Who Can Stop The Lord Almighty？ — Shane Idleman

Psalm 9 and the Unstoppable Lord Almighty

Message tonight from Psalm 9. We're back in Psalm 9. The title is, it's perfect with that song, Who Can Stop the Lord Almighty? Who Can Stop the Lord Almighty? If you have your Bibles or your journals, you can turn to Psalm 9.

And I think as Christians, I don't know about you, but I need a reminder often that God is on my side. Sometimes we think He's not necessarily on vacation, but He's not listening to our prayers. He's busy running the universe and He doesn't know what I'm going through.

He doesn't see what's going on in our state or in our nation. But we have to remember that nothing, no one can stop the Lord Almighty. No plans of the enemy, no plans of God can be thwarted. No plans of the enemy will succeed.

Your enemies, when they come against you, different things, God has the final say. And we look at Psalm 9. I will praise you. I think we have the text up there as well. I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart.

And I was just, I just stopped on that verse a lot this week, Monday, Tuesday, and this morning, and reminded myself and even you tonight of our whole heart. Has anyone ever tried to worship God half-heartedly?

How does that work? Maybe partially, maybe give Him an area of our life, but not everything. And we'll try to worship God a little bit, but also hang on to this. And I've got people have bad moods sometimes, or they don't really want to engage God.

But the psalmist declares, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart, even when I don't feel like it. Amen? Even when my feelings aren't lining up. I will praise you with my whole heart. And of course, many of you think of that scripture, as did I, that we need to praise God not only with our whole heart, but to love God with all of our strength, with all of our mind, with all of our heart.

And that really encapsulates everything, because with all of my strength means my energy. Do we give our energy to God? And that's why I want to remind you tonight as well, that the best time to seek God is when your energy is high.

How many of us wait till the end of the day, or when our energy is very low, and we don't have the time, we're just trying to squeeze God in? I think we should give Him that time when our energy is at our highest.

All of our strength, all of our might, all of our mind, our whole heart. I will praise you, God, no matter what I'm going through. I will tell of all of your marvelous works. I will be glad, and I will rejoice in you.

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Now, let me remind you here that this person who wrote this, a lot of these are set to songs, or set to music. A lot of times they had to remind themselves of the goodness of God.

They're being sought after by an enemy, they were being stabbed in the back, they're having difficulties, and even in all of that, they reminded themselves, I will praise you, I will tell people of your marvelous works.

But the tendency for many of us is to become critical and bitter during difficulties. Have you ever been there? Don't leave me hanging. Just me? No? Come on, every head in this room should be shaking and saying.

We have a tendency sometimes to get bitter, and angry, and when we're supposed to rejoice in the Lord. And I've had people tell me, well, Shane, I can't fake it. If I'm mad, or I'm bitter at God, I can't just fake it.

And there's some truth in that, but there's also some truth in, yes, you can. Not fake it, but you can tell your spirit to rejoice in who God is, and what God is doing in your life. You don't have to get caught up on bitterness, and anger, and I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

So in a nutshell, we will bless His name even when the world is silent. We will bless His name even when Christians are silent. Is that something frustrating you today, or is that just me, that it seems to be the M .O., modus operandus of many Christians, is to just remain silent, and kind of just go with the flow, and let society kind of tell us what to do.

Let the government push certain things on us, and just be quiet, and turn the other cheek. But we will bless His name even when the world is silent. And on this issue of my whole heart, a divided heart cannot really praise and worship God.

So if there's a division in your heart, that division can be from sin, besetting sin. It can be from anger, or bitterness, or unforgiveness. And when we hold these things in, we can't really worship. That's why many people worship God as if they have handcuffs on.

Now, you know, if you don't feel like praising and lifting, I'm not talking about that, but there's a handcuffs on our emotions often. There's handcuffs on our arms, and we just were handcuffed because of besetting sin, and our whole heart is not engaged with God.

Have you ever walked with God closely, and your whole heart was engaged, and then you've drifted from Him and tried to worship? Big difference. It's the difference between night and day. And I've noticed that telling God, or telling others of God's marvelous works, help us rejoice in who He is.

Reminding our kids of how good God is. Reminding our spouse how good God is. Reminding ourselves how good God is. And it really is a choice, is it not? I will be glad, and I will rejoice in God. It is a choice.

