"God Helps Those Who Help Themselves" | Phil Kniesel

Is that really in the Bible? This week, Pastor Phil Kniesel unpacks the popular phrase “God helps those who help themselves” and explores what the Bible actually teaches about God’s help, grace, and our role in it.

If you’ve ever felt like you had to earn God’s help or prove your worth, this message will offer freedom and clarity.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kniesel, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Hey, hope City, we're so glad that you chose to join us for church today. My name is John and I'm the online pastor and I would love to help you get connected with Jesus and with other people here at Hope City. One of the best places to get started is at Hope city.ca/weekly. There you can find out what your next step could look like. You could also simply reach out and chat or hit the request prayer button if that's an option that you see while you're watching. And one of our awesome hosts would love to get connected with you. I want to take a second and let you know what you can expect over the next hour. Our band is gonna come and lead us in some songs that help us understand who God is and help us express our love and thankfulness towards him. After we're gonna update you on some things that are happening around Hope City. And you can also go to Hope city.ca/weekly to keep up to date. Every week we go to the Bible because we believe it's the lasting and true words of God and it has the power to transform our lives. So today we're gonna hear from Pastor Phil, our lead pastor as he continues our series called He Never Said That. We're looking at some common misconceptions about what the Bible actually says and what Jesus says about those issues. I'm so thankful that you're watching with us now. Why don't you join us as we sing together?- Well, - Good morning. It's so good to be together. This morning we're gonna start with some words that come right out of scripture. Psalm one 18 uh, tells us today is the day the Lord has made and will rejoice and be glad in it. So let's sing that together.- This is the day you made. So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in this where I believe you are more than enough. More than enough for me. You're faithful to your promise. You are strong When I'm weak and when I'm standing in your presence, I have everything- I need. The joy, the joy of Lord is- My,- The joy of Lord.- The- Joy of Lord is my, oh my soul.- Bless- His name,- The- Joy- Jesus, you're evil. Evil you faithful to promise you are strong. When I'm weak, when I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I- Need. Lord, the joy of Lord is my strength. Joy, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Soul,- Bless his name- That is- Sing. Let it rise.- Let it rise.- Holy Spirit, let it- Pour. Overflowing- Holy- Like river overflowing Holy Spirit. Let overflow Holy Spirit, do- You have the joy the Lord today let's sing it. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my- Strength.- The joy- Of Lord.- The joy of Lord is my- Strength. Oh my soul,- Bless- His name. All that is within,- Oh my soul, bless- His name. Oh that is within oh- My soul. Bless- His name that- The Lord, Lord, we thank you in you. We have strength to face the day in you. We have joy. We worship you today. So let's continue to sing. We lift our hands through the heaven. We are here for you. You we reach for the Hamm of your garment. We know it can Do. We know what it can do. We refuse to go through the, when the king is in the room, hear the sound of our devo. Let a better throne you let a better throne for you. Let everything that has- Praise. Let everything that has breath, praise, praise. Let everything that has- Breath sing a new song to the Lord- On our- Praises. Lord,- Praise. Praise.- We- Praise the Lord.- We've come to pour out oil, to wash our savior's feet. Every drop from everybody can't compare to your glory. We refuse to bring an offering that doesn't cost us say anything because your birthday, everything. Let everything that has bread.- Praise, praise. Let everything that has bread, praise, praise. Let everything that has- Bread- Sing a new song to the Lord at our praises road. The- It's kneeling un rev or it's dancing with joy. We'll sing songs never end. We love to bring you praise. It's based down before or a victory. Shout with our hands, raised your head. We love to bring you.- Praise you. The- God of salvation. You are the great.- You are the we- Love- You. Praise, praise. Come on, let praise we the Lord. We the Lord. Come on. Let your praise rise. Let your worship rise in this place. Praise you Jesus, my life. You have been so, so i'll ing God. You sing how you, your love for us? Because your goodness is running after it's running after me, your goodness running after. It's running after me with my life laid down of surrender. Now I give you everything your goodness is running after. It's running after me. Your goodness is running after it's running after me, your goodness is running after it's running after me with my life laid down. Surrender. Now I give you everything after it's running after me. Life you love. Yes, you have my life. You have been so, so good, so good alive. You have been so, so good. With every breath I made, I'll see of the- The truth and the reality of what that means for us personally. What that means for us as a church and actually what that means for us as a nation. You know, on Tuesday we're gonna celebrate Canada Day. And this year Canada turns 158 years old. Now, in case you don't know, we're the country who invented hockey. We have the coldest temperature ever recorded at minus 63 degrees Celsius. That was in Snag Yukon. We sell more coffee per capita from Tim Horton's than Starbucks does in the States. And we have the longest coastline in