Matters of the Heart #8: The Gift of a Humble Heart

Matters of the heart come down to humility: love created us, and the very first gift God gave to man was the humility of kneeling in the dirt to breathe life into Adam. In this eighth and final session of the series, the pastor teaches that humility is the key to finding God’s purpose for your life, and that keeping your heart open to God is the true matter of the heart. It continues from Matters of the Heart #7: Keeping an Open Heart and Building an Established Heart.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on January 10, 2022, and runs about 62 minutes. The pastor opens by saying this eighth session will wrap up the series, and that his subject is the importance of a humble heart. He prays that the Word would go deep into the core of every listener and that each person would fulfill God’s dreams, goals and purpose for them.

He then lays a foundation from earlier teaching. Love created us, love expresses itself by giving, and the very first thing love gave to mankind was humility. The message closes with an invitation for anyone who has never given their life to Jesus Christ to humble themselves and receive Him as Lord.

God Created Man Because He Is Love

More than forty years ago, the pastor recalls, a college instructor in Dallas said that God created man because He was lonely. Immediately, he says, the Holy Spirit spoke to him: if God were lonely, it would not matter what He created; He would still be lonely. He points to Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” What God is, He always is.

Then the Lord added, “But I am love.” God created man because He is love, and love needs an object to express itself to, or it cannot be realized or known. Everything God made was made out of love. That is why, he says, people who abuse animals do not know God, because love created those animals too.

He draws a simple lesson. The earth produces what it was created from. We were created by love, so love is what we are meant to produce. Imagine if we had been created by loneliness; loneliness is all we would produce. Yet we live in a fallen world, and walking in love is easier said than done.

He compares it to the day he first saw his wife, Pam. Something rose up in him that he had never known, a love he could not explain. After some 55 years together, they still want to spend hours with one another, and in their early days they talked on the telephone for four or five hours at a time. That, he says, is how Christians should be with God.

Religion, by contrast, deceives people. It runs on rote repetition and duty, and never really engages in love with God. Such people cannot handle much of God, especially when the Holy Spirit shows up and people react to His presence in many different ways. As Isaiah says, there was no outward beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2); it is love that draws us.

Love Is Expressed Through Gifts

The pastor warns that a hard season is coming, one in which believers will need to know the voice of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said He did not come to bring peace on earth but a sword (Matthew 10:34). He urges the church to fast, to press in, and not to be convenient Christians. Incline your ear to God’s sayings (Proverbs 4:20), he says, and find a real relationship of love.

1 John 4:16 says we have known and believed the love God has for us. Many Christians, he says, do not believe it. They think God puts cancer on them or kills their children in accidents. God does not do that. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights (James 1:17). God is a good God; there is a rotten devil who does rotten things, and we must never credit God with what Satan does.

God is love. He does not try to love; He is love. And love is demonstrated by giving. “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26) is love saying, “I want to take care of you.” God will do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20), and the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

The first gift God gave was in relationship. In Genesis 1:26–28, He made man in His image, blessed him and gave him dominion. Adam gave it all away by listening to an intruder, and the pastor applies that to every relationship: guard your heart so that a job or even a spouse is not heard above God. Yet you also need agreement. When God called him to pastor here, he waited until his wife Pam heard the same thing.

When Adam gave everything away, God did not quit. He gave another gift (John 3:16–17). Even our faith is His gift: by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works (Ephesians 2:8–9). Gifts are given to express love, and love is what prevails, not talent, wisdom or education.

The First Gift: Humility

The very first gift, the pastor says, began before Adam was even alive. Genesis 2:7 says the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. We were dirt. The God of all glory, the great I AM who was never created, handcrafted a man and then knelt in the dirt and breathed into it.

When Adam first opened his eyes, he says, he saw pure love kneeling before him. That was humility, and it runs through the whole Bible. The pastor traces it through the life of Jesus. The table below follows the examples he gives.

Jesus said it Himself: the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Love is humble, the pastor says, and love humbles itself. God so loved the world that He gave Himself.

Humility, he continues, does not need to be right or prove itself correct. Humility needs to be a servant and to obey. “Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). Whatever God says, however He says to do it, you do it, even when you have to swallow hard.

Humility in Matters of the Heart

Quoting Mother Teresa, the pastor says the only way to humility is through humiliation. It is humiliating to admit you were wrong and say, “Forgive me, I’m sorry.” Pride is a wall, a fortress, and the only way through it is one brick at a time. Sometimes you may have been right, he admits, but it was not done right, said right or acted on right, so you still ask forgiveness.

Coming to Christ itself takes humility. You admit to people that you cannot run your own life, and you make Jesus your Lord, your Adonai: owner, master and ruler. Humility, he says, is the key to finding all the purpose God has for you. He quotes C. S. Lewis: until you have given up yourself to Him, you will not have a real self.

Jesus said whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). He also said that whoever confesses Him before men, He will confess before the Father (Matthew 10:32–33). What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul (Matthew 16:26)? Following Jesus is about gaining the soul He created you to have.

The pastor warns against a relationship with God that is only about what you can get. Many in the church, he says, say the right words but never spend time with Him or press in to hear Him. God wants intimacy. That is also why believers need real discipleship, not a TV preacher, but a mentor who knows you and can speak into your life without you breaking off the relationship because your pride got hurt.

He repeats the word the Lord gave him the week before: strength is not revealed in one who can defend their heart, but in the one who, in the midst of opposition, can keep their heart open. That is humility. James 4:5–6 says God yearns jealously over us, gives more grace, resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Humility, he adds, is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. He does not think less of himself. He knows he was created in God’s image and blessed with every spiritual blessing. But he does not need to think about himself. Humility can feel lonely at times, as it did for Jesus when His disciples left Him.