Every person is hit with a challenge. We're hit with attacks from the enemy. We're hit from obstacles in life. But it's a choice, God. I will look past this. I will look through this, and I will magnify your name.

I will lift you up. I will rejoice in you. Remember, you tell your feelings what to do. They don't have to tell you what to do. And it's very important that we understand this, because this is where you tilt the scale back in the direction of worshiping and honoring God.

A man by the name of BP Power said this, Who knows so much of the marvelous works of God as His own people? If they be silent, how can we expect the world to see what He has done? So if God's people are silent, how can we expect the world to know what God has done?

Marvelous Works and the Image of God

And it's interesting, too, on this issue of marvelous works, I could have spent the whole sermon on this. I started to uncover many interesting things about how God has designed us, has designed the universe.

But let me just show you a few here. Did you know if you were to put all of the DNA molecules in your body end to end, which is these little DNA molecules, if you were to put them end to end, the DNA would reach from the earth to the Sun and back 600 times.

And I had to check that on a few different websites, a few different NASA, you know, not NASA, but biochemists and different things. And expands our, you know, some gave different examples, not just to the Sun and back, but expand within our galaxy.

How far that would stretch. And how wonderfully and masterfully you are made. And I think it's good to remind ourselves sometimes of that, that we are made in God's image. Can you imagine getting that into the hearts of young adults, telling them or homeless people or anyone that you are actually made in the image of God?

What you do with that, granted is up to you, but that should build a lot of confidence in created in God's image. So don't let the world beat you up. Don't let atheism or evolution sidetrack you. Remember who you are in God.

And as I was reading there, many of these sites are obviously are evolutionary type sites. They promote evolution. And they said, we share the same DNA with mudworms. Did you know that? And also cabbage.

And my favorite, chimpanzees. And they say, see, 98 chimpanzee DNA is in us. And see, a lot of our DNA is shared with mudworms. We must have all evolved from that. And to me, it actually would make sense more for a creator, because he's using the same type of life-giving deoxyribonucleic acid, right?

DNA. He's using the same type to create different things. Like when I give my kids, here's Legos, my son's gonna build a fort, my daughter's gonna build a Barbie house. Same building block. So it shouldn't surprise us that we share DNA, the life of the human body, the amino acids and different things, with different parts of creation, because God breathed life into all those things.

I wouldn't expect to see a completely different DNA from a chimpanzee, and we are completely different order, because that life comes from that DNA that God has produced. And from that, he would make and create different things.

And that's why man, though, is different. Do you know what makes us different than all other created things? It's the ability to reason, and to love, and to have emotion, and to communicate the way we do.

There's something that God took man, above all of his creation, and put in him the breath of life. God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul, and he began to think like God created him to think.

The mind is incredible. Have you ever studied neuroplasticity, or read on how the mind works? The memory, and how it can focus with the eyes? I mean, it's just mind-blowing how all of this can just work together to form who and what we are.

Let alone a baby. A baby. A husband and wife come together, and here's this little something, this little tiny life, and it begins to grow. And the heart, and the lungs, and the kidneys, and they're all working together, and the air is coming through the umbilical cord, and the nutrients, and how could all that just happen?

By random chance. That takes a lot of faith. Tell an atheist this, they'll love you for it. You actually have a lot more faith than I do. What do you mean? You believe that all this just happened. That takes a lot of faith, sir.

And atheism is a religion. It really is. A religion is a set of beliefs that a person uses to guide their life. They believe a certain way. So atheism is a religion that believes and rejects God. I don't know why I went on that rabbit trail, but hopefully it's worth something.

Also, the Smithsonian Institution noted this in a recent article, when a giraffe starts chewing acacia leaves, the tree notices the injury, and it emits a distress signal in the form of ethanol gas. And upon detecting this gas, neighboring trees start pumping toxins into their leaves.

This is all real. And again, I checked, I double and triple checked a lot of this stuff. I went to Snoop's. Is that what it's pronounced? Snoop's? Snoop's? Snoop's? Yeah, I don't know. I've heard both ways.

And like that, our DNA can't be 600. What is this? And sure enough, you find a lot of this is legitimate, that the way God created us, these living, even trees can communicate. Now, it doesn't mean God's in the trees, and we're not new age, but it does mean that God, this wonderful creation, I will, Christians of all people should exalt his marvelous name.

