jesus models the exact opposite. Go to Philippians chapter two over in the New Testament. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians over there in that area of the Bible. And this is Paul and Philippians. And he's talking about Jesus, but he starts like this. This is how he starts the verse, don't be selfish. I'm like, oh, you came out strong, didn't you, bro?

Then he says, don't try to impress others. Okay, here we go. Then he says, be humble. Thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take interest in others too. Notice what he doesn't say, forget about you. He says, but also don't forget about others. You must have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had. When anytime you see that in scripture, you ought to pay attention. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave, was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. He says, be like Jesus. So Paul immediately attacks the core issue. behind pride. You know what it is? Selfish ambition. Selfish ambition. Like pride constantly asks, well, what about me? You know what humility asks? What about them? What about everybody else? Then Paul points us to Jesus.

Jesus had every right to demand glory, demand recognition, and demand worship. Like, I'm glad that I'm not the son of God because I think if I was, I would have been like, give me the glory. Oh, worship me. See, that's not what Jesus calls us to. What did Jesus do? He stepped down. He humbled himself. The king became a servant. The creator washed feet. The savior carried a cross. The one who deserved everything gave it all up. And he says, be like that. Notice something powerful. Humility is not weakness. Can I just tell you, Jesus was not weak. Go read scripture. He was not weak. Weak dudes don't go flip over tables in temples. Like, weak guys don't go to the cross willingly. Like, he was secure enough in who he was, he didn't need to prove himself constantly. See, pride is usually insecurity screaming for attention. Humility is security resting in God. In fact, that's why humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's actually thinking of yourself less. Now, I don't know where that originated. It's not mine.

But here's what I say with sayings like that. The first time I say it, I give credit to whoever said it. The second time I said it, I'm like, someone once said. The third time and beyond, I'm like, I always say. So you know what I always say? Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. And if you look at Jesus, Jesus was fully aware of who he was. Like in Matthew 11, 29, not on your screens, but in Matthew 11, 29, he actually says, I'm humble in my ways, model this. He was fully aware because he trusted the Father completely. Not himself, the Father. He didn't need applause, he didn't need recognition, he didn't need control. And that's why humility only happens when we understand grace. Because when you realize how much grace you receive, it's hard to walk around acting like you're superior to everyone else. How many of you know that you've been given the grace of God in so many levels of your life? Anybody there? And if you meet people that have really experienced the grace of Jesus, they're so gracious with you. They're like, oh, there must be something behind your something,

because nobody would act that way on purpose. That's why James says this. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the what? The humble. See, that's a hard verse. Let me ask you, how many of you have ever struggled with pride in your life ever, just once? If you struggled with pride in that moment, can I just tell you, you are in direct opposition to God? If you live prideful in your soul, if you live prideful in your life, can I just tell you, when you do that, God says, you're in direct opposition to me. But the humble, I'm gonna give grace to the humble. See, the issue is not simply that pride is bad. The issue is that pride places us in opposition to God himself. That's a bigger implication. See, pride says, I got this. You know what humility says? I need you. Pride says, I deserve better. If you say, I deserve, at any point, and it's not followed by hell, some of you guys are like, I deserve, oh yeah, I deserve hell. If it's not followed by that, you're living in pride. I deserve better. You know what humility says? Everything I have is grace.

If you have breath in your lungs right now, you know what that is? Grace. If you opened your eyes today, and were able to get out of your bed, you know what that is? Grace. If you can hear the words I'm saying, see the things going on, worship the God of the universe, you know what that is? Grace. Pride says, look what I did. You know what humility says? Look what God's doing. Look what God's doing. And the scary thing about pride is that you can be deeply religious, and deeply prideful at the same time. Notice what I said, deeply religious. Can't be deeply Christ-like and prideful at the same time, but you can be deeply religious. It's actually what Jesus addresses in Luke 18. Go read the entire chapter of Luke 18, but I'm gonna give it to you. Jesus tells the story of two men. They're praying in the temple. Now, one is a Pharisee. If you don't remember what a Pharisee is, let me catch you up. They're a religious leader.

