Don't Just Merge... Yield!

Whenever I see someone play special music on the piano, I'm reminded of how difficult that is, but also how beautiful it can be when it's played well. So thank you for sharing your talent with us today. Good afternoon. Happy Sabbath. It's great to be here again through another week to end up here in the Sabbath with all of you. We are a little bit low in numbers. These are our summer numbers without ABC, but it's more intimate. Like, we should all just scoop forward. Fill in the first like five to six rows both sides. I'll pull up a chair. We'll just sit down. We'll just talk. I enjoy our summers when it changes this a little bit. ABC is great. We're very blessed, but this is fun, too.

Is yielding to another person fun? Big question of the day. Is yielding to another person fun? All you have to do is look at a parent working with a small child, and you can see immediately that yielding is not fun. We've seen her experience a child who wanted to do something that would be bad or dangerous for them. Maybe it was touching that hot stove, and the parent was like, no, you'll get hurt. Let's pull them away, and they're gentle, and they're kind with them, and then that child starts back at the stove. And then it turns into a pretty strong, no, don't touch the stove. But then there's a moment where that child sneaks around, or they get an opportunity, and they touch that stove. They learn that lesson the hard way. Or maybe it's that child, that little toddler who's running down the sidewalk or down the concrete driveway on that slope, and we've seen the parent come in and swoop up the child because we all know what's going to happen, and they save them. And that little child might have a smile because they thought it was fun. Or they just wanted to run. One of the two. But then eventually that parent, that child gets away from the parent, and it's running down that steep incline, and those little legs just cannot keep up with the speed. And when they get skin hands and skin knees, the child just wouldn't yield. How are we at yielding? Is that us at times? Let's see a show of hand. Once again, how many people enjoy yielding? I really want to get into this. How many people? Not one? I heard of sometimes. That's true. I thought all of our young adult or our teenagers and our kids would have raised their hands. I'm kind of disappointed. I really thought that they love yielding. Do I enjoy yielding? I got the same answer sometimes. A lot of times I don't. Here lies the problem, which we'll talk about today. Human nature wants to merge, but God wants us to yield. Human nature wants to merge, but God wants us to yield. Let's turn to James 3 17. James 3 17. While you're turning there, I've got a couple visuals to help out today. No fancy PowerPoint, but still got some visuals. You guys know where this is going. James 3 17.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. The wisdom that is from above willing to yield. As human beings, our human nature wants us to merge our lives with God, but God wants us to yield to his way of life. There's an illustration I'd like to share with you that's close to my house. It's right down here in 32. The interchange of 32 and 275. It's a big construction project. It's been going on for a couple years. Some of us have driven through it. Some of us live near. So some of us are familiar. But for those who aren't, I'll describe it. They're changing the 275 and 32 interchange, right at the interchange. And there's a point to where if you're coming down 32 and you want to go north on 275, you get in your right lane and you start off and you're going to end up merging. And then the people coming from the other direction on 32, they also want to go north, but they got a stoplight. But once that stoplight turns green, they have the right away to come on up the same ramp that I want to join in on. But right where I come to join in, there's this huge yield sign. Two of them, actually, I looked today just to make sure. Two yield signs on my for me. It's not for them, it's for me. And as they're coming up and I'm coming into this point, I'm told to yield. But it's a choice. But I'm told to yield.

Isn't that the same with God? Times where He's saying, follow this path, and we're told to yield to Him and to His ways. Just like this construction project at 32, our lives are a construction project to God. He's changing, converting, moving our hearts. He's working with us. And as we've journeyed across this country, we've seen and encountered people that treat yield signs like merge signs. They approach that intersection with no intent of yielding. They are coming into the flow of traffic one way or another, and it's going to be their way. And so I've seen that at that same intersection over at 32 and 275. Somebody who's coming up that yield sign, and whether they missed it or what's I don't know what's going on, they're distracted, as Rudy said, and they just go straight into the flow. And cars are swerving all over because the construction project, there is no merge lanes. There's no because you know how they'll cut it short. They kind of make a situation more dangerous than it will be once they're done. So there is no room to maneuver unless people are just swerving all over the place. I've been behind people, and I'm just grabbing the wheel because I'm just waiting for it. This is not going to be pretty. I haven't witnessed an accident. I'm thankful for that. But they're coming into that flow of traffic one way or another. But for those of us who understand how to merge into traffic, it's kind of a song and dance. It takes cooperation. We approach that a normal merging situation by speeding up to similar speed of the other traffic. And then we insert ourselves into that flow of traffic. And then the other person kind of backs off a little bit. They make a space. They should. It's polite. They should. They make a space so that we can get in. It's a song and dance. It's cooperation.