the world of 202,000 kilometers. That's our country. But did you know that according to the 2021 census, 53.3% of Canadians identified as Christians And this has dropped by 14% since 2011. We've also had a rise with those who say they have no religious affiliation from 16 to 34%. And stats like that show us the secularization of our country. And they also show us hope city that God needs to do a fresh move across our land. Now I'm thankful, honestly, I'm thankful that we're seeing so many people come to Jesus in our church. But listen, I'm talking to pastors across Canada and they're seeing the same thing. And that's good, that's great. We just want to keep praying for more of this, that God would truly have dominion from sea to sea. And so I'm just gonna ask you to take a few moments right now in our service to pray for Canada. We're gonna put up a prayer slide with some prayer needs and just privately where you're at, pray through some of those needs or whatever else the Lord puts on your heart. And let's pray together for our country right now. Bless- Jesus, you- God, we thank you for our country. We thank you For Canada and we pray that in this year ahead, we see many Canadians make the best decision of their life to follow you. We pray that you use your church across this country. We pray for a fresh move of God. We pray for a revival across Canada. We ask Lord that you empower, equip and give wisdom and guidance and righteousness to those in authority, to those in government, to those in leadership. We pray for your provision and protection for your peace over all our provinces, over our territories, God. And we just ask Lord that you continue to move by your strength, by your power, by your might. Keep our land glorious and free. We pray Lord. And so we speak the name of Jesus over Canada. We speak the name of Jesus from the north to the south, to the east, to the west. We speak Jesus and say, have your reign. Do what you can do. We speak Jesus and say, Lord, come and move. And so church, let's sing this song as a prayer over our country, over our nation, and over our lives. Let's think. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Let sing it.- Shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. Jesus. For my family, I speak the holy name Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets. Come on, Jesus. In the darkness over every, and Jesus my family, I speak the holy name. She your name. Your name is power. Your name is, your name is every strong wall shine through the shadows.- I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety, every by depression I speak Jesus. Because your- Name is power. Your name is healing. Your day is like yesterday. Break every strong shine through the shadows- And- Fire.- Your name is power.- Your name is power. Your name is healing, your name is life. Break every strong hole. Shine through the shadows like a fly.- Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness for every enemy, Jesus. For my family, I speak the holy of Jesus.- Shout Jesus from the and Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy, Jesus. For my family, I speak the holy name Jesus. Because your name is, your name is your name is break every strong shine through the shadows. Your name is power. Your name is power. Your name is strong hole. The- I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind- Because - I know there is peace within your presence. I speak Jesus.- Speak- The name of Jesus.- Come on church. We believe that there is power in his name, that there is healing and redemption and salvation in his name. So we're not just gonna sing, but we are going to declare, we're going to shout His name with all we have. Come on church with all you have what you see today.- Shout Jesus from the- Mountains and Jesus- In.- Come on, lift your voice.- Jesus, I speak the holy name. The from the Jesus, Jesus the holy name of Jesus. Jesus shout Jesus from- And- Jesus in the street. Jesus in the darkness over every end. Me, Jesus, former family, I speak the holy name Jesus. Jesus we pray.- Jesus we know when we believe that there is power, that there is healing, that there is salvation in your name. Jesus, we declare your name today, God, restore our country, restore our cities, bring redemption Lo to our relationships. Do what only you can do. God, do what only you can do. Jesus, we thank you that you are in this place and you are working in our hearts. God thank you that you are here among us. Jesus, we thank you for your presence today. We praise your name. We praise your name in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for singing with us. You can have a seat.- Good morning, hope City. My name is Katie and I'm the discipleship pastor here. And that's a big word that simply means I get to help people take their next steps in their faith. And some of you have just started exploring who Jesus is, but some of you have been following him for a long time, but it doesn't really matter because all of us have a next in our journey. And I just think it's so exciting that we get to walk together. If you're new or new here to Hope City, we're so glad that you are here. Uh, but we realize this is a big place and so we want to, uh, meet you, answer any questions that you might have as well as to help you feel at home. And so we've got a guest lounge that is right behind you, uh, next to that cafe across from the lobby. And that we've got some friendly people there that would love to meet you and help you get oriented here. The other way to do that is to go to Hope city.ca/weekly where you can find out all of our opportunities to get connected in at every time at Hope City, we wanna be known for as a church that is for our city. And you may have heard us say for Edmonton before or seen it written on a t-shirt. Um, and that just means that we