Humility Over Pride | Pastor Steve Smothermon

[Applause] Listen, we're in a series that we titled "Choose Your Virtue." Today, it's Pride or Humility. I'm endeavoring today to go through this message and define what pride is, why it's not healthy, and what humility is, and why it is healthy.

Today, we stand at a crossroads to discuss two divergent paths: pride and humility. The world often celebrates the former and overlooks the latter. However, we as followers of Christ are called to choose humility over pride. If you would, First Peter chapter 5, verses 5 through 11. The Bible says, "Likewise, you younger people," how many are younger people in here? How many identify as younger? I'm gonna put my hand up. "Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and I love this, and be clothed 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. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your Brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and the Dominion forever and ever. Amen."

We live in an era where pride has become an infectious disease, an emblem of defiance and self-righteousness. It has become the rallying cry for many movements, a high virtue of what some call the "woke mob." Pride, now more than ever, is insidious. It crawls into the fabric of our society, seeping into the cracks and creating division. It celebrates self above others, encourages entitlement, and undermines empathy and understanding.

Now, I'm going to define what "woke mob" means, because if you consider yourself woke, you've missed God. You're in defiance of God. And there are a lot of woke churches out there. I hear it all the time, "That's a woke pastor." That's what, you know, what they're saying is they preach nothing, they stand for nothing, because they're fear, "Well, we just don't want to hurt anybody." Or if anybody, listen, if the word of God is not being preached, you will not change. If it's being watered down, it's not the word of God. And if you want change in your life, if you want God to really deal with you, you've got to hear the word. And you know, thank God, in July 4th, we kicked out Pride Month. But isn't it interesting, even the homosexual group, the Alphabet Mafia, they call their month, and why they get a month is beyond me, Pride Month. That means here's what it means, here's what they're saying: anti-God month, because that's what pride is, it's anti-God. And you can get all hurt and whatever, because my family, my kids, whatever, and my heart goes out to you. But listen, the truth is still the truth, regardless of what our families do. And we've got to come to a place where we realize that this stuff is just hurting people, hurting our kids.

When we refer to the "woke mob," it's individuals that aggressively advocate for social justice causes to the extent of suppressing differing viewpoints or engaging in cancel culture. You see it all the time. If you stand up against abortion, you can be canceled. Like, I don't care, cancel me. There's a preacher across town that some of their people told me that he preached a message they thought I was pretty good, and he said, "Well, I won't post this because I don't want to be canceled." Like, who cares, dude? Like, really? And people sit under that. I don't get it. It just nauseates me because the gospel is the gospel. Why should I ever be ashamed of that? And the woke mob, they just don't want to say they're for things. They want to be against everybody who's not with them. That's the difference. If you don't agree, you're a hater. You're a homophobe. No, you know, now they have transphobic. And I'm like, you just keep making up words. But no one will address my word, "normophobe." And I, I don't get it. I'm like, if you're gonna make up words, I can make up words. And so what they try to do is shame us into agreeing with them. And if you don't, then you're evil, and you're awful, and you don't get it, and you don't care. Which is the opposite. I do care. That's why we take stands to give you hope, to change your life forever. But the Alphabet Mafia, man, they're aggressive. They don't care about you. They want to silence free speech. They are politically correct folks. And listen, if you want political correctness, this isn't the place to be. I'm biblically correct, but I will never be politically correct. Whatever the world terms is acceptable, that's okay. But they tell you there are things you cannot say. But we, on the other hand, need to be biblically correct, and that's a very different thing.

Pride destroys everything. Pride is anti-God. People say, "You know, I'm proud. I'm just so prideful to be part of the church." What we should say is, "I'm honored to be part of the church." We cannot, we cannot let pride get in us because it destroys everything. C.S. Lewis called pride the great sin. I'm reading from a portion of his book. Lewis said, "According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and chastity" – we don't use that word today, but it means sexual immorality – "anger, greed, and drunkenness are all that. With all that are mere flea bites in comparison to pride." In the church world today, those are the things we want to deal with. We want to deal with those sins and those sins only. That's all that's what we want to deal with. But we don't deal with pride enough, and pride's worse than all of them.