And at times, we can seem like we want to merge our lives with God. We understand there are benefits to living God's way. No question. No question in that. God's way works. We try our hardest and we try to live his way of life for us. But then something difficult comes up. Someone's bad attitude. Someone's actions that interferes with us. Or maybe it's a weighty trial, a weighty thing in life. We become frustrated. We become angry. We get into our mind that this is what I need to do. Or this is how I'm going to handle this situation.

And this is when our merge mentality kicks in. We want to tell God in these moments, God, I've done so much for you in these different times, but this is a difficult person. And you have to understand that, you know what? We're here together. Sometimes we're going to run into difficult people. You have to understand that. So therefore, I've got righteous anger right now. So it's okay. And we're telling God, we need a little bit of room, God. Give us a little room so we can merge in with you. Because we work so hard at following your ways, and we make the right decisions, and we work hard at it. But this time, this one's tough. Let me merge with you, God. See where I'm coming from, and understand where I'm coming from, God.

It's the wrong approach. We cannot merge our lives with God. God isn't someone that's on an equal playing ground with us in another car, similar make and model, that understands these rules and says, hey, let's make a little bit of room for somebody. God doesn't work that way. Not when it comes to his or her. Not when it comes to his laws and his commandments for our lives. He says, this is the way. Walk in it. There's no merging with God.

When we yield, we allow someone or something external to us to have control over us at that moment when we yield. Sometimes we yield to sin. We allow sin to be what is controlling us. Other times, we yield to the Holy Spirit. We let it work powerfully in our lives. But this isn't a sometimes I'm in control. Sometimes you're in control God type of mentality. This isn't a I've submitted and I've yielded at times to you. So next time I get to do what I want to do or what I feel I need to do, it's not it. There's never a time in life when we should not want to yield to God. Never. And through the Holy Spirit, we're being tested and led by God and Jesus Christ. As Rudy said, those moments, those moments, God's seen will we yield to Him? Are we going to yield to ourselves? Are we going to yield to the world around us? We're going to yield to Satan. Who are we going to yield to?

This brings me to the yield sign. Just as we do in a construction zone, we have a choice to either obey that yield sign or to not. As I mentioned, we've all seen those people intent on just coming straight on in, ignoring that that yield sign. It's like they have blinders on. They're approaching that intersection and they cannot see any traffic coming in and they're just barreling onto the highway. That yield sign doesn't even do anything because these blinders. At times, we drive through life with those same blinders on. And if we do not obey the yield sign, we may still make it out okay. I've seen people just blow through that yield sign, but you know what? There's no traffic coming. They got onto the highway. No damage done. Nothing happened to them. This can lead to a searing of their mind, searing of their attitude that, hey, I can do this. It doesn't hurt. Nothing bad came out of it. We can sometimes do the same thing with sins, with choices that we make. We don't always reap the penalty that we deserve. We can get our conscience seared to where we repeat the same behavior over and over again because we haven't been hurt. We haven't hurt someone else that we're aware of. But we can do the same thing. It does our response to the fact that what we are doing is dangerous and it's harmful. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, references people that go their own way. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, references people that go their own way. The scripture says, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. A hot iron, darling their sensitivity to whatever they're encountering. It's 1 Timothy 4, verse 1.

When our conscience gets that way, it provides a false sense of security that we can repeat a habit or we can repeat a behavior over and over again. There is no consequence. Just like the driver, we get comfortable blowing through that yield sign, not heating it, until all of a sudden, bam, that accident does occur.

We end up getting clobbered by someone. It's that rude, sudden awakening. We may only injure ourselves, but so many times, other people are injured, damaged, along with us. Those closest to us are even the ones that are sometimes damaged because of our refusal and unwillingness to yield. These are the consequences of our actions. Maybe through life, there are times we don't yield when we know we should. But we can't live with this type of mentality because it's dangerous, it's reckless, and it's sinful for God. So you may think, when do I have blinders on? When do I ignore the yield sign in front of me? But we all have to ask ourselves that same question. Am I really heating and truly yielding to God? This life has a deceptive way of sneaking blinders onto us without us even knowing it. Situations around us influence us, cause us to think differently. We can open our minds to ideas that sound right, that they make sense, but they go against God's instructions. So it's not just about removing the blinders of life when they are revealed to us. It's about maintaining that close relationship with God so that we can have revealed to us those blinders when they do sneak into our lives. I appreciate what Rudy said. This is what is so great about our family here, our spiritual family, that we can nudge each other when we see that one of us has the blinders on. We can talk openly, I hope, because that's what family does. Maybe somebody gets upset and they walk away, but with the Holy Spirit working in their heart, maybe they'll come around and say, you know what, you were right. That was a blinder. I didn't even see it. That's why they're called blinders. Didn't even see it. But that's what's so great about our family, and that's what we should be doing in love, always in love.