really care about showing the love of Jesus in a real and practical way in our community. We wanna be people who serve, who love and who bring hope to those around us. And that's why we do big things like the Serve Weekend last weekend or the block parties that we host every year. Um, we, we do this, uh, in partnership also with local organizations in the city. But it doesn't stop there, thankfully. It's not just one time a year. Uh, each one of us has a part to play in that. And so there are so many different simple, meaningful ways that we can give that message of love and the love of Jesus to our communities and to our neighbors. And, and so we wanna be for Edmonton, not just in big events but all year long. Can I challenge you this summer to look for that, a simple way that you can, uh, or a creative way that you can live that out wherever you are with the people around you. Last weekend, Forester Weekend, I had the opportunity of going to the Veterans Association Food Bank and I left there so encouraged. Not only did our team of volunteers show up to help and worked hard, but I heard them listening as the, the volunteers there shared their vision and and what that organization is trying to do and the needs that they're trying to meet. And I heard our people lift their hands and ask, how can I donate? How can I do more than just show up today? What are your needs? How can I help? And it blessed me because I know that being for Edmonton is not just showing up when you're asked, but it's having that heart of generosity. And I think if you've been here long enough, you know that that is at our heart, at Hope City, that we want to be generous. One of the ways that we do that is we give financially, we pool our stuff together in when we do that, we're able to meet needs in Edmonton but also around the world. So if you haven't actually taken that step to, to give and to share from your finances,'cause I encourage you to do that, it's very impactful in our journey with God to take that step or to learn more about it. You can find out information@hopecity.ca slash weekly, but you can also stop at the giving kiosk in the lobby or ask anyone from our team this morning. Pastor Phil is wrapping up our series called He Never Said That. And this has been such a great series of actually digging into the truth that Jesus actually taught. Today's message is a very powerful one. So can I ask you to open your hearts and get ready to hear from God's word?- Yeah, I don't think he said that. Man,- Come on.- We are into our final week of our series. He never said that. Where we have been looking at things, many people think Jesus said, but in reality he didn't. Or certain misconceptions people have of what the Bible says. But in reality it doesn't. And it's been kind of fun to start each week with some trivia where you decide if a statement is from the Bible or from somewhere else. And so today we're gonna do it one more time and across all our campuses online, if you're at home in the house, you are gonna have to decide if the following statements are from the Book of Revelation or from Taylor Swift , you heard it, right? End times meet Eris tour. This is what we're doing. So let's go first one, here's the quote. I know they said the end is near Revelation Taylor Swift, apparently you guys to this girl, the answer is all right off to a good start. Number two, I know all the things you do and that you have a reputation for being alive. Book of Revelation Taylor Swift answer is revelation. Alright, number three, I am queen on my throne revelation Taylor. Swift answer, I knew I'd get ya. There we go. Number four, you didn't even see the signs. Revelation Taylor Swift answer. All right, and we got one more. I knew you'd come back to me. How many people say that's Revelation? How many people say Taylor Swift? All right. And the answer is Taylor Swift. Well done everyone. Now across all our campuses, I hope these trivia games made you realize, hmm, maybe I should read my bible a little bit more. especially that's kind of the heart behind this series. You know, in January, 2002, talk show host Bill O'Reilly was interviewing in New York City pastor about a homeless ministry. And in talking to this pastor about homelessness, he said this, well, we all know the passage from the Bible. The Lord helps those who help themselves. At another time, president Barack Obama in a speech about a jobs bill said, I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work. Now listen, I'm not here to get down on public figures, but I'm here to say we shouldn't get our Bible knowledge from talk show hosts or politicians. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, God helps those who help themselves. And many believe this comes from the Bible. It sounds moral, it sounds motivational. It's been quoted by several world leaders like Obama and even Benjamin Franklin. Some pastors have even said it. However, it's not in the Bible. God never said this. And more importantly, it's not actually what the Bible teaches. God helps those who helped themselves was adapted from one of ESOP fables back in the third century BC ESOP was a storyteller who wrote fictional tales modeled after real life circumstances. And in this particular fable, a wagoner's heavy load becomes bogged down in mud and in despair the wagoner cries out to Hercules for help. And Hercules replies, get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help them that help themselves. That's esop, not Ezekiel, that's Greek mythology, not gospel. And it's kind of wild how a polytheistic tale has made its way into what people think is in the pages of scripture. Barna, it's a Christian research company and they stated in a recent study that 68% of evangelical Christians agreed with that statement. God helps those who help themselves. Here's what's kind of tricky