They know the law. They know Jesus. scripture, they know theology. You know what they don't know? Compassion. They're pretty prideful, pretty arrogant. So you've got a Pharisee and then you've got a tax collector. Now, let me tell you about tax collectors. They were despised in biblical times. You're like, aren't they still? Sorry if you work for the IRS, not your fault. Blame it on the Bible. But actually, tax collectors in Jesus' day were despised because they were ripping off their own people. They were working for the Roman government who was oppressing the Jews. So they're despised. And Jesus tells of these two men in the temple, the Pharisee and the tax collector. And the Pharisee is standing in the temple praying out loud, as loud as he can. But this is his prayer. He's literally praying in this moment, God, thank you that I'm not like the tax collector. Now, how many of you in that moment are like, I kind of want to punch that guy? You're like, can you say that in church? I don't know. I'm dealing with my faith like you, so I want to punch this guy, all right? Like really, you're going to stand in front of a crowd of people and go, sure, I'm glad I'm not like that guy. Could you imagine you walk into church today? I decide to walk on stage. I walk over here, my buddy Ricardo's down here, which is just hilarious because this is so not him. But I'm like, dear God, thank you that I'm not like Ricardo. You guys would be like, what is wrong with you? First of all, some of you are saying that right now. You know Ricardo. You're like, he's such a great guy. If I said that, you'd be like, you're such an arrogant jerk. And then you've got the tax collector. And you know what the tax collector does? He literally, he can't even look up. He's so embarrassed about who he is. And as the Pharisee is praying, thank God I don't struggle like him. Thank God I don't have a marriage like theirs. Thank God my kids aren't doing what their kids are doing. Thank God I'm not addicted like that person. The tax collector says, God, I don't deserve to be here. I'm a sinner. Do you hear the difference in those two postures? Now, here's where Jesus blows everybody's mind. This is the kind of things that got Jesus crucified. What he does next. Because the tax collector is literally beating his chest going, God, please be merciful for I'm a sinner. And Jesus says something that rocks the temple.

And I'm not talking they plugged in an amp and had a guitar. Jesus was there to rock the temple. That's not what he did. But this is what Jesus says. He says, the tax collector went home justified before God, not the Pharisee. Oh man, you want to take off religious people? Jesus just did it. Why did he say that? Here's why. Because humility positions us to receive grace. The tax collector was humble. The Pharisee was not. The Pharisee was full of himself. The tax collector was desperate to be filled by God. Big difference. And desperation for God is not weakness. It's actually wisdom. The closer we walk with God, the smaller we realize we are, the bigger we realize we need grace. I think one of the greatest dangers in the American church today is not rebellion. It's self-reliance. It's not rebellion against God. It's that I can do it without God. And here's why. We have resources more than any time in history. Platforms, knowledge, systems, programs. But sometimes we've lost desperation for God. I've seen it. You can build churches without prayer. I've seen it happen time and time again. I know pastors myself at times, you can actually, I've had moments where I can preach sermons without any dependence on God. You can lead ministries without intimacy. And eventually, you know what happens? Pride will leave you spiritually empty. That's why humility matters. Humility reminds us something. We're not God. We're not God. We make horrible gods. Humility reminds us we're recipients of grace before we're dispensers of it. Humility changes how we treat people. At least it should. See, when you realize how patient God has been with you, you have to become more patient with you have to become more patient with others. I wonder how patient God is with me sometimes. I'm like, I wonder if every day he's like, oh my gosh, seriously, bro, again? Have you not learned yet? No, I'm sorry. See, when you realize how much mercy God has shown you, you become more merciful towards others. When you realize how much grace you need, you stop acting superior towards everybody else. Justice and mercy always flow downstream from humility. And honestly, humility is not something we think. It's something we practice. You practice humility. Every time you pray, that's humility. But do you know why? Because prayer is actually admitting I can't do this without God.