I'm going to take down our emergency sign for a moment. Emergency sign for a moment. At this midpoint of the message, let's review five points on what yielding involves in the Christian life. Five points. Nothing new, as Rudy also said. Really appreciated a lot of what he added. If I feel like these messages complement each other, it's nice. So if I reference you too many times, you can just give me that. Okay. But the first point, a heart to obey God. Five points on what yielding involves. A heart to obey God. Let's look at Colossians 3. Colossians 3. And I'll break into the thought in verse 9. You have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. We've put on that new man, not the old. The old is gone. Creeps in from time to time, but we can't forget that we've put on the new. This is that heart that yields and listens and understands. That heart that yields to his instructions and commandments working in our lives. We are working to change out our old heart, that stony heart of man, and replace it with one that will yield and that is sensitive to God. This is what we are working on towards daily in our lives. This type of a heart. A heart that will obey God. The second point. Humility. Humility. As we open our minds more fully to God's words and ways, we continually understand that we don't have all the answers. Our way doesn't work. The only thing that works in our life is when we follow the yield sign that is before us, and we yield to God. It takes humility to yield to someone other than ourselves. We just love to follow the beat of our own drum. As the saying goes, it's my way or the highway. Is that our mentality? At times. But with God, he is the highway. His yield signs must be followed. Let's turn to 1 Peter, verse 5. 1 Peter 5.

We're going to also break into this thought as well. Be submissive to one another and be closed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. He cares for you. God isn't asking us to humble ourselves because he wants to keep his thumb on us. He wants to sit us down and be like, I'm in charge, just follow my ways. That's not the mentality of the loving God that we get to serve. He's asking us to yield because he knows it's what's best for us. He's asking us to humble ourselves because he knows that's the only way that we'll yield. Without that humility, we will just follow and listen to ourselves and our own selfishness and our own pride. He knows we will not listen to anyone else. So he says, have a humble, yielding heart and follow my way. And so we do. Point number three is personal responsibility. Personal responsibility. With personal responsibility comes the understanding that we each have to account for our decisions and actions in life. So what we allow to dominate or control our mind or actions is my responsibility and mine alone. We have understanding that Satan is constantly working to trip us and to tempt us. And we live daily in a world surrounded by Satan's evil influences. It's all around us. But we're instructed to take personal responsibility for ourselves. Like what Rudy brought out, we are the sum of the choices we make. These defining moments that shape and affect our lives. This is our personal responsibility. In Romans 6 13, I'm going to read this scripture from the modern English version. It may differ from your Bibles a little bit. Romans 6 13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. Not yielding towards sin, but yielding ourselves towards God. Doing this takes us to acknowledging that we have a choice to make, and that choice is ours alone. Do I yield to myself? Then I am a slave to my own human nature. Or do I yield to God? And then I'm a servant of the Most High. Because Romans 6 16 says, you are that one slave whom you obey.

Point number four, giving control over to God. Giving control over to God. It's when we reach that point of having a changed heart, realizing we don't have the answers and that we have a personal responsibility. It's at this point we can give control of our lives over to someone else. With our human side working strong inside of us, this is something that's many times easier said than done. We humans like to really be in control of ourselves. And giving that up, giving that control can make us feel uncomfortable. It's not something natural that we want to do. And it can at times even be frustrating to deny ourselves and what we want to do. Yet we willingly yield to external things in our life. We do this every single day. We give control over to things or to people in our lives. We allow people to influence or possibly even control us. We choose to let that happen. We also give control over to pride and selfishness. This leads us to a life of being a slave to ourselves. But we can give control over to the shepherd of our life. Let's read that in John 10. John 10. John 10. We're going to start off at John 10, verse 1.

The shepherd of our life. Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way. The same as a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. They know his voice. We are his sheep and he has control over us. Will you and I let God lead us? Give control of your prayer life over to God, asking him to show you those places in life where you're not yielding, where I'm not yielding. That's an opportunity for us to open that door of relationship with God, saying, you're right, I don't even know. I've got those blinders on. I don't even know when I'm not yielding. Show me those moments. Because if you ask, he'll answer. He always answers. But we have to be willing to give this control over to him. And the fifth point, discipline. Discipline. This is a willingness not to just look at what you need to yield to, but then to physically and spiritually yield to it. It's kind of like when you need to work out, you need to get that exercise in for the day. You just don't feel like doing it. You go to that restaurant and there's a nice piece of pie sitting there in the counter. It really looks good. And you know you haven't ate very well all week, but that pie is staring you right in the face. You want it. It's the same with God.