about the phrase. It almost sounds right, like there's this small part where this saying may have a grain of truth in it. In the Bible you can find places where people are scolded for their lack of initiative. Proverbs, it's a wisdom book in the Old Testament, says Those two lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest. Paul was writing to Christians in Thessalonika and he said, those unwilling to work will not get to eat. Now in this context, these people had stopped working because they thought Jesus was coming back any day. And so Paul was basically saying, get back to work guys because that's more Christ-like than mooching off your neighbor. So yes, responsibility is biblical. We're called to be good stewards, not slackers. In fact, too often people tend to place responsibility or even blame on God that they themselves should assume. For example, God doesn't give you an A on the exam, God doesn't get you into better shape or make you work harder at your job. Those are things we're responsible for. God can and does help us in the process but but we need to step up and do our part. So God helps those who help themselves can slightly ring true with that line of thinking. But if we take that phrase too far, it flips something vital there. There's a darker side taken too far. It promotes independence from God instead of dependence on God. And what I wanna do is I wanna unpack both of those thoughts and what they look like for us. So first let's talk about independence from God. This is a core theme that spans the Bible from the first book of Genesis to the last book of Revelation. And it can be described as humanity's attempt to live life on our own terms, separate from God's wisdom, presence, and sovereignty. It involves rejecting God's authority, trusting self over scripture and pursuing control instead of surrender. And here's the thing, especially in our culture, independence is often celebrated as a sign of maturity and strength. We've clearly seen this with the self-help movement. It's this idea that you're enough, you can fix yourself, you and only you are responsible to make yourself better in every facet of life. And the reason this is so popular and goes so far with people is that every self-help book has at their core subject our favorite thing in the entire world ourselves. But here's the truth. That message has a ceiling, a painful, frustrating ceiling. As soon as we believe there's no limits to what we can achieve as an individual without God's help, we then believe we no longer need God. But let's be honest, we all have limits. Some of you, you were reminded of that just this last week when your back went out reaching for the milk jug. In fact, some of you, your back goes out more than you do. We all have limits. God helps those who help themselves is rooted in the independence from God instead of dependence on God. And here's the thing, even if we don't want it to, this idea can subtly creep into our lives where we feel like everything that happens to us and through us is a result of what we only do. Now, this is known as self-reliance. And self-reliance is a form of pride that borders on arrogance. Proverbs says it this way, those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. That's a pretty clear call not to rely on us walking in wisdom is in reference to God's ways. An Old Testament prophet Jeremiah expands on this. He says, this is what the Lord says. Cursed is the one who trusts in man who strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. Did you cast that? Self-reliance is not just a bad strategy, it's spiritually dangerous depending on our human effort alone turns our heart away from God one decision at a time. Now, have you ever said something like, man, I just gotta do this myself or else it's not gonna be done right? You have, we all have. Or maybe you said, I'm the only one who can handle the scope of this project or let me do the budget. I don't trust anyone else or don't even touch the dishwasher. I have a system. And by the way, there's two kinds of people in every relationship, those who load the dishwasher and those who do it wrong. I'm just saying, okay,. See it's one thing to have preferences. It's another to believe that everything rises and falls on you. That's not responsibility, that's subtle pride. There's actually a psychological term for this and it's called narcissistic personality disorder. the belief that you are the center and savior of everything. And unfortunately this idea can creep into how we journey with the Lord, how we do our faith. It creeps into how we relate to God. James, he's a New Testament writer. He says it this way. Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow we'll go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a miss That appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes, all such boasting is evil. Self assume planning without God is arrogant and boastful. Doing life as if you're the only one who controls your future is arrogant and boastful. When we act like we're the ones who run the show, we are the main player in our story. We're stepping into pride. That's the danger of independence from God. But we're called however to be dependent on God. So what does that look like? The book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament says this, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord's your God for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Paul writes it this way, not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. So dependence on God remembers who he is and the power, the ability and the competence he gives you. And so what I wanna do is I wanna provide you with three things that dependence on God involves. And firstly, dependence on God is all about God's sufficiency, not self-sufficiency. It's about God who meets us in