You know, as I've been going through the Bible, and I try to listen to it every day and go through it in a year, and sometimes I read, sometimes I listen to what I'm doing. And as I listened, and I've listened to it a bunch of times, but you know how when you keep hearing and hearing that something sticks out to you? And the thing that I've noticed when God talked about all the kings that were there for a year, nine years, two years, months, and he would look at them and say, "The anger of the Lord is kindled against you," in only one area. Not because they sinned, not because they got drunk, not because they said something or did something they shouldn't have did. It's when they worshiped something other than God. And he said, "My anger's kindled against you because you didn't tear down the high places." What were the high places? That's where they worshiped Baal, and Molech, and Asherah, and that's where the male prostitutes were. And he said, "You didn't tear down those those thrones and those altars." In fact, there were some kings that sacrificed their own sons on the altar of Baal. And he said, "My anger's kindled against you because of the evil you do." Folks, you can make a lot of mistakes in life, and we all will. But if you start worshiping something other than God, that's when you're in trouble. He can forgive everything. But these kings would not. And I said, "God, of all the things we could do, that's the thing you said that your anger came against them, that they did evil in your sight because they worshiped another God." And the god that we worship in America today is the god of self. Everybody is about themselves. I see it every day. Even when people drive, you see it. People come up behind you, they won't move over, they won't get over. They just, they think it's their right just to slow you down. I, I, me, I'll move over. I'll let anybody pass. I'll go on the side of the road to pass. But some people, it's like, "Pride, none are passing me." Well, get your behind out of the way. And the left lane is for the fast drivers. It's for passing, not cruising. I'm just saying. But to me, I tell my wife all the time, people, people aren't even considerate that way. Like, just move over. You see them coming. It's like they slow down on purpose. Like, you, you, we need to regulate everybody's speed. I'm serious. I watch it in every aspect of life. I watch kids walk into stores and older people coming up, and women, and they won't, they don't even care. They don't even notice them. They don't even see them. They just walk through the door and let it close right in front of them. If I did that as a kid, oh man, there'd be hell to pay at home. My mom would be like, "What did you do, boy? You better go get that door. You better apologize." We could not do that. But you know why? You know why it's like that today? Because we're all consumed with the evil of serving self. That's why some of you feel entitled. That's why some of you are like, "Well, you know, someone needs to give me something." No, go, go work for something. If you're able-bodied, go to work. We have people with disabilities on our staff that work their tails off, and people who are able, they don't do anything. You were made to work. God called you to work. I'm preaching a little bit today.

Oh, it was through pride going on with C.S. Lewis that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind. It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Pride brings us into opposition with God. But humility is the answer to pride. And the Bible says we are to put on humility. We are to put it on. Pride acts like an invisible chain, bringing us and preventing us from reaching our full potential in Christ. It keeps us from celebrating the success of others, as our focus is solely on our own triumphs. It breeds jealousy and resentment, driving a wedge between us and our fellow brothers and sisters. Constantly, pride also prevents us from admitting when we are wrong. It holds us hostage to our mistakes, not allowing us to seek forgiveness or to admit we were wrong. Why? Because it feels like a blow to our self-worth. If I ever admit I'm wrong, does anybody know here any people that can't ever admit they're wrong? Anybody know people like that? How many? I'll enjoy them. I can't. It's just hard. Like, just say you're sorry. Just, you're wrong. "I'm not wrong." Yeah, you're wrong. And being wrong, you're wrong. And not being wrong, you're wrong. But in truth, it's in acknowledging our faults where we find growth and grace.

In the quest for validation and approval, pride can make us overly critical of ourselves and others. It can lead us to compare our lives with those around us, setting unrealistic expectations and resulting in feelings of inadequacy or superiority. But what does the word of God tell us about pride? Proverbs 16:18 states, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Pride, in essence, sets us up for failure. It blinds us, distorts our judgment, and eventually leads us to a path of self-destruction.