That's what prayer is. You practice humility every time you confess sin because confession is admitting I need grace. Any sinners? Oh, y'all were quick to raise your hand on that one. You practice humility every time you serve anonymously because humility is serving without needing recognition. I think one of the clearest indicators of pride is how badly we need credit, how badly we need applause or validation or recognition. I've had a really privileged ministry life. God has given me the ability to be around some of the greatest leaders that I could ever imagine. And one of them was a guy named Drew Sherman. He's actually the pastor at Compass Christian Church in Dallas where I did 10 years of ministry. I was his first hire there. Some of you may remember Drew. He was here a couple years ago and preached. He's the guy that dug cookies out of a dumpster to eat them. If that doesn't scream humility, I don't know what does. It also screams you have a cookie problem, okay? But when I worked with Drew, Drew's one of the best leaders I've ever met. And anytime I was around Drew and people were kind of giving him kudos for his leadership, you know what Drew would always say? Oh man, I've got a great team around me. I got a lot of good people that work around me.

And they'd be like, no, no, no, but Drew, you're growing so much in your leadership. He's like, thank you so much for saying that. But honestly, and if I was standing there and one of our other staffers was standing there, he's like, man, guys like Trevor, guys like Bo, guys like Mark, ladies like Lori, I couldn't do this without them. You know what that showed me? It was the best leaders lead with humility. Drew never sought credit. Still to this day, he doesn't. And see, Jesus consistently modeled hidden humility. Like he would heal people and he'd be like, hey, don't tell anyone I did this. Like you'd be blind your whole life and then Jesus would be like, now you can see. He'd be like, all right, let's not tell anybody about this. What? I can see. We're telling everybody. Guy can't walk. Jesus heals him. He's like, hey, don't tell anybody. The guy skips through town with his mat. Like, dee dee dee, I can walk. Yeah, like that's what he's doing. But Jesus constantly was like, hey, don't tell anybody. And he would constantly redirect glory to the Father. When people would say, Jesus healed me,

he was like, by the power of my Father. See, humility is not drawing attention to yourself. It's pointing attention towards God. That's what humility is. And can I say something important? Humility actually leads to freedom. Because pride is exhausting. It'll wear you out. Pride forces you to constantly protect your image. You know what humility frees you to do? To admit I don't have it all together. Can I just tell you? The older I get, the less together I know I have it. For some reason in my 20s, I thought I had it all together. I'm pushing 50 now, and I'm like, I'm an idiot. I'm becoming dumber as I get older. How's that possible? See, when you realize you don't have it all together, you start to understand there's freedom to ask for help. Humility actually frees you to repent quickly. It frees you to walk honestly before God and before others. And that's where transformation happens. So what's this mean for you? Well, for some of you, well, for some of you, your next step is simple. You need to stop trying to be your own God. That's what you need to do. You're exhausted because you are carrying things you were never meant to carry. You're trying to control everything.

You're trying to fix everything. You're trying to hold everything together. And humility begins by admitting, I need God more than I realize. I need him more than I realize. Some of you actually need to confess pride. Like, not loud pride, but the quiet pride. Like, it's the pride that refuses accountability. The pride that refuses help. The pride that always has to be right. The pride that refuses to apologize. The pride that depends more on self than God. So for some of you, humility starts with praying. Not a polished prayer. You don't have to say, oh, great and mightieth, fathereth and heaveneth. I don't know why you sound like Mike Tyson when you pray. Okay, that's weird. Welcome to my head, y'all. That's that weird prefrontal cortex I got going on. They don't need to be polished. They need to be desperate. They need to be honest. Let me challenge you this week. What if you started every day with this rhythm? Before you do anything else, before you get out of your bed, you just say, I need God today. Start there. Doesn't have to be eloquent.

