Pride Week 1

Good morning. It is so wonderful to be back with you this week. Melody and I had a wonderful vacation and God was good and provide much needed rest and fellowship with family.

Last Monday we also went to KU for her first appointment with the surgeon, medical oncologist and the dr who will do her radiation treatments.

First God has blessed us with a remarkable medical team. Melody and I both felt led by God to KU and we have seen His hand at work through this entire situation.

All three doctors used the word curable as the spoke about her breast cancer. Praise the Lord, He is faithful and just and never leaves us nor forsakes us!

We have an MRI on Thursday and should have surgery shortly there after as long as everything comes back as expected in the MRI

Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for continuing to pray.

Thank you for loving us as Jesus loves you!

It is so refreshing and encouraging to be a part of such a wonderful, loving family here at CCC.

Let’s Pray

START OBS

This week we will continue on with our Bait of satan sermon series with week one of Pride

The lie of Pride will take two weeks, maybe three, to tackle and wrestle with.

I never felt led to a name for this sermon and if you have been here you know that something I struggle with a lot is coming up with catchy names for sermons. I really don’t care about the sermon name, I care about God’s message that He wants delivered.

Pride.

You have it

You deal with it

You sin because of it

Pride is not something that only a few will deal with but all will deal with pride.

If you are human you have pride and therefore must look to God and His Word in order to know what to do in response to pride.

I want to start by defining pride. I have included it in your notes so that you can quickly go back and look at it this week as you dive into this message and truly seek what God has for you.

While we are here

that should be your response to a sermon.

Take notes.

Listen and respond to God in the moment and then use those notes to listen and respond to God as He grows you through the week.

You should be taking notes

You should be reviewing those notes and scriptures all week long

You should be praying about what God wants you to learn from His message during the week

You should be seeking what God has for you by truly studying His Word to find His message for you

Back to this morning

Websters 1828 defines pride as Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.

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Inordinate is defined as irregular; disorderly; excessive; immoderate; not limited to rules prescribed or to usual bounds; as an inordinate love of the world; inordinate desire of fame

I am not going to go into detail with these but here are some scriptural examples of pride

Exodus 5:2

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“But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.””

I Samuel 17:43-44

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“And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.””

Luke 18:11-12

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“The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”

Pride

Pride is a sin

Pride is evil

Pride is the root of most if not all sin

Pride destroys

Pride steals

Pride kills

Again not going into detail here but want to give scriptural examples for you. Dig into these this week!

God is clear about His feelings about pride

Psalm 18:27

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“For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.”

Proverbs 15:25

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“The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow’s boundaries.”

James 4:6

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“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””

Pride is a sin

As a Christian there is ZERO room in your life for pride

Pride is the opposite of Christ

satan uses pride to kill

to steal

to destroy

It is not by mistake that the LBTQ whatever other letters are there community and movement uses Pride as their motto

It is a satanic.....sinful movement grounded in and based upon sin

I believe God has removed His hand from America in large part because of pride

What is the American Dream......pride

Today and next week we are going to dive into pride

I have wrestled with what and how to bring what God was laying on my heart and pray I get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to teach this morning

A verse that will be key to today and next week

A verse that you should have marked, highlighted in your Bibles and memorized in your heart is

Proverbs 16:18

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“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Haughty is from the Hebrew noun that means elation, grandeur, arrogance, pride

Pride

haughty spirit

haughty eyes have serious eternal consequences and impact so lets dive into what God has for us this morning

This morning and next week I want to look at the forms of pride followed by the signs to look for that show that pride is in your life

I found an article online about the forms of pride and the six we will dive into were discussed there and helped guide me to put down on paper what God was putting in my heart

1. Pride gives credit to self

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Pride is very obvious and prevalent when you succeed

Human nature is sinful

Human nature is prideful

No one has to tell a toddler to say I did it

In fact we promote pride in the lives of young people

potty training.....you did it.

Here is a prize for your effort

No wonder you seek credit

Society is driven by a need to seek credit for themselves

I did it

I am the greatest

I am the best

I am the smartest

I am the one!

I am him

I am her

Pride

Sin

Leads to destruction and falls!

Pastor I did something good. Why can’t I take credit for it?

I won the race

I got the bill passed

I made the right investment and made lots of money

I chose the right hospital

I helped the homeless

I feed the hungry

I visited the jail and talked about Jesus

I

I

I

I

That is the problem

You are so dependent upon I

Got some news for you

I is rotten

I is sinful

I will always fail!

The only good in you or this world is from God Himself

James 1:16-17

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“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Do not be deceived.......this is a warning.

What is James warning you about?

The world and satan teach differently than God teaches

Your nature will scream something different

Don’t believe the lie brothers and sisters

Do not be deceived!

Deceived of what

The truth that EVERY

ALL

EVERY good and perfect gift is from God not you!

You didn’t do anything

You didn’t give yourself the talent or ability

You didn’t give yourself the smarts, knowledge or wisdom

You didn’t give yourself the work ethic and drive

God did

Pride says take credit for God’s work

The only success you or I achieve is from and through God and God alone!

Don’t take credit for His work and gifts!