Conversely, humility, often seen as weakness in our society, is a virtue celebrated in the Bible. It's the antidote to the destructive power of pride. You know, when I was younger and going to church and being around people, I would get around certain people, and there would be some guy somewhere, and he would talk like this, literally. He would talk like, "Hey, how you doing?" Shake your hand like a fair, you know, like. And then I would look as a young man, and people would say, "Isn't he so humble?" And I'm like, "That's what humbleness is? I gotta talk weird and shake hands weird? I gotta just be mellow, milk toast, stand for nothing, say nothing?" And he's so humble. He just, he just never says anything. He never stands for him. He just. And he talked like, "Hey, how you doing today?" Seriously. And I used to thank God, if that's humble, I, that's weird to me. I'm not, I don't want to be weird. But see, that's how people think humbleness is. When you say nothing, do nothing. And really, that's a false humility. That's weakness. That's being afraid. He never says, never rocks the boat. And he talks in this voice. What about people that talk in this voice? "Hey, how you doing? I'm here." And then I learned, like this, humbleness is being teachable. Humbleness is being able to admit when you're wrong. Humbleness is repenting when you blow it with God and coming back to him. That's what humbleness is. Having a firm handshake. This young man on the front row, president, he's got a great handshake. In fact, he kind of scares me. Like, man, he's getting stronger, bigger. These guys, we need to understand, folks, humbleness is not being weak or wimpy. I love the T-shirt, "Saved, Not Soft." And that goes for women too. We can be saved. It doesn't mean we're soft. You have to talk in this weird voice and do your eyes weird, like God's in the blink of a bunch. It's like, stop it.

But it's true. But that's how we think humbleness is. That's why men don't want to be humble. They're like, "Oh, I'm not humble." It's okay to be humble and still be a man, still be strong. Ladies, it's okay. Take a stand for what's right. God calls us to be humble, to consider others before ourselves. When we choose humility, we choose to let go of our egos, our self-importance, and our need to be right. We allow ourselves to be vulnerable at times, to apologize when we're wrong, to celebrate the success of others, and to seek God's wisdom above our own. Choosing humility doesn't mean that we think less of ourselves. I love this statement: it doesn't mean we think less of ourselves, but we think of ourselves less. We begin to see others as God sees them, as equals, worthy of love and respect. We become open to correction, eager to learn, and ready to serve. When we humble ourselves before God, we allow him to lead us, to shape us, and to use us for his purpose. As our scripture today reminds us, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. He promises to lift us up in due time if we humble ourselves under his mighty hand. Humility allows us to cast all our all our anxiety on him because we acknowledge that he cares for us. It enables us to navigate the challenges of life with grace, secure in the knowledge that our worth comes from God and not from worldly accolades. That's what it is.

My son was preaching over there, and I thought he did an incredible job. And I know him, his dad, but I mean, he's just a great speaker, great preacher. And he talked about something that I'd forgot about when he was younger and playing basketball for a certain guy that I thought was very unfair. I still have a problem with him to this day. And my son would be frustrated and angry. And one day I looked at him and I said, "Stevie, for a lot of these guys, this is the highlight of their life, their high school career. But for you, the highlights are yet to come. You, this won't be your highlight." I know. I went to a 10-year anniversary, you know, class reunion one time, only the one I went to. And I walked up, and there were some of my friends that I thought, man, we're not 18 anymore, dude. We're 30. And they kept, if I didn't know better, I think they're still in high school. For some of us, that was our best days and our worst days. But man, tomorrow could be the highlight of your life. When I got saved was a highlight. Whatever I did in high school that was crazy, but I got to say, that's a highlight. And I got married. When I had kids, when I have grandkids, those are highlights to me. Life is bigger than just me getting everything I want. And that's what a humble heart does. You learn to appreciate what you have, even if you don't have much. You appreciate that because God can turn that into more if you honor him with whatever you have by being humble.