We should look at creation and say, oh, my God has done this. My God has. And we should be involved in apologetics. We should be involved in biochemistry. We should be involved in biology. We should be astronomers in all walks of life.

NASA, wherever we can, and see his marvelous works. And then verse 3. So again, reminder, who can stop the Lord Almighty? When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence. For you have maintained my right and my cause.

You have sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. Amen? I cannot wait until that day. However, this was written many, probably close to 3 ,000 years ago.

And it's the word of God is living and active. What was true 3 ,000 years ago or 2 ,000 years ago is the same today. It's living and active. This is a very important principle that you must remember. When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence.

We all have enemies. And when enemies fall back, what is that a sign of? Victory or defeat? They fall back. So the enemies come against the Christian. They come against the believer. They are coming. As soon as you understand that, life will make a lot more sense.

When I first started in ministry, I told my, where did all these enemies come from? Well, I thought I was in the center of God's will. This is ridiculous. All these people hate me. Oh, wait a minute. That's a sure sign, maybe, that you're doing something for God's kingdom.

When I was in my 20s living like hell, not too many people were against me. A lot of people praying for me. But I wasn't upsetting hell. The devil didn't care. I was on his team. But once you start doing things for God, have you ever noticed that?

You start to start a ministry or you start to get involved. Okay, Lord, I'm gonna turn off my TV and I'm gonna fast and seek you every morning for three or four hours. Watch out. Prepare. Get ready. Because the enemy is gonna come in and try to sidestep that.

God's Presence as Defense Against the Enemy

So enemies falling back is a sign of defeat. And God, here's what I love, God's presence always disarms them. Always disarms them. You will not see a powerful worship service where demonic demons can come in and ruin it or come in and take charge.

They flee when God's presence is there. You can't have both things. You can't have the demonic influence and God's presence right there and just kind of competing. God's presence drives them out in the same way when you flip on the light in the room.

Are the light and the darkness competing? Oh, it was kind of light. Now it's kind of dark. Oh, what's going on? The lights. But now the darkness is coming back in. They're pushing against each other. No, the light goes.

When you turn on the light, that's it. The darkness flees. And it's the same in our lives. God's presence disarms them. And some people might not understand the dynamics of this, but I tell people often, I was just at a lady's house up the street that I've been wanting to visit for a while and her husband, and they had worship music on.

You can tell the difference, can't you, when you walk in? You can tell the difference when you walk in in a place that's playing worship music. I walk in, sometimes I drop off mail at a post office and they've got worship music on.

And you walk in somewhere else and they've got hard rock on. And you can tell there's a difference. And God's presence, when you put on worship and you begin to praise God and worship God, that disarms the enemy.

It's usually when we're not worshiping, when we're out of the Word, when we're drifting, that we become easy targets. Because we're in that environment where the enemy can work a lot more adamantly. God is our defense.

Did you see what he said here? God is our defense in a right cause. In a right cause. So what does he mean by that? Well, God is your defense, but make sure the cause is right. Because a lot of people think that, I think it was Abraham Lincoln asked about, you know, Republican, Democrats, and different things.

But he said, I'm not concerned with God on our side. I want to be on God's side. I want to make sure I'm on God's side. God is the defense in a right cause. So many people, even the gay mayor who's running for president, he's using Matthew.

And this campaign trail, using Matthew to support what they're doing. And then the other person running, Elizabeth Warren, said she's gonna wear a Planned Parenthood scarf around her neck at her inauguration.

I'm just venting. So God is our defense in a right cause. But you know, let me vent for just a minute. How did we get where we are today, where there's actually people considering being considered for the highest office in our land that are okay with slaughtering children?

It just shows you how far we have drifted. Delete my sermons. Ban them. I don't care. We have to speak the truth. We have to. We have to. When the enemy comes in like a flood, we raise up a standard against him.

The enemy is coming in, and the enemy will fall back. That is a sign of defeat. God is our defense in a right cause. Many people think he's their defense in a wrong cause, not living according to God's Word.

But when you have the Word of God backing you, you're going in a spirit of humility and gentleness, yet boldness, you know that God is behind your cause, because it lines up with His Word. So you don't have to worry, oh, I wonder what God thinks of my Lord and God's will.