our everyday life, in every situation, in every circumstance, he meets us in our brokenness, in our helplessness, in our weaknesses and in our strengths. And I actually think that some of us just innocently land on the wrong side of this because we, we approach all the life with this idea that unless I put the grid into it, it won't happen. And trust me, I get it. Okay, I grew up in a German household and it was always V Man, you gotta book. And although yeah, that's partly true, it gets dangerous when this thinking spills over into our faith where we believe unless I do something, God's not gonna do anything. So if you've been trying to make life work as if it all depends on you thinking if I make it happen, then God will bless it. I bet you're frustrated. I bet you're winning in some areas and losing in some. I bet some days you're tired and you just want to give up when it always depends on me, myself, on I, when it always depends on us. Guess what? We get weary. We get tired. Jesus said it this way, come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest dependence on God. It's not about self-sufficiency or is is about God's sufficiency, not self-sufficiency. So the second thing I want you to recognize about dependence on God is that it's about God's redemption and not our good works. Paul said it this way, you see just at the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Now that word powerless means weak and without strength to the church. In Ephesus, he says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. He doesn't say injured, impaired or even having a bad day. He says dead meaning in ourselves we don't have a chance. And so without God, we are spiritually helpless. We're not just floundering, we're flatlining. We aren't drowning in need of a life jacket, we are spiritually dead and need resurrection. I think often we assume that God is waiting for us to do better before he steps in. Like if I can get my act together, then God will honor it and come alongside of me. Now, we might not say it, but I think that we believe before we approach God for anything, whether it be help, comfort, guidance, forgiveness before we approach him for anything we believe we need to fix ourselves first. But that's actually the antithesis of what God sent Jesus to do. Jesus himself said, apart from me, you can do nothing. Isaiah and Old Testament prophets said, all of us have become like one who has unclean. All of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Titus New Testament writer said He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. It's about God's redemption and not our good works. And that means we haven't done can't do or even need to do anything to receive the mercy and the grace offered in Jesus we didn't earn it. Our job is to receive it. And I like how Paul so succinctly puts it. He says it this way, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. It doesn't get any clearer than that. It's by grace you have been saved. And just so you know, we're saved when we are freed from the consequences of sin both now and forever. Being saved means there's no longer separation from God, like the chasm between us and him is no longer there. And so it involves forgiveness of sins because of what Jesus did on the cross. It involves a restored relationship with God and it involves the promise of eternal life because Jesus beat death when he rose from the dead. And so in this verse, Paul, Paul is writing to both Jews and Greeks and what he's doing here is he's leveling the playing field. It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter how religious or non-religious you are, it doesn't matter how good or bad you are. He's saying no one does anything to save themselves. No one earns grace. It's all a gift from God. Meaning grace is not transactional. It's not, oh you did good, so God's gonna give you more. So friend, listen to me no matter where you are at, God already loves you as much as he does and as much as he will, you don't have to do something for that to be true or even for his love. To increase grace is his doing his working. By definition, grace is God's divine activity that enables him to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgiven, to bless. It's nothing we do, it's all what he does. I mean that's why in the Christian tradition we have songs like Amazing Grace, how Sweet The Sound. Because grace is truly amazing. Without God's unmerited favor in our life, without his inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless without His grace, you and I would not be saved. And so we receive this gift of salvation from God and faith, not by something we did, something we do or will do. It's dependence on God is about God's redemption, not our good works. And I think sometimes if we're honest, we can get a little sideways on this'cause we think at times God's gonna be more pleased with us. If we just had a week where we crushed it, like, man, I prayed lots, I read my Bible lots, I was in church twice that week. Listen, I'm not saying don't do anything like that. There's so much good and there's so much right in that. But friend, you gotta understand God doesn't love you more for doing that. His love is complete. Those acts actually make you love him more, but his love is there and all you need to do is walk into it, receive it, receive His gift of salvation as offered by grace. I wanna say this, if you're with us today across our campuses online and you've never received this gift, I wanna encourage you to do so. You know Paul wrote it this way in another book in scripture called Romans. He says, therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. Rather through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference between Jew and Gentile for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Notice that all