It’s appointed unto us once to die and after that, the judgment.  But the good thing is that many of us won’t go the way of the grave.  We’re going to be changed in a moment as that trumpet sounds.  And we’ll be changed, the Scripture says, and we’re going to see Him, and we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).  That’s predestined.  But the coming to the likeness of Jesus in this life is through obedience, through our choice to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  So, we have this admonition that’s given to us and that is especially applicable in these last days.  He said, “Those that come to Me—those that come to Me must take up a cross.”  Amen?  Deny ourselves, as Scripture says, and follow Him—a continual, as John the Baptist said, lessening of ourselves and an exaltation and a greater glory in lifting up Him; amen?  John saw it very clearly when he was there in the height of his ministry, and he said, “You all don’t understand; I must decrease, and He must increase.”

So, in each and every one of our lives, that’s the kind of life that we’re being called to—continual conforming into the image of Christ, which means the denying of this self-man and coming to not only pursue but apprehend true Christlike humility.  Humility is a choice to submit our will to the will of the Father.  That’s what humility is.  We look at humility too much and emphasize how we relate to man.  We need to become humble before God (amen?) and recognize His lordship, and recognize that we’re here to do His will, as Jesus said, and fulfill it, the very purpose for which God has called us and baptized us into His body.  He has a will for each and every one of us, a will for each and every one of us to enhance His kingdom through the gifts that He’s given us, through the call that He’s put upon our lives. 

Every one of us is vital to the kingdom of God and to the body of Christ.  Therefore, we have to understand what our calling and gifting is, and whatever it might be, subordinate ourselves to His lordship and be obedient to that call.  We know that our call, in general, as it pertains to the church, is to love and to edify one another, to humble ourselves in how we relate to one another.  And we’ll be talking about that a little bit as Paul gives us some great revelation for the church.  But it’s so vital that at this time and this hour, when the mindset of humanity, especially in our country today, is that creature worship—actually, the worship of self in this generation, which is not only acceptable but promoted.  Your rights—the need of you being recognized and how important what you have to say really is.  We’ve put it off into our children now so that we’ve gotten broken order in our society where children think they have the equal say as to what’s going on and decisions that are being made, questioning adults and questioning authority.  And this general call to you and me to be humble is something that we should embrace, something that we should pursue with all of our hearts.