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What Is the Kenosis? Christ’s Ultimate Humility Explained (Philippians 2 Breakdown)
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Jul 9, 2025
In this follow-up to last week’s message on the struggle between the old and new nature, we explore one of the most profound truths in Scripture: the humility of Jesus Christ, known theologically as the kenosis (from Philippians 2:5–11). 📖 What is the kenosis? It refers to Christ “emptying Himself” — not by losing His divinity, but by taking on human form, laying aside the privileges of His divine nature, and becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. In this teaching, we unpack: The meaning of kenosis and why it matters How Jesus models true humility and servant leadership Why Christ's humanity is not just symbolic but fully real How His obedience, suffering, and exaltation form the blueprint for Christian living Why every knee will bow — either in worship or in judgment
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Good evening. Uh it's about 1210, right?
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So it's good evening. So um I wanted to
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follow up on a topic that I talked about
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last week. We talked about the struggle
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between the old nature and the new
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nature. So now we're going to talk about
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Jesus Christ humility and the
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accumulation of that is what we call the
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kinosis. K E N O S I S. So why do I want
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to talk about it? about um five days
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ago, my wife and I were talking and then
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we uh she said she was talking about
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going to the beach and I was like, "You
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say the same thing every year." And she
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proceeded to say to me, "Well, I do I
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say this I say this the same thing every
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year because I put everybody else ahead
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of myself." So, I'm always putting
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everybody else's needs ahead of mine.
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And he made me think about uh the Kosis
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and Christ humility. So, we're going to
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talk about that today. And now the
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kinesis itself has caused a lot of
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controversies. So to define it, I'm not
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going to get into the controversies. So
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what I'm going to do is I'm going to
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read the scripture and we're going to
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let the the scripture be its own
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interpreter. That's the best way to to
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to interpret the passage is to let the
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Bible itself be its own interpreter. God
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does not need me to defend him. God can
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defend himself by the way of scripture.
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So we're going to use the scripture. Hi
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Sidell, I just see you join. Good. I'm
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glad you're here and I want you to hear
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the word of God. All right. So, we're
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going to go to uh Philippians 2 and I'm
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going to read uh uh I'm going to read
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starting off verse three of Philippians
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2. So, the scripture says here, "Do
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nothing from selfish ambition or vain
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conceit.
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But in humility, right, count others
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more significant than yourselves. Let
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each of you look not only to his own
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interest but also to the interest of
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others. Have this mind among yourselves,
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which is yours in Christ Jesus, who
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though he was in the form of God, did
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not count or consider equality with God
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a thing to be grasped, but emptied
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himself by taking the form of a servant.
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Right?
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Being born in the likeness of man and
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being found in human form, he humbled
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himself by becoming obedient to the
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point of death, even death on a cross.
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eyes. Th Therefore, God has ex highly
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exalted him and bestowed upon him the
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name that is above every name, so that
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at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee
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should bow in heaven and on earth and
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under the earth, and every tongue
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confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
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glory of God the Father. So Paul is
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talking to the Philippians here and he's
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telling them to be humble and to do
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nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
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conceit which is contrary to what we see
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in our day and age. With the advent of
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social media, selfies have become
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something where you promote yourself
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constantly. It's all about your brand,
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right? It's all about my brain. I want
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to look a certain way. So humility is
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something that is foreign to the best of
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us. Even as Christians, we struggle with
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this idea of humility. But Jesus Christ
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shows the ultimate humility by doing
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what we call the kinosis. Now the
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kinosis is basically Jesus Christ
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emptied himself by taking on the human
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flesh. Meaning the divine nature always
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existed. Jesus Christ is the son of God.
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Meaning he is God right? But by adding
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the human nature what he did was he
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emptied himself. So basically he limited
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himself by becoming a human. He no
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longer had what you call the
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omnipotence, right? The omnipresent and
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all the divine attributes. So the human
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nature was truly human. It wasn't like
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he was a demi god or demi man. He was
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truly human and truly god in a sense
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that we have two natures. We call that a
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hypoatic union. The divine nature is
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fully divine and the human nature is
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fully human. So when Jesus Christ says
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that I am thirsty, he's truly thirsty.
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Now God we know can't thirst. God cannot
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get tired. Jesus got tired. Jesus had to
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grow up. He was a baby and he had to
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learn how to walk. He had to learn how
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to speak. He had to learn the
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scriptures. So all of that is an empty
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of himself. Basically, the scripture
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tells us here that we have to be like
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Christ. In what way? He did not count
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equality with God a thing to be grasped.
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He did not hold on to it so firmly in a
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sense of which if you literally give me
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the ability to like be divine, I will
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probably kill half of the population.
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Why am I saying that? Is because of my
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my lack of humility. That's why the way
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we humans are. So if you have a little
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bit of something, we want to utilize it
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to self-promote. Jesus did not do that.
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He was born in a manger.
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He was born in a manger, right? The
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divine son of God took upon human nature
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and was born in a manger. Let that sink
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in a little bit. If I'm royalty, I don't
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want to be born in a manger. But the
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scripture says he did not count equality
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with God, a thing to be grasped. He did
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not hold on to that as something firm
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like listen, I'm I'm the son of God. I'm
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going to use this so firmly. No, the
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scripture say he emptied himself.