have sinned and all are justified by his graces. God helps those who help themselves. Nah. God in his love and mercy saw our need and sent Jesus to offer us the gift of salvation and the gift of life. And our job is to receive and believe through faith. Imagine it this way, okay, imagine a man stuck in a pit and he's yelling for help. A motivational speaker walks by and says, just visualize success and you'll be good. A religious person walks by and says, pray harder. That should do the trick. Your uncle on Facebook walks by and says, have you tried essential oils? But then Jesus walks by and he jumps in, he lifts 'em out and he says, you were never gonna get outta here without me and friends. That's our story. That's the gospel. Without Jesus doing what he did on the cross, dying for our sins, rising from the dead without his love, without his grace, we would've never gotten out of the pit we were in. See, scripture often says words like, bless the Lord or thank you Lord, or all that is within me, praise His holy name. And you know why? Because I was once lost. But now I'm found I was helpless, but now I'm redeemed. I was blind. But now I see. And I didn't do anything to earn that on my own. It was all an act of love from God. I actually want to take you to a parable, a story that Jesus told that builds on this. And the author Luke records it. This is what Jesus said to some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everyone else. So you know all the people we really like. Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other, a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evil doers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. Imagine. Imagine standing or sitting beside this guy in church. He'd be like, dude, really I fast twice a week and give a 10th of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, God had mercy on me as sinner. I tell you that this man rather than the other went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus nailed it. The Pharisee was relying on performance independence from God. The tax collector relied on mercy dependence on God. And what did he say? Only one of those went home justified before God. He was saying that God helps those who have a right understanding of who they are. So firstly, dependence on God involves God's sufficiency, not our sufficiency. It's about God's redemption, not our good works. And thirdly, it showcases God's power, not our strength. James writes this, God approves the proud but shows favor to the humble. The writer of Psalm 1 21 says it this way, I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my health come from? My health comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. See, this is what God does. He doesn't help the arrogant or those who think they've got it all figured out or those that think everything depends on them and they don't need them dependence on God. Humbly declares God is in control and I surrender my entire life completely to him. And here's the thing, when we do this, when we live like this, in that posture, God will come through every single time. This message is seen clearly over and over in the pages of scripture, there was this incident in the book of judges with a guy named Gideon where God reduced his army before an attack from 32,000 men to 300 men. And this was done so that God would get the credit for the win so that God would get the glory so that God's power might be shown and not the strength of man at another time. Paul said, I boast in my weakness because that's when God's strength shows up. I I boast not in how good I am, but in how good God is the story of David and Goliath. It illustrated the same thing. David didn't beat Goliath by his strength, but by God's power. And we know this because David himself said these words, the battle is the Lord's. It's God's power, not individual strength that came through every single time. And hope City understand this, you cannot live a self-sufficient life. You need God. You cannot live relying on your own strength alone. You need God's power. And when you live like this, when you embrace this posture like Gideon, like Paul, like David, like so many others, you can experience God's provision in your life. You can dethrone yourself and give credit where credit is due. You can declare and believe that the battle is the Lord. And listen, David said that line not after the win over Goliath, but before the win. And that means whatever you are facing, you don't have to tackle it alone. Whatever giant is in front of you, you don't have to prove yourself or your strength, whatever tension you are feeling, whatever trial, roadblock or complication stands in your way, you don't have to take care of it. Maybe you're fearful because of the world events going on. Maybe you're anxious because of the escalation of wars. Rest in the fact that the battle belongs to the Lord and that means God will fight for you. That means the outcome doesn't depend on human strength, but on God's power, that means you can fully trust God is working in all things and that actually means whatever happens, yes, God can change the circumstances or he can change you. The battle is the Lord. Friends, listen, your battle is the Lord's. And here's the thing, if you live in that posture, you know what it does? It reveals loudly and clearly every single time when God shows up, there's no mistaking who did it. It was God, not I. It was God, not I. It was God, not I. And don't you want that to be the story of your life? Don't you want that to say in everything, in every circumstance, when there was something where God pulled through, it was him not I. God helps those who help themselves. That's kind of arrogant. It's prideful and it's non-biblical. The Bible doesn't teach self-sufficiency. It reveals that God who meets us in our helplessness