Are you doing the heart of God? Are you helping others? And are you doing it with the right spirit? Because God is your defense in a right cause. He rebukes the nations and destroys the wicked. And then verse 6, O enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities.

Even their memory has perished. Even the memory of the enemies. God would tell prophets in the Old Testament, I will blot them out forever. And guess what He did? He would blot out nations, whole tribes of people, and cities, and different things.

O enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities. What happened with Sodom and Gomorrah? Destroyed those cities. Even their memory has perished, but the Lord shall endure forever.

He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the people in unrighteousness. So the enemy's plans do come to an end. Let me encourage you tonight.

Are you going through something difficult? This too shall, finish the rest, this too shall come to pass. I've never seen God allow the enemy to continually harass a person. I mean, if a person's caught in addiction, besetting sin, they keep that door open, that can be a long battle.

But if it's an enemy coming in and trying to cause havoc, their time is limited. They cannot continue to harass and continue to bring in possibly sickness, or different things, or depression, or anxiety.

Their days are numbered. God sets that number. The enemy's plans do come to an end. There is destruction in our path and in our past, but God will still see you through, and He will judge the world in righteousness.

And what I mean by that, there is destruction from our past. We've made choices that we're probably not happy with, but the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared His throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness, judge them the right way.

I like what Henry Smith said. He said, the silly sheep, that would be us, right? When she is taken, will not cry out, but you may carry her and do whatever you will with her, and she will be submissive.

But the swine, the pig, if she be taken, she will roar, and she will cry, she will squeal. Any of you work the farm, you've seen this. Do pigs like to be taken anywhere? Not at all, because they know they're going to be slain.

In the same way, the guilty conscience cannot abide to hear of this day, for they know that they will hear of it. They hear of their own condemnation. See, as the Word of God is pushed even more, that's why the enemies are upset.

That's why there's civil unrest, because they know their days are numbered. When they see the light of the Gospel coming in, that darkness gets even more irritated and more belligerent and more perverse, and they try to fight and fight and fight against God.

When they know their days are numbered, they start to increase that oppression. And this is why I believe there's so much civil unrest. Many of you who are a little bit older, do we live in the same America we did 30 years ago?

It's unbelievable. From fake news to lying and scheming and different things, it's just amazing. And I believe as the days are ramping up, and civil unrest is ramping up, that they know that their days are numbered.

Last-Days Wickedness and God's Sovereignty

Wickedness will abound. It talks about, especially in the last days. That verse, I just I hate reading that verse because it's so true, and it's scary, that the day will come, in the last days, they will be lovers of themselves.

Boastful, arrogant, stiff-necked, lovers of pleasure, not lovers of God. Are we seeing that today? Disobedient to parents? Have you ever seen a time where kids are so disobedient, so destructive, so bent on getting their own way?

And they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. And we see this manifesting itself in our own times. But I know you might not believe this, but I mean, of course I get discouraged like all of you, but I also get very encouraged when I understand that God's not concerned with statistics.

He's not concerned with the majority. He's concerned with the silent minority waking up and seeking God again with all their heart, with all their strength. He can bring revival. He can bring awakening.

He can do more through one person than all of the devil's agenda put together. God is still on the throne. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Think for that in a minute. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Can the enemy ruin your marriage?

And I've asked people, they say, yeah, he can. No, he can't. The enemy cannot ruin your marriage. All he does is present the bait. He cannot ruin anything. Well, I'm gonna walk away from God. I feel myself drifting.

The enemy says, no, he's not. He entices. He allures. That's where the word fishing lure comes from. Lure to allure. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? That's why I preach so hard in this church about holiness and being humble and being broken.

And we offer morning worships and evening services and prayer times. That's how you stay in God's fence. That's how you stand under his umbrella of safety and protection. Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Did you know that you, living according to God's Word, obeying God's Word, being filled with the Spirit. Again, not perfectly. I really want to get that point across because people think sometimes I talk about moral perfectionism.

Boy, the way you preach, you think people should just live perfectly. Then I don't think you've listened to enough sermons because I do not say that. However, we need to raise our standard and we'll see what the Bible says.

