Jesus tells us the story about the son who turned his back on his father and home, took his inheritance, left his home and went out to waste it all. But did he find happiness and fulfillment? Quite the opposite. But repentance brought him back to his father’s loving arms.

God tells “all people everywhere to repent.” If that’s so, we need to listen instead of arguing with God. We need to repent of such “blind spots” as unforgiveness, which God calls “wickedness.” Another blind spot could be called sins of omission—those acts we know are the right things to do, yet have failed to accomplish.

Repentance must come first—before forgiveness of sins, before believing the good news of the gospel, and before water baptism. In fact, God commands all people everywhere to repent. Repentance is an inward decision followed by an outward change of life.

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray”—that’s why we all need to repent. We did not all commit murder or become drunk or committed adultery. But one thing we have in common: we all have gone our own way. For this we need to repent.

Repentance is an experience which we cannot get around and for which there is no substitute. And yet for all that, it’s an experience which is not understood by most people today and which is seldom explained by most preachers. Listen to Derek’s explanation today.

The strongest leaders are those who lead by example. Consider others as better than yourself. Be subject to one another. Put on the apron of humility. Using the examples of Abraham and Joshua, Derek provides the reason why—those who humble themselves receive the promised inheritance.

Derek gives us today the second phase of humbling ourselves before God: bowing down our wills so that we may progress in our new spiritual life. Three main sources of pride in humanity are wisdom, power and ability. Is there anything wrong with those attributes? Not at all—except when they keep us from embracing God’s will for our lives.

In today’s message, Derek brings us the first phase of how to humble ourselves before God. This comes when we come to God initially. We are encouraged to humble ourselves as little children when coming to God. What does that mean to you? Trustfulness? Dependence? Teachability? Evaluate yourself to see how you measure up.

Of course, in his talk today, Derek points us to the example of Jesus Christ. Derek brings us, in sequential order, seven downward steps that Jesus took in His attitude of humility. “Therefore,” Paul tells us, “God highly exalted Him” by seven upward steps. Jesus earned this exaltation by His self-humbling. We should conduct ourselves likewise.

The type of pride that Derek talks about in these lessons is the type that seeks independence from God. Adam and Eve made a personal decision that they did not need God. It is the very essence of what caused the fall of Lucifer, that glorious angelic being who became Satan.