and saves us by his grace, it tells us we should live dependent on him. And that involves three things. God's sufficiency, not our sufficiency, God's redemption, not our good works. God's power, not our strength. And so friend, if you've been trying to make life work as if it all depends on you thinking, man, if I make it happen, then God will bless it. If you're frustrated, if you're winning some areas, losing in others, if some days you're tired and you wanna give up, I'm gonna give you some practical ways that dependency looks like in your life, dependency on God so that you can actually put this into practice starting today or tomorrow. Just four practical things really quickly here. Number one, challenge the self-made myth. See, culture celebrates self-reliance. But spiritual maturity is daily dependence on God. Number two, make prayer your first reaction, not your backup plan. If you're too busy to pray, you are too self-reliant to grow. Number three, know that God is your strength in all things. We can't do this life without him. The outcome doesn't depend on your effort. The battle belongs to the Lord. And number four, stop trying to fix yourself before you come to God. Just surrender and be open for him. He will take you where you are in the state you are in. He meets you in whatever situation, whatever mess. And that's his grace. So you wanna pursue dependence on God, challenge the self-made myth. Make prayer your first reaction, not your backup plan. Know that God is your strength in all things and stop trying to fix yourself before you come to the Lord. Hope sitting. The next time you hear someone say God helps those who help themselves, you know what you say. Ah, that ain't true. You wanna know what is true. God helps those who know they can't help themselves. And that's different 'cause the world says be strong. God says, be weak so I can show you my strength. The world says help yourself. God says, call on me and I will help you. The world says you got this. God says, I've got you. God helps those who know they can't help themselves. Why don't you stand if you are able to. I wanna close in prayer this morning. God, we just come before you today and we thank you for the challenges that you give us throughout your word that truly, truly says that you are control. You are God, you are supreme. And so we wanna live our lives in a way that puts you on the throne in and through all things. Lord, I pray that you help us not to live in a posture of pride or arrogance or even this belief that we have to do it all ourselves, but give us the ability to look to you, to trust you, to depend on you. Lord, I pray for that person here today who is facing a giant or a battle who is looking at something and going, man, I need to do something to fix this. God, may they recognize the battle is the Lord's. And so may you speak that confidence to them. May you speak that hope. May you speak that trust through your Holy Spirit, into their heart, into their lives, into their circumstances. Jesus, I pray that they may walk in confidence and in assurance and in the posture that says, yes, I need you, God, every single day of my life. I need you in and through all things I need you. And so God, we live in that posture and we say, move and work and help us always to put you in your right spot. Jesus, I pray for that person who doesn't know you today. And if that's you, you don't have a relationship with Jesus. He went to the cross to die for your sins. He rose to offer you life both now and forever. And that is his grace offered to you. Friend. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to be better. He just says, come to me. And so if you're saying today, I want to begin that journey with him, you wanna receive that gift of grace and faith. I'm gonna pray a prayer that helps you put into words the beginning of that. And why don't you pray along with me, Jesus today I see my need for you. And I thank you for going to the cross, for dying, for my sins, for rising. I thank you for the hope and the life that you give me through that. And so I just pray that today you help me to make you Lord and leader of my life. I wanna follow you, I wanna serve you. I wanna put you in the right place in my life. I don't wanna be king of my life anymore. I want the king of kings to rule my life. And so help me to follow you in that way. And Jesus, I pray over every individual, every couple and every family. And I ask that as they go into this week, Lord, may they sense a nearness of your presence. I pray for the power of God to be evident and real. And I pray that your Holy Spirit speaks to them and equips them for everything that lies ahead. But God, I pray for my friends here at Hope City that they may be men and women who put you in the right space, in the right place and in the right posture. I pray that they may understand who they are in light of you and that they may live with this idea that yes, the battle belongs to the Lord and they surrender all of them and everything to you. And I pray this in the powerful and wonderful name of Jesus. Amen. You know, if you prayed this morning, that prayer of surrendering your life to Christ, first time rededication prayer, can I just ask you to scan the QR code that's on the screen? Please. We'd love to get a digital booklet in your hand. It talks about knowing and following Jesus. And uh, it's also our way in a big church to try to get to know you personally. If you want prayer over anything in your life, we're gonna have a prayer team available down at the front left. And uh, they'd love to pray over. And for you after this service here, hope City know this. I'm cheering you on. I'm praying for you. I love you lots. Just remember as you go into this week, God helps those who know they can't help themselves. Thanks for being in church today. God bless.