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When Jesus says that I'm I'm thirsty or
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he's hungry, when he was tempted by the
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devil
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in 40 days, he didn't eat, right? And
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the devil comes and the devil says to
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Jesus, "If you are the son of God, tell
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the stones to be turned into bread."
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What does Jesus say to him? Man does not
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live by bread alone, but by every word
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that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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Now put me in that position as a human.
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If I know that I can turn this bread
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into these stones into bread, I'm going
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to do that. But the scripture tells us
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he did not count equality with God a
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thing to be grasped. Being in very
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nature God, meaning Jesus was God, truly
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God, but by adding the human human
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nature,
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the human nature
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pretty much is the epitome of his um
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humility.
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Listen to the scripture again.
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Have this man among yourselves which is
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yours in Christ Jesus who though he was
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in very nature God did not count
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equality with God a thing to be grasped
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a thing to hold on to something that he
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he didn't hold on to that deity
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but he says he emptied himself how did
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he empty himself by taking the form of a
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servant the servant of God the lamb of
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God being born in the lik likeness of
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men. So by taking the human nature, this
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is the ultimate sign of humility because
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by taking a human nature, he became like
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one of us without the sin nature. See,
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you and I were born with Adamic nature.
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We by nature are objects of wrath. We
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love sin. But Jesus was not born like
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that. He was a human without the sinful
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nature. And being found in human
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likeness, the scripture says, he humbled
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himself
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by doing that already. Already, right?
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But then the scripture says that by
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becoming obedient to the plan of death,
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he became obedient to the father to the
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point of dying even death on a cross.
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Now the death on the cross was
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ultimately uh it was painful physically
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painful. It was also um shameful because
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he was naked on the cross. Now remember
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what Jesus said on the cross, father why
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thou forsaken me? The human nature was
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wailing. And before he went to the
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cross, remember what happened in the
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garden of Gethsemane? He say in the
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garden of Gethsemane, right? What did he
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say? Father, take this cup from me. If
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it is possible, yet not my will, but thy
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will be done. At that moment, he could
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have been like, you know what? Forget
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these humans. I'm not going to die for
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them. They are ungrateful. But he did
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not do that. He did not count equality
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with God a thing to be grasped. Right?
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Even when they came to arrest him, what
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what happened when the people came? And
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they fell down to the ground twice. He
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said, "Whom you seek?" And they said,
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"Jesus of Nazareth," he say, "I am he."
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And he fell to the ground. Right? And
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when Peter cuts off the ear of one of
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the servants, what does Jesus say to
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him? Don't you think I can call I can
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call a legion of angels to come and
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deliver me. But scripture has to be
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fulfilled. Meaning he could have
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vaporized all these people in a split
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second. All he had to do was say the
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word and it would have been vaporized.
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But he did not do that. The scriptures
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say he became obedient to the point of
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obedient to death on the cross. And as a
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result of that, the scripture tells us
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that God gave the name that is above
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every name. What is that name? The name
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Lord.
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Now God has endowed the human nature the
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name Lord. So this is why the scripture
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tells us that he sit at the right hand
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of God. In Psalm 20 uh 24, Psalm 124,
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the scripture tells us, "Lift up your
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gates, oh you g lift up your your gates,
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oh you oh lift up your gates, right? Oh
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you heavens, so that the king of glory
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may come in." When he ascended the
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heaven, he was endowed with this. God
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gave him the name that is above every
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name. This is why Jesus is the Lord.
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Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
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the Father. He is Lord on heaven and on
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earth and under the earth. All must obey
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him. every knee would bow whether you
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like it or not. You will have to bow
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when Jesus comes back.
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Now, there's two things. You can either
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bow as a loving servant that loves your
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your Lord or you can bow as someone that
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hates him. But you still have to bow
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because he is Lord.
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Now, this is also teaching us about the
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ultimate humility. Humility is lacking
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in all of us.
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Even though we have a new nature as
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believers, as born again Christians, we
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still struggle with the old nature. So
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the new nature puts to death the the
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lack of humility in the old nature. And
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this is what the scripture is telling
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us. Paul wants us to be like Christ. He
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he wants us to have the mind of Christ.
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In what way? By emptying ourself of all
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the things that we think we are and this
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and that. No, put it aside. Put it
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aside.
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Do not hold on to to those things. Let
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God be fully dwelling in you. The
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scripture tells us in Colossians to do
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that, right?
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To allow Christ to live in us by his
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Holy Spirit. So when the Holy Spirit
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guides you, you begin to exude that type
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of humility. This is called having what
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we call again meekness, power under
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control. And Jesus is the ultimate sign
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of power under control. We have to have
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that. So that's all for today. So the
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kinosis is Jesus emptying himself in
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what way? By becoming a human. Okay. So
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one now that you know what it is. If
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somebody gives you a false idea of
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kinosis, you can reject it. Okay? And
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you can go back to scripture and let the
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scripture be its own interpreter. That's
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all I wanted to say today. Sidel thank
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you for being part of this. Have a
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wonderful day and I'll see you next
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time. Bye bye.
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