I need God today. God, I need you today. Some of you need to start your mornings not with social media or emails, but with surrender. That's where it needs to start. Maybe your prayer this week is simply, God, I need you more than I realized. I'm living on the hot mess express and I'm the conductor. And I need you more than I thought. Some of you, you need to serve anonymously. Do something kind without posting it on social media. Do something to bless someone that nobody will ever know. Encourage someone without ever needing recognition because humility grows when attention shifts off ourselves. And for some of you today, humility begins with actually salvation itself. See, you can't come to Jesus pridefully. Salvation begins when we admit, I can't save myself. Like the gospel, the word gospel means good news. The good news of Jesus is for people humble enough to admit they need grace. So the closer we walk with God, the smaller we realize we are, the bigger His grace becomes. So it's baptism weekend at Pantano. Dozens of you have already signed up to be baptized. Let me tell you why I think today is the perfect day for some of you. Because for the longest time, your pride has kept you from giving your life to Jesus. Your pride has been saying, I can do this on my own.

And yet you keep feeling like, why is my life so, so hard all the time? Because you're depending on you, not on God. And so here's what I'd say to some of you. You came in here today, or you logged in with us somewhere, you're at one of our campuses, and you had zero idea that your pride was about to get kicked right out of your soul. And you feel something different today. You're like, I don't wanna keep living this way. I'm exhausted by this. And you've been holding on like, you're a really good church person. I know, I've been one too. You show up, serve a little, give a little, sing a little, leave, and nothing's different. And you use it every day to go, you know, at least I'm not like those people that don't go to church. Has nothing to do with your church attendance. Has to do with your surrender to God. And some of you are holding on pridefully to a life that God never intended for you to have to live. So if you want freedom today, I offer you that. An opportunity to give your life to Jesus. We've got a sign over here that's probably gonna light up in just a second, because I have this magic hand. Actually, there's a person in the back with a finger that just goes like this, but, and there's people, they're waiting for you.

That sounded a little creepier than I meant for it to. There's people ready to accept you. They're waiting for you. It's back there with a blow dryer. When you walk back there, you're like, no, I'm just here to dry your hair. They're shirts, they're shorts, there's a journey. And at any time during the rest of our time together, you wanna go over there and surrender your pride and raise in the grace and humility of Jesus. There's a little girl in our church, Ava. She came up to me this morning. She goes, I wanna be baptized. I was like, awesome. And her mom goes, tell him what it means. I was like, this is always awesome when kids tell me things. Had a girl in one of our other services. She was like, Jesus died for our sins. I was like, he did, and then he resurrected. She goes, no, he died. I was like, all right, we'll work on that theology a little bit. And Ava, without missing a beat, described to me what it means to be baptized. She literally said to me, she goes, it means that you don't forget what Jesus has done for all the rest of your life and for all of eternity. And I mean, she's like spouting it like a mile a minute. I was like, I need an interpreter because it was so quick and it was so beautiful.

And she's gonna get baptized on Father's Day. It's gonna be awesome, I can't wait. Her dad's gonna baptize her. It's gonna be really, really cool. But some of you today need to come to your father, your heavenly father, and give your life to him. May we be a people who do justice, who love mercy, but when we walk out of here, we put on the shoes of humility and we do better because God. calls us to better. So if that's you today, you wanna make a decision, we'd love to walk you through that. If you want prayer today, you can go to any one of our prayer spaces after service. If you're here at Houghton Road, you can go across our courtyard. If you're at Benson, you can go to the lobby. If you're at one of our other campuses, talk to your host at that campus. If you're online, talk to a chat host. Maybe you just need to make a decision today. You know what? Pride is no longer gonna win. I'm gonna walk in humility with God. So what I wanna do is I wanna pray with you. And I'm gonna ask you, just stay where you're at. You don't have to get up, just stay right where you are. And I wanna pray with you. And then we're gonna commune together,

and then we're gonna party together. We're gonna Pantano party in here. We're gonna scream, yell, hoot, and holler for people that are saying, you know what? It's no longer about me, it's all about God. So I would just beg you, please don't bolt out of here. I know the parking lot's always a mess. I get it. You're like, but we've gotta get to Walmart. That's like the seventh level of Dante's Inferno. You don't need to do that, okay? Just wait. Go at 10 o'clock at night, it's funnier than anyhow, okay? It's hilarious. Pajama pants are like premium. That's when you can go, okay? But let me pray for us. And then if you wanna give your life to Jesus today, we would love to meet you and walk through that with you. Let's pray. Father, today, God, thank you for being a humble God. Jesus, thank you for being willing to step into humility, giving up all your rights to show us how to live humble. God, we pray today that we'd be a humble people. God, for those today that are even struggling in this moment as we pray, to give up their pride, to give their lives to you, God, I pray that you would put a release in their soul. Release their grip on their seat.