The Bible has a lot to say about living that Spirit-filled life, obeying God's Word, and being broken and humble. And when you do that, you have the Lord God Almighty on your side. And so that goes back to the sermon title.

The Holy Spirit's Power in Believers

Who can stop the Lord Almighty in you? Do you realize how much strength you have in you with Jesus working in you? The Bible actually says this blows the mind of many people once they realize it. The same Holy Spirit, the same power that rose Christ from the dead is in the believer.

Just chew on that for a minute. The same Holy Spirit that allowed Christ to rise from the dead, that same power is in the believer. So we don't have to be defeated. We don't have to cower back. We don't have to live anxious.

We don't have to live fearful. I mean, so many Christians are fearful. I mean, there's not a day I don't go on Facebook that somebody's not moving out of California because they are fearful. Now granted, I'm all for protecting your family.

I'm all for a better life. I got it. But you better make sure you're in God's will. You better make sure you're in God's will. I would rather plant a church in East LA in God's will than move because of fear.

Honestly. I know it's difficult. I know it's challenging. I know it's hard to live in this culture. But we're called to actually fight, not flee. Can you show me one verse where it says we're to flee?

Sometimes. I mean, Jesus said flee when that day comes. Matthew talks about the sign of the times and fleeing certain cities if there's the enemies coming against you and different things. I mean, sometimes it's okay.

Jesus actually would slip through the crowd and flee a little bit. His time had not yet come. He would get away. He's sneaky. He's good. So there's a time, I understand, you know, when people say that there's a time to get out of here.

I understand that, but make sure it's according to God's will. We're called to fight and not to flee. The Lord also be a refuge for the oppressed. Are you oppressed this evening? Do you know what that means?

Let me tell you. Subject to harsh treatment. Are you subject to harsh treatment? Maybe at your work? Maybe in your marriage? You know, that's pretty common nowadays. Harsh treatment in marriage and harsh treatment in work, in the workplace.

So he's a refuge for the oppressed. And I was reading commentaries. Interesting, I didn't know this, that many times, especially back in the time of Jesus or even before that, Egypt. Remember when the plague came of the lice and different gnats and different things?

People actually go up in a high tower above where those little bugs could fly to escape that harassment. Now maybe you understand more. He is my strong tower. He is our refuge in time of harassment. So there is, the Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed and a refuge in times of trouble.

Finding Refuge in God Through Prayer and His Word

Now this word trouble, if you look it up, and this is of course written in the Hebrew language, it means distress, anxiety, discord. Anybody have discord in their homes? This is a good service tonight.

Nobody has, man, why do we even need church tonight? You guys are set. I know, I know, I know. Distress, anxiety, discord in our homes, discord in our life. There's unrest. There's challenges. So it's amazing.

When we turn to God, but remember what did we say before? I will sing praises. I will tell of your marvelous works. I will rejoice in you. I will do it with my whole heart. As a result, the enemies will flee and the Lord will be a refuge for those who are subject to harsh treatment.

He will be a refuge for those who are going through distress and anxiety and discord and restlessness and challenges. He will be, how do you do that? You run to it. You run to the fountain of life. You run to the tower.

You run to the rock that is Jesus Christ. How? By your prayer time, studying the Bible, in worship, all the things we talk about. It's practical application. You run to Christ. And have you ever noticed when you run to Him and you remove all the distractions and you begin to get into the Word how it literally changes your thinking?

And you begin to be built up again and encouraged again? So the Lord will be all of this to those who seek Him with all of their heart. And those who know your name, those who truly know your name, this name know or this word know is not like you would know someone, just know of someone.

It actually talks about when Adam knew his wife. There's a relationship there. So those who truly have a relationship with God, they put their trust in Him. For you Lord have not forsaken those who seek you.

Maybe you need to hear that tonight. The Lord has not forsaken those who seek Him. Are you seeking Him tonight? So those who know your name will put their trust in you. He will not forsake those who seek Him.

And that seek, remember, I don't want to go over this again, but it's a strong word that means God, you're seeking God as the priority. Not the media, not the job, not this, not this. God becomes the priority and you're seeking Him with all your heart, with all your strength.

That person He will not forsake. Then verse 11, sing praises to the Lord. Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Declare His deeds among the people. When He avenges blood, He remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble.