There are the moments that we have in this life where we get to show if we are going to be disciplined towards food, towards things, or are we going to be disciplined towards God. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God that is a huge benefit in our lives. This power that can prompt us and prompt our thoughts and get our attention, but it won't force us to yield if we refuse to do so. As with everything in life, Jesus Christ gave us the perfect example of discipline. He was and remained a complete control, never wavering on who He was and always yielding to God while He was on this earth. John 6. You can put in your notes. John 6, verse 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. Always Jesus Christ did the will of the Father. Never once did He not. That's discipline. That's discipline. Will you and I practice discipline in our own lives? It takes work to yield our will to God's will for us. But over time, as we yield, and we yield, and we yield again, we begin to develop discipline in our lives. This leads to better decisions down the road, and it leads to better yielding down the road. It's practice. It's work. But on the same vein, what do we do if we yield to our human nature side? And we yield again, and we yield again. We go the opposite direction, getting further from God, getting dolled to the sensitivity that we once had, and then we keep making those decisions, those moments, choosing wrong, because we have decided whatever reason. This is where I want to be. Discipline. Yielding is a process over time, and proper yielding leads to discipline, which leads to growth. That's what we're all shooting for, is that growth. But without discipline, there can be no... You can't go from just yielding one moment to just suddenly you're at growth. Done. It takes yielding, and it takes discipline of yielding over and over and over again. But we get there. We can get there. We can do it. We can get to that point of growth, where it's seen by others, seen by those closest to us, seen by our children. That's a painful one, when it's the other way. The growth is a good one. But it's painful when your children are able to see you haven't been yielding to God as much. But it's beautiful when they see you have. And that's that opportunity that we have. But it takes discipline to get to that moment of growth. There's a story in Joshua. We're kind of staying near about the same time frame. Joshua, let's turn there in Joshua. There's a neat story that many times I read over and didn't even realize what I was truly able to glean from just a few short verses.

Joshua has always had an impact on me. It's a neat story.

I hope if I'm ever put in a position, I can have the faith and the courage that Joshua had. But let's look at Joshua chapter 5 and verse 13. Keep in your mind this concept of yielding as we read through this account. Joshua 5 and verse 13. And it came to pass. Let me back up a little bit and provide some context. This is they've entered the Promised Land. They've crossed the Jordan. And their first major obstacle they're coming up against is the city of Jericho, a walled city.

And the inhabitants have closed themselves in. They've shut the gates. They've lifted the if there was a moat around it. They've lifted the gate. I don't know if there is a moat. They've walled themselves in. They're protected and they're staying as far away from Israel as they can.

And here we find, as we start reading in verse 13, the commander of the army, Joshua, and what is going through his mind and the encounter he has with Jesus Christ. And it comes to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold a man stood opposite of him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went over to him and said to him, are you for us? Are you for our adversary? So he said, no, but as a commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.

And Joshua fell in his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandals off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. For a bit more context, let's flip back to chapter one, and let's read verse five and nine, because this kind of frames why Joshua was able to handle chapter five the way he did.

One of the reasons, but a big reason. Joshua 1 verse five. No man, and this is the Lord, talking and commissioning Joshua to be the leader in the general for Israel. And so this we're breaking into the thought. But verse five, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. And in verse nine, have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This was a promise made to Joshua from the Lord. I'll be with you wherever you go. These promises have been given to us as well. We made a commitment and said through baptism, we'll take door number one, God.

And when we did that, he said, I'm going to be with you forever. It's a promise he gave us. And as long as we keep walking down door number one, we're there with God. So we have the same promise. Let's go back to chapter five and verse 13. And let's look at this in a little bit more under the microscope.

Let's break this down kind of what was Joshua going through. I'm a person who I like to insert myself into other people's shoes because then it introduces a whole bunch of different questions in my mind. Like maybe it's your job and I'm like, how would I do their job? And I like to think through that and it makes me ask questions. I'm putting myself in Joshua's shoes right now and thinking what's going through his mind.

At the very beginning, we find out in verse 13, Joshua's by himself. He's walked away or journeyed away from Israel and he's standing, maybe if you can visualize, at the edge of the woods. He's still in the woods, but he's staring across at Jericho by himself. And he's visualizing this huge walled city and he's thinking, tomorrow we've got to take this city. And he's wondering, how are we going to do this? What's the best approach? There's a saying that many times for a leader, being a leader is like one of the loneliest times of their life.