God, the grip on their needing to be in control. And God, give them freedom. God, we love you and thank you for being a God who loves us. And it's in the powerful name of a humble God we pray all these things, all God's people said. Amen, love you, church. Amen, love you, church. Thank you. ♪ The reign of darkness now has ended ♪ ♪ In the kingdom of light, in the kingdom of light ♪ ♪ Forever under your dominion ♪ ♪ You're the king of my life, you're the king of my life ♪ ♪ You reign above it all, you reign above it all ♪ ♪ Oh, over the universe and over every heart ♪ ♪ There is no higher name, Jesus you reign above it all ♪ ♪ You've come across the worst days ♪ ♪ To pour out your life, just to give us new life ♪ ♪ From the lips of the forgiven, hear an anthem arise ♪ ♪ Jesus, your arrival, you reign above it all ♪ ♪ You reign above it all, over the universe ♪ ♪ And over every heart, there is no higher name, Jesus you reign above it all ♪ ♪ You reign above it all, let all of heaven and earth erupt in song ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the everlasting one, there is no higher name, Jesus you reign above it all ♪ ♪ There is no higher name, Jesus you reign above it all ♪ ♪ You reign above it all, you sent the darkness flood out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness flood out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise ♪ Throned on the highest praise, you sent the darkness running out of an empty grave, now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise.

You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave, now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise. You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave, now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise. You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave, now seated alone in glory, enthroned on the highest praise. You reign above it all, You reign above it all. Over the universe and over every heart, there is no higher name. Jesus, You reign above it all. Let all of heaven and the earth erupt in song. Sing hallelujah to the everlasting One, there is no higher name. Jesus, You reign above it all. You reign above it all. You reign above it all. You reign above it all. Yes, He does. Yes, He does. No higher name. Sing it out. You reign above it all. You reign above it all. Over the universe and over every heart, there is no higher name. Jesus, You reign above it all. Let all of heaven and the earth erupt in soul. Sing hallelujah to the everlasting One. There is no higher name. Jesus, You reign above it all. Yes, He does. You reign above it all. Jesus, You reign above it all. Jesus, You reign above it all. We join with the angels in heaven. Here in earth, we lift our voice. We raise it in song to You. Because You reign above it all. Church, won't You give Him praise? Won't You lift up Your voice? Give Him the highest praise? You may be seated as we prepare for communion. But please just say in an attitude of worship, this is a special moment in His presence. Don't let it pass you by. Oh, Jesus. If He doesn't reign above it all in your life, then He doesn't reign at all in your life. You might carve out a small corner for Him and tell Him, that's where I want you to stay until I need you. And that, as Pastor Trevor spoke this morning, that's pride. And I'll be completely honest with you, full transparency, that is something I've struggled with throughout my life. And the Lord has spoken. sent people and circumstances to keep me humble and it's a struggle I'll admit to you my flesh will whisper things to me and I know it's inspired by the enemy and I have to ask the Holy Spirit for help