[Applause] Being humble. I said this, pride brings us into opposition with God. Humility is the answer to pride. We are to put on. The Bible says, "Clothe yourselves with humility." Just like teams wear uniforms or jerseys, so you know, and why they wear them, so you know which team they're on. We are to clothe ourselves with humility. And how you clothe yourself tells everyone what team you're on. Years ago, Chris Archuleta gave me some tickets to the Cowboys game. I think they were playing the Giants. Oh, no, Romo was the quarterback. And in that game, I'll never forget, we're sitting in the, he's got to have great seats. We're sitting watching the game. And all the fans that are Cowboy fans started yelling at him, "Romo, we're wearing white today!" I think he threw four or five interceptions. And the other team, remember, and they kept saying, "We're wearing white." Thought to the guys wearing white. When was he telling? They were telling them, "Our team wears white. Quit throwing it to the blue team." I think he completed more passes with them than he did with our team. Because even fans know the jersey represents what team you like. There was a young lady come up for prayer in the first service. She walked by me, and I looked at her. I said, "She's wearing a 40-whiner jersey." I mean, the 49ers are the devil. I mean, even the colors are demon red. You know, Cowboys now, they're blue sky stars. You're looking up. And you Bronco guys are okay because we need something to ride. As Cowboys, like, come on.

[Applause] But, but what I'm saying. [Applause] Bless your heart. You guys barely. You guys don't. You've worse than the Cowboys. But anyway, but what I'm saying is, by the jersey you put on, or wear around, you don't worry. If you're a 49er fan, you're not wearing a Cowboy jersey. And if you're a real Cowboy fan, you can't stand the 49ers. You know, I lost a bet and had to wear one, and my skin still hasn't been right. But what I'm saying is, you wear the jersey of the team you're on or that you like. And God says the jersey you need to put on for him, because you need to clothe yourself with humility, so everybody knows whose team you're on. And that's why he says, "Clothe yourself with humility." Wearing pride, if you, if you wear pride, you are wearing the uniform of the losing team. No one likes to lose. The team that's playing against God. And when you put on pride, you wear pride, you have the Creator of the universe actively working against you. That's why he says he resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. That means he's actively pushing you away. You keep coming, he's like, "No, you're prideful. You're wearing the uniform of pride. I can't have that." And he actively resists you. But he gives grace, things that we don't deserve, power we don't deserve, strength we don't deserve, to those who will clothe themselves with humility.