Humble Yourself and Be Lifted Up

1 Peter 5:5–7 tells the younger to submit to the elders and all of us to be clothed with humility. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you in due time, casting all your care on Him. The pastor explains that to exalt means to lift up, elevate and promote you into the higher position you were created for.

He gives practical examples. Humility lets someone disciple you and speak into your life. Humility calls for prayer when you are sick instead of waiting for the pastor to read your mind; the Bible says to call for the elders of the church (James 5:14–15). In Gethsemane, Jesus could have felt lonely when His disciples slept, but He only wanted them to get through the temptation coming (Matthew 26:40–41).

James 4:10, written by the Lord’s half-brother, says: humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. The pastor applies it to serving. He once arrived early at a church he was to speak in, found it a mess, and swept, dusted, mopped and then stood at the door to greet people. When he stood up to speak on humility, he says, you could have seen two hundred jaws hit the floor.

True love, he teaches, is always shown in humility. Philippians 2:5–11 tells us to let the mind of Christ be in us. Though He was in the form of God, He made Himself of no reputation, took the form of a bondservant, and humbled Himself to the death of the cross. Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name.

A bondservant, he notes, serves out of love, not duty. Through the gift of righteousness we can reign in life (Romans 5:17), and when we humble ourselves, our place with God becomes real to us rather than just religious talk. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some will humble themselves now and find salvation; others will be forced to bow when it is too late.

Because humility is not natural in a fallen world, he says, the work of keeping our hearts open to God is what matters most. “This is the true matter of our heart.” He quotes Andrew Murray, who observed that many Christians pray for humility yet pray even more to be kept from what would humble them. Jesus said that whoever would follow Him must deny himself and take up his cross daily (Luke 9:23–24).

Living With a Humble Heart This Week

The pastor reminds the church that love kneels to help, wash and clean, and gives up its time for others. Here are practical steps drawn from this matters of the heart message:

• Remember what made you. You were created by love, so make love what you produce at home, at work and at church.
• Say the hard words. Chip at the wall of pride one brick at a time by admitting you were wrong and asking forgiveness, even when you were partly right.
• Let someone disciple you. Find a mentor who knows you, and keep your heart open when they speak into your life.
• Serve where no one sees. Like the pastor with a broom in an empty church, take the humble task before anyone asks.
• Ask for prayer. When you are sick or struggling, humble yourself and call for the elders instead of waiting to be noticed.
• Press in to God. Spend real time with Him, not just duty, so you know His voice in the season ahead.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 The importance of a humble heart, and opening prayer
• 1:04 Did God create man because He was lonely?
• 2:17 God is love, and love needs an object
• 4:40 Falling in love with Pam
• 5:48 Religion versus a love relationship
• 7:59 Not peace but a sword, and a call to fast
• 9:06 Nehemiah’s wall and a hunger for the Word
• 10:12 1 John 4:16: knowing and believing God’s love
• 12:29 The kingdom is about giving gifts
• 14:56 The first gift: dominion in Genesis 1
• 18:08 Guarding your heart, and agreement in marriage
• 21:10 Adam gave it away; God gave another gift
• 25:25 The first gift of humility: Genesis 2:7
• 28:32 Born in a stable and washing feet
• 29:57 Mark 10:45 and the road to the cross
• 33:35 Humility through humiliation
• 36:38 Luke 14:11: whoever humbles himself
• 42:26 Keep your heart open: James 4:5–6
• 45:26 Be clothed with humility: 1 Peter 5
• 49:27 Humble yourself and be lifted up: James 4:10
• 50:54 Sweeping the church before preaching
• 52:00 Philippians 2: the mind of Christ
• 55:34 The true matter of our heart
• 58:58 Invitation and salvation prayer

Matters of the Heart Series

This message closes an eight-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or go back to the previous session:

• First message: Matters of the Heart #1: Guarding the Spiritual Heart and the Principle of the Seed
• Previous: Matters of the Heart #7: Keeping an Open Heart and Building an Established Heart
• You are here: Matters of the Heart #8: The Gift of a Humble Heart

Frequently Asked Questions

Does humility mean thinking poorly of yourself?

No. The pastor teaches that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. He actually thinks more of himself than ever, because he knows he was created in God’s image and likeness and blessed with every spiritual blessing. What changes is that he no longer needs to focus on himself, and he is free to serve others.

Why does the pastor say humility can feel lonely?

Because humility is selfless. He points to Jesus, whose disciples all left Him, and to Gethsemane, where they fell asleep while He prayed. Jesus could have felt sorry for Himself, but He never spoke of it. He only wanted them to make it through the temptation that was coming. A humble heart keeps its focus on others even when it stands alone.

Why is a TV preacher not enough for discipleship?

He says discipleship requires someone who really knows you and can speak into your life intimately. Listening at home only gives you information you can repeat to others, which he says can feed pride. A real mentor knows who you are and can correct you, and humility means keeping your heart open to them instead of breaking off the relationship when your feelings get hurt.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Genesis 2:7 — God breathes life into man formed from dust
• Philippians 2:5–11 — the mind of Christ, who humbled Himself
• 1 John 4:16 — God is love
• Mark 10:45 — not to be served, but to serve
• Luke 14:11 — whoever humbles himself will be exalted
• James 4:5–6 — God gives grace to the humble
• 1 Peter 5:5–7 — be clothed with humility
• James 4:10 — He will lift you up
• Luke 9:23–24 — deny yourself and follow Me

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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