because it's too easy to get into that and think I'm so much more than I'm not and I know who I am in him and that's all I need to know everything else is secondary it doesn't matter so may I encourage you coming from someone who has dealt with this and struggle with this for a long time if he doesn't rain over your entire life he's not raining at all and he wants to he's waiting he's waiting for you to see your need of him for you to recognize how much you need him we cannot make it through this life on our own I work in a prison I see inmates every single day who tried to make it on their own still trying to make it on their own and we our human nature fails miserably every single time but if you have new life in Christ our sufficiency our everything is in him and we don't have to depend on ourselves that should be so freeing how many of you failed miserably multiple times in one day meet you but if we'll just put our trust completely in him to say take the reign so you can reign above it all that's what he wants that's what he's asking for and whoever you are this morning whatever you're holding on to so tightly you're white knuckling it right now on that seat you know what you're holding on to and you know what he's told you to let go of so what you just release it give it to him so he can reign above it all so you can walk in humility before him and know that your hope and your trust and confidence is in him you can walk in confidence when you're humble before him because he has you he's got you you don't have to worry about having yourself he has you and that's why the Heavenly Father sent Jesus because he knew we'd never make it in our own throughout the New Testament in Paul's letters he mentions that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus through Jesus Christ our Lord so when you surrender to him you have life and life abundantly so why would you keep holding on to the things that keep you down and hold you back let it go so Jesus we recognize we can do nothing in ourselves we are dependent upon you thank you for giving yourself for us thank you for being the example of what it truly means to be humble before God and giving up control to your will thank you for your body thank you for your blood thank you for giving yourself

completely for forgiving us of sin for freeing us from the power center our life so we can live a victorious life in you we will forever give you praise and thanksgiving thank you Jesus in your name we pray Amen, well it's time to celebrate, I'm just going to stand up, let's give Him praise, we've got some baptisms, new life in Christ, let's go! Let Your glory fill this place, we're alive in Your presence It's Your heart we're searching for, we want You and nothing more Let Your glory fill this place, we're alive in Your presence We surrender all to You, do what You want to, do what You want to God we love to see You move, do what You want to, do what You want to Do what You want to We are standing in Your life, and our hearts are open wide Let us see more than before, Lord come have Your way We surrender all to You, do what You want to, do what You want to God we love to see You move, do what You want to, do what You want to Lord, have Your way here, in our hearts, in this place Have Your way All consuming fire, fall, fall on us All consuming fire, fall, fall on us All consuming fire, fall, fall on us All consuming fire, fall, fall on us We surrender all to You Do what You want to, do what You want to God we love to see You move Do what You want to, do what You want to We surrender all to You Do what You want to, do what You want to God we love to see You move Do what You want to, do what You want to All consuming fire fall, fall on us

All consuming fire fall, fall on us All consuming fire fall, fall on us All consuming fire fall, fall on us There is freedom in Jesus' name There is a future within His grace All the redemption you'll ever need Nope everlasting for you and me God I know you've been so good before Till you're doing so much more So come on Sing a little louder, if you've still got air in your lungs You know the best is yet to come Because God has got time, so come on Sing a little louder, if you've still got air in your lungs Praise Him for the things to come Because God has got time You are the passion inside my soul You are the fire that fills my bones If there is one thing I know is true God, there is nothing that compares to you I know you've been so good before Still you're doing so much more I know you've been so good before Still you're doing so much more So come on, sing a little louder If you've still got air in your lungs You know the best is yet to come Because God has got time, so come on Sing a little louder, if you've still got air in your lungs Praise Him for the things to come

Because God has got time A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder Come on Sing a little louder If you've still got air in your lungs You know the best is yet to come Because God's not done So come on Sing a little louder If you've still got air in your lungs Praise Him for the things to come Because God's not done A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder A little louder, a little louder If God's been good to you, sing a little louder Sing a little louder Amen Amen, may I encourage you church

Everywhere you go May His praise constantly be on your lips How does He deliver you from? He's delivered you from hell He's delivered you from sin From the power of sin in your lives That is something to give Him praise for So I want you to do it right now Give Him praise, He deserves it Amen We love you so much Thank you for worshipping with us I know the Spirit was here I hope you felt Him too Felt His presence If this is your first time And you're wondering what all this craziness is You're part of it now too So might as well come back next week But there's next steps There's so much that God is doing in this church And in this city And He wants to be part of it He wants you, truly So go see Next Steps across the courtyard If you need prayer for any reason Also across the courtyard is our prayer room Please go over there Our prayer partners will pray with you and for you But God bless you

We'll see you again next time www.nextsteps.org