The Cry of the Humble and God's Mercy

Oh my goodness, the cry of the humble. Have you ever read this in the Bible? He does not forget the cry of the proud. What's the difference? The proud cries out because he's been caught, or the proud cries out, God, you show them.

Avenge me. The cry of the humble is like Jesus talked about the man who beat his chest and said, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Have mercy on me, a sinner. And he hears the cry of the humble. So even if you're going through something tonight, or going through a family situation, or different dynamics, he hears the cry of the humble.

It does not mean you get an answer necessarily. But just, I don't know, call me strange, but just knowing that God hears my cry, I don't always have to hear yes or no. If I know He hears me, I know He's listening.

I know His sovereignty is in control. I know, I know that He will see me through. I know He's there for me. I know like a dad not answering their child, son, daughter, I can't tell you yet. I'm here for you though, I'm right here.

So just knowing that He hears my cry, hears my prayer, that gives me a lot of comfort. A lot of comfort. And I've learned over the years, I know some of you have too if you've been a Christian for a while, that we thank God for unanswered prayers.

Amen? Some of you would be sitting by a different spouse if God did not, if God answered every prayer. Come on, let's get real here. Isn't that amazing of God? We pray certain things and God says, no, I know that's not best for you.

I'm not going to answer that prayer versus giving us what we want. So He does not forget the cry of the humble. And we just read, declare what God has done for you. I think we need to do that more often, including myself.

Declare what God has done for you. And you know why the majority of people don't? They're embarrassed. We'll tell people about a good movie we saw. But often we don't declare what God has done for us.

Even somebody, you can tell somebody in need, hey, can I pray with you? Do you need anything? Let me tell you what God has done for me. Sometimes that's all they need to hear, is that encouragement. Look at what God has done for me.

And I feel that's a part of our ministry as Christians, is we tell people, look, God will get you through. Look, here's what He's done for me. We declare His marvelous works. But I want to just highlight this area, the cry of the humble.

This might help. What does humble mean? It means to take a lower position. It means to go down, not up. To take a lower position. Others are more important. How you doing in that area? Usually it's about me, me, me, right?

Others are more important when you're humble. I remember just, Morgan won't care if I tell this joke because it happens, or not story, it happens sometimes. I mean, I spent 30 minutes making this nice salad for me, and she decides to eat half of it.

But is that the right attitude? It's like, Lord, help me. I should just be making salad. I just, I mean, you know, one with everything on it. You spend a lot of time chopping everything up. Or my kids, they just grab things like, where's that?

Where's that? Where's that? They ate it. It's about me. So that humble position, that humble position, putting others first. And this has to be supernatural. It does not come naturally. Selfishness comes naturally.

So you have to say, okay, Lord, help. And often to develop humility, you will be challenged in this very area. God will put you in humbling situations to humble you. That's how it works. You don't, I don't know if, have you ever woken, woke up from sleep and you said, I am so humble today.

Man, God really did a work last night while I was sleeping. Let me tell you, wife, my husband, I'm so humble. No, it's usually the crushing of life and the thinking, you know, you're not all that. You get humbled and maybe you think a great, you know, something about yourself and somebody says something, it kind of humbles you.

Or you think you've got this great marriage and you find out something's happening and it humbles you. Or you have, I think God uses our kids to keep us humble. Kids ever embarrass you? No? A few people, okay.

Smiling, I guess, means yes. But that doesn't humble you. Especially if you have pastor's kids, then you're under the microscope. They're watching every little thing your kids do. And then when they don't do something right or they act out, it humbles you.

And God uses humbling situations to keep us in that point of just humility. And then also, I like this part, it means respectful. It means gracious. It means teachable. To have a listening ear. Isn't that beautiful?

Do you desire that more? I sure do. To just be respectful and gracious and teachable and a listening ear. Maybe we can get this portion of Washington. Everybody running for office. Wouldn't that be nice?

Could we just be respectful and gracious and loving and teachable? That's what humility is. And God blesses the humble. He actually fights. Do you know God fights against those who are proud? He resists the proud.

And God resists you. That's fighting. He resists the proud, but he'll give grace to the humble. He'll actually give that person grace. He'll let them maybe slip up in a way, and he'll show them grace where another person, he would allow their sin to expose them and resist them because they're proud.