When you, when we clothe ourselves in humility, we are choosing to be on God's team. Wearing pride leads to anxiety. That's what the Bible says. Carrying our stresses, our worries, and our daily struggles by ourselves shows that we have not trusted God fully with our lives. Folks, we'll carry some anxiety sometimes. We will worry sometimes. We're just human beings. But we shouldn't carry it alone. We should say, "God, I'm a care of this. I'm struggling with this. And can you, can you help me carry it?" And because you even ask, he says yes. Pride will be like, "I'll get through this. I'll just power through it. I don't need anybody. I don't need God." And in our culture, we've embraced pride and we celebrate it. Even some churches and Christians celebrate it. When you do, you're celebrating the opposing team, the team that loses. Humility is needed to recognize that God cares. And when we make mistakes, we blow it, because we all will, we think God is not concerned. But when we turn to him with humility and repentance, he will help us every time. Because you humble yourself, wearing humility is always important. Humility looks good on everyone. Humility just isn't attractive, it's powerful. That's how God is. That's what we need to understand. The devil became the devil because of pride. And if you wear pride and you're not working to be humble, I mean, it takes, you know, here's the reality, guys. We give our lives to Christ, and some days we take it back. Come on. That's just the way it works. But when you stay humble, you give it back to him. "God, I had a bad day. Blew it. Messed up. Shouldn't have done it. Whatever. But I ask you to forgive me." Now, he gives grace to you every time. So we got to work on these things. We have to let down our pride. We have to submit to God. So we're to put on humility. We are to. We know humility is important. When we put on humbleness or humility, we receive God's favor at that time. We are protected by the hand of God. We can trust in his timing. We don't have to be so anxious. You know, I never even heard of anxiety until about, you know, 15 years ago. People have anxiety attacks. I never heard about it when we were kids. I never heard the term. And not everybody walked around saying they were depressed. Now everybody's depressed. "I'm so depressed. I'm so depressed." Quit confessing that over your life. I mean, why are you speaking that over your world? And everybody has bad days. And everybody has sad days. And I know there's clinical depression that's even hard to determine. But folks, we don't. We live in the greatest country in the world, still. Even though it's messed up. Even New Mexico, as messed up as it is, still better than a third-world country. Not much, but better. And that we're just so depressed. I can't stand to be around people. I get anxious. Like, God called you to be around people. So it's not God. That's the enemy. It's it's amazing to me what I hear about today. And I think about when I grew up, until I was, I don't know, 30 or so, I never heard of some of this stuff. Never was talked about. When we were younger, if you were sad, you were sad. Now it's like, everybody wants to be depressed. Why? I want to be happy. Go watch some old Jerry Lewis movies and laugh a little bit. The reason I like laughing is because laughing is good, like a medicine. A merry heart is good like a medicine. I'd rather laugh than cry, even though crying can be cleansing sometimes. But we have to clothe ourselves. In other words, you have to put it on. How many put on clothes today? I know everybody. Come on, that's an easy one. And thank God for clothes. Thank God because it does cover a multitude of sin. Come on, somebody. We know. Thank God I have clothes. But just like you get up in the morning and clothe yourself, you put on clothes this morning. I got someone with this and this and this. My wife is not here with me. And so I'm like, okay, usually I have her pick it out. But today, I just made a judgment call. So I put on my clothes. That's what you have to do every morning when you get up. You have to say, "God, today I clothe myself with humility. I will respect others. I will rejoice when others rejoice. When I blow it off, I'll humble myself and ask you to forgive me. When I'm wrong, I'll be able to admit it. I clothe myself with that today." And God, I'm teachable. When you put on humbleness or humility, you begin to know the love of God. And then you can resist the devil. The Bible says when you do so, he'll flee. And you have a right view of sin. You understand it a little bit better. And then we learn where our strength truly comes from. Everywhere you go has some sort of dress code. And humility is the dress code of God's kingdom. If you really want to know God. So as we leave here today, let us choose humility over pride. Let us strive to celebrate the success of others, to admit when we're wrong, to seek wisdom from God, and to treat everyone with respect and love. Remember, it's in humility that we are elevated, not by the world's standards, but by God's. And may we all be agents of humility in a world saturated with pride. Let us shine as beacons of God's grace, reflecting his love and humility to those around us. And I pray God helps us all that we clothe ourselves with the garments of heaven, God's kingdom, and every day we get up and say, "God, today I clothe myself with just humility." We only have whatever we have by God's grace and mercy. That's it. That's it. And I've never got up here to tell you guys, I've never made a mistake. I've made a lot of mistakes. I've did so many things that are wrong in my life. But I've never worshiped another god other than the God of heaven, the Creator of heaven and earth. That's one thing I'm not known for. And I get on my knees and sometimes with tears, pleading with God and asking him to forgive me and helping me to overcome whatever it is I'm dealing with. See, we see that as a weakness. But that's a strength. That's how God helps you. We all struggle in life. We're all predisposed to something. But at least you're struggling. And that shows you're humble. When you just said, "This is the way I am. I'm not changing." You're full of pride. You put on the opposition's team's jersey. You're playing for the wrong team. You're playing for the losing team. I'm honored to be part of this church, not prideful about it. I didn't want to speak that in my life anymore. Even just doing this message changed the way I think and some of the things I'm going to say because what you say is important about yourself and about others. If you just keep telling yourself, "I'm no good. I'm sorry, God. I'm a sinner." Yes, we're all sinners. "God, I made a mistake again." Great. Welcome to humanity. We all make mistakes. But it's the humble heart that seeks God for forgiveness. And don't let our tomorrows be our greatest days. Let's today and tomorrow be our greatest days. Let's not make yesterday be our greatest moments in life. Let's look forward because our greatest moments haven't happened yet. The highlights of our life are still in front of us. Let's be that way. Let's walk in humbleness. Let's clothe ourselves that way. And watch the very power and grace of God elevate you and change your world forever.

Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for being here. I thank you for teaching us. I thank you for helping us. I thank you, Father, for your grace and your mercy that you have on all of us. As right now, we humble ourselves before you, just bowing our heads, God, in reverence to you. Says we're humble, we recognize you're God, and we're not. And God, as we humble ourselves, you'll teach us your way so we can walk in them. And we'll know your way. So when we know we get out of bounds, we repent and get back in bounds because we know where you stand, what you say is right and wrong, and we agree with you. Father, help us never to be woke. It's an ugly word. It's an ugly spirit. It's a spirit of the Antichrist. Help us to be and have a biblical worldview, where we see life and events and things through your eyes, not even our own. So Father, I thank you as we humble ourselves before you today, that you pour your grace and mercy upon out upon all of us. In Jesus' name. If you're here with every head bowed, you say, "Preacher, would you pray with me? I walk with God, but I walked away. And you're right. I'm going to clothe myself with humility right now and come home. I don't care what I have to do, what it takes. I'm going to come home." A preacher, I've never given Jesus my life. You know, too many people believe if they just say a prayer, they're saved. But the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible says if you believe in your heart and confess that Jesus is Lord, then you'll be saved. Lordship happens first, salvation happens second. The way we want to do it, we want to be saved with no lordship. But to humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, you're going to make him Lord of your life. And if you've never done that, with a prayer that I'm going to change, I'm going to seek God, I'm going to do whatever he wants me to do. This is your moment today. Games are over, folks. The world's getting creepier and worse and worse and worse. I believe we're getting closer and closer to when the Lord returns. You just want to be ready. And if that's you, in Jesus' name, right where you're seated, and you say, "Preacher, include me in your prayer." I'm going to ask you to do one simple thing. It's so simple. Thank you. I see your hands already. God loves people, guys. And he loves you. Thank you. I see your hand in the back already. But if that's you and you say, "Thank you." I see your hand. Would you lift up your hand? People are doing already. If you say, "Pray for me." God bless you. Over here. God bless you. Thank you. I see your hand. God bless you. Thank you. I see your hand in the back. God bless you. God bless you. Waving at me upstairs. God bless you. God bless you. Here. God loves people. We just got to humble ourselves and recognize we need God. And that'll give you strength. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you, ma'am. God bless you. Even humbling yourself today, God's grace is being poured out on you. And just lifting your hand as a form of confession. And Jesus said, "If you confess me before men, I'll confess you before my heavenly Father." Anybody else want to join me? So many. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. I'm looking across the top one more time. I don't want to leave anybody out. You just gotta humble yourself and say yes to God. You know, if you're not sure, God bless you. Then be sure. [Music] If you're just not sure, just be sure. You can be sure right now. Anybody else on the bottom? Say, "Thank you." Over here. God bless you. Thank you so much. I see that hand. Thank you so much. I see. God's moving. I'm not working you. I'm not telling you sad stories. Thank you so much, young lady. God loves people, and he loves you. But you have to decide. Thank you. I see your hand. You have to decide what you're going to clothe yourself with: pride or humbleness, or humility. I would hope and pray it's humility. Anybody else? Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you. Thank you. I thank you for. Thank you. Thank you. I thank you for all the hands that were raised for the lives and families they represent, the people they influence. Thank you so much. I just pray you bless them. I pray that, Father, right now they are clothing themselves with humility, and you will give grace to the humble. You won't resist them any longer because they're humbling themselves and they say, "God, I just want to get it right." And you'll love them, honor them, bless them, and do them with power that they've never had before, the strength to say, "God, give me the ability. I can overcome all this stuff." And when we blow it, God, may we be humble enough to admit it and to repent. In Jesus' name. Bless each one in a powerful name of Jesus. If you lifted your hand, I want to lead you in a prayer. The Bible says we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. I want to lead you in a prayer to ask God to be Lord of your life and to forgive you. For those that walked away. [Music] And for those of you who didn't lift your hand, but you know you shouldn't. I want you to pray this with all your heart. And for those of us that are right with God, would you pray in support of all those? Because so many people are saying, "You won't be praying alone, folks. We'll all be praying with you." This is right out of the scriptures, Romans 10:9 and 10 and 13. Would you pray with me aloud? Would you pray: "God, I come to you as I am, and I choose to believe today that Jesus is your Son, and he's the only way. And I believe you raised him from the dead to give me a new life. So with my heart, according to your word, I choose to believe. And now with my mouth, I willingly confess Jesus be Lord of my life. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for saving me today. God, I clothe my life with humility. Thank you for giving me your grace. In Jesus' name. Amen." And amen and amen. Let's thank the Lord.