And he's out here and he's on the edge, maybe, looking at Jericho, thinking, and he came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked. So he was looking down at this moment. Was he meditating? Probably. Was he praying? Probably. Sometimes when I'm in deep in thought and I'm standing and I'm in someplace and there's a rock, I'll start moving it with my foot a little bit as I'm continuing to think, looking down. But Joshua, this had to be going through his mind. Why else would he be by himself? Why else would he be staring at Jericho? But for this reason, and continuing on, and he lifted his eyes and looked and behold a man stood opposite at him with the sword drawn in his hand. I once again visualized what would I have done? What would I do in that situation? A man. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ. So he didn't just come in and portray himself as some like weak guy barely able to pull up the sword. This was a man holding a sword, standing before Joshua. And what does he do? What does he do? And Joshua went to him. He didn't, I mean, he had Israel somewhere behind him. He could have ran back and said, guys, we got to get a group together. There's some big guy with the sword. I don't know what he's doing. He didn't do those things. He didn't need to. Why? Because he was promised that God would always be with him. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or are you for our adversary? Fair question. Very fair question. Because he didn't know that this was the Son of God yet. It hadn't been revealed to him. All he saw was what was looked to be a human before him with a great sword. So he said, are you with us or against us? Because I need to know. Because I got to make a decision here pretty quick. And it says, so he said, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face through the earth and he worshiped him. Joshua knew what yielding meant. He knew the promises that was made to him. And he knew that he could yield to God at every moment of his life and it would be okay. And here at this moment, the commander of Israel is yielding and submitting himself before the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, you are the one that I follow. You are my leader.

And he says to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandals off your foot for the place where you stand as holy. And Joshua did so. He was very obedient, acknowledging yielding to his Lord. And then Jesus Christ goes on and says, about gives instructions on how to take Jericho, what to do. And to us and to others, it might sound a little funny. So we're just going to march around the town for six days and on the seventh, we're going to make it a little bit different. Can't we just maybe do this in one day? I mean, do we need to walk six days? Or how about like at least five? I mean, because they're going to be laughing at us by the fourth time at least. So maybe on the fifth day, we do what we should do on the seventh. There's no banter with Joshua. There's no changing and trying to merge with God. He said, whatever you tell me to do, we're going to go do it. And you know what? It's going to turn out great. He knew that in his heart, it would turn out the way that the Lord said.

At one time in our life, we were sinners and enemies of God. But while we were sinners, Jesus Christ died for us, that we may have our sins wiped clean and no longer be enemies of God but his children. God is great, and his love for us is never ending. And in his love, he desires so strongly that we yield to him and his way of life. And it's not out of control once again or wanting to keep us down that he asks us to yield. It's through love. It's through love that he asks, knowing that if we do, we will live a joy-filled and peaceful life in him. He knows that. And it's in this love that he desires to give us all things. And it's in this love that he looks down on us as a wonderful Father. Let's look in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 paints a neat picture of how God looks at us, how he views us, the importance, how precious we are to him. It's a good reminder as we are yielding and learning to yield and trying to yield why God wants us to yield to him, and how he views us. Do we ask our children to yield to us because we don't love them? That's nonsense. We ask them to yield to us because we love them and we want what's best for them. And because we have this vision, this hope in them. Ephesians 1, and we'll start reading in verse 7.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. And then in verse 13, In him you have also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. This is who we are to God. This is how he views us. It's not some harsh, overbearing parent. He sees the potential. He sees what he wants us to become.

And let's look at Colossians 1, verse 27, because this is another important concept of what God gave up and what Jesus Christ submitted to for us. Colossians 1, verse 27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in us. Through baptism, we committed our lives. And he said, because of that, I'm going to put into you my spirit, which will guide and lead you. Yes, you'll listen to it. We have Jesus Christ living inside of us, working, changing. You put in your notes. Colossians 2, verse 20, another scripture, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This is our elder brother who gave himself for us so that we could be called sons and daughters of God. This isn't that harsh God, as some people have portrayed God to be. Because as we know, the Lord of the Old Testament is the same Lord of the New Testament. This is that loving, always, always loving Father, always loving Son, that wants us to do and achieve great things. We please God by emulating His Son daily in our lives. By emulating His Son, let's look as we close in Philippians 2, verse 5, just a couple pages over. Philippians 2, verse 5.

Verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then skipping down into verse 8.

I have to ask myself that question. Can I, Mike Phelps, yield to that degree? We've got to work there. We've got to work and achieve growth to get to that point. So how do we emulate Jesus Christ? By humbling ourselves and yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.