2. Pride seeks credit from others

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Some will not brag about themselves but desperately seek credit from others

Many believe

It is not pride if it comes from someone else

Wrong

Pride drives the desire for credit or praise from others

Social media is driven by this

Look at me

I am at the homeless shelter doing good

I did this

I did that

Seeking praise and approval from man is so dangerous and sinful

Matthew 6:1-2

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““Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

As a Christian you are a new creation

no longer bound by physical form

Still living in a physical body but now through Jesus and the Holy Spirit you realize all that matters is spiritual as heaven is your new home

Since spiritual is all that should matter to you as a Christian

losing rewards in heaven should be a big deal to you

Seeking credit and praise for earthly actions from earthly people = earthly rewards

Useless in eternity

Zero eternal value

You give to the needy because God gives to you

You preach the Gospel because you have received the Gospel

This goes beyond ministry and also is imperative at your workplace

Colossians 3:17

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“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Some of you hate your jobs because you feel your bosses never give you the credit you deserve.

You don’t work for them

You work for God

Everything you do, you do in the name of the Lord Jesus

EVERYTHING

Is it nice if they recognize you

Sure

Are you to turn down their recognition?

No but remember to give all praise and honor to God as He is the one who enabled you to do a good job

But if you are seeking credit you are sinful and wrong

God doesn’t have you at your job for physical reasons

God has you at your job to be His ambassador

If you get wrapped up in seeking credit you are wrong and miss the entire point of why God has you at your job

Your only task is to worship God and bring Him glory

No where in there is seeking credit from others

God knows everything you think, say, or do long before you every think it

say it

or do it

When you do things for God with a pure heart He knows and you will be rewarded in heaven

Let that be enough

It is not about you

It has never been about you

It will never be about you

It has been

is

and always will be about Jesus!

Give God thanks and credit.

Know that God will give you credit in the form of eternal rewards in heaven and let that be enough!

3. Pride seeks credit from God Himself

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You have sinned

I have sinned

We all have sinned

Because of that sin we deserve God’s wrath

Today’s modern Christian wants sunshine and roses all day everyday

They choose to see God as a fluffy teddy bear who loves them so He tolerates sin

I have news for you....that is not the God of the Bible

That, in fact, is not God

God hates sin

God cannot look upon sin

God turned His head and refused to look upon Jesus, His one and only Son, when Jesus became sin for you and me and the whole world on the cross

God’s wrath boils against and is poured out upon sinners

There is nothing holy about humans

All humans have 0....ZERO good inside of them

including you

including me

You must see yourself in the flesh…

You must see yourself on your own

You must see yourself through the truth of the Word of God in this matter

If you refuse to see yourself as sinful

If you refuse to see yourself as rotten

If you refuse to see yourself as unholy

You are driven by pride and if you claim to be a Christian you better get with God because one of the things that the Holy Spirit points out to one who becomes a Christian is how sinful and unholy they are by nature

I hate my flesh

I hate my fleshly desires

I fall to them and sin but I hate them

I pray you do as well

God hates them

We deserve God’s wrath but because of Jesus and His work and death on the cross, if you have accepted Him, you will not face God’s wrath!

This is where you must be

This is where you must see yourself

When you try to earn your salvation, seeking credit from God

you are driven by pride

Why

Because when you think works will save you

You tell God you are good enough on your own

When you live however you want as a Christian

Reliant upon God’s forgiveness instead of obedience that is also very prideful

I can keep watching porn because God will forgive me

It is okay to have sex with or live with my boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage because we are going to get married one day. God will forgive us

It is okay to turn to drugs or alcohol or cigarettes to deal with stress and problems. God will forgive me

It is okay to continue to be anxious and worry because that is just who I am. God will forgive me

God calls for His children to live much different lives

Matthew 5:3

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““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

poor is from a Greek adjective meaning a beggar

in spirit from a Greek noun meaning breath, spirit

This is the same Greek word translated Holy Spirit

Humble....begging for God

Knowing one is nothing without God

We are not talking about a worldly form of humility but a Godly form of humility

I don’t know about you but I can’t stand fake humility

A humility that is driven by praise and adoration

Humility is not an answer but a lifestyle

You know what I am talking about

You have seen the rich and famous act like they are humble but you look at their lifestyle and it is far from humble

If you are only humble, or only attempt to be humble here at church you are not humble

You are a hypocrite, acting like you are humble when you are in fact full of pride

I think a perfect example of this is found in

Luke 18:10-14

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““Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

Jesus is very clear here

Zero room for pride!

Our human....sinful nature wants to compare ourselves to others in order to try and justify our sin

Truth says white lie and murder and rape are the same

Humans say they are not

Looking at someone you see as more sinful and feeling better about yourself makes you like the Pharisee and you WILL be humbled according to Jesus

You must be very careful here.

So many of us have been, maybe are, or will be here

Notice both of these guys went to church

Vs 10 two men went up into the temple to pray

They were at the temple with the same reason

to pray

They were at the church,

While we are here if you are here only for you

Only to be seen as a church goer

Only to be fed

Only to consume

Only to make yourself feel better

You are like the Pharisee

It is okay to be seen as a church goer

It is okay to be fed

But if that is the only reason you come you are wrong

Jesus doesn’t call us to be consumer but consumed

Consumed with His love for others

Consumed with an unquenchable thirst for the Word of God

Consumed with bearing the burdens of your brothers and sisters in Christ

Consumed with bringing the gospel to the lost

If you leave here feeling better about God and your relationship with God the praise God

God doesn’t care about making your feel better,

He cares about conviction and growth

He cares about bringing you closer to Him

Making you holy as He is holy

Has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with Jesus!

You know each and every week we offer invitation time

I tell you the altar is open

Some of you are the pharisee, standing off by yourself.

God calls you to the altar to pray but you say no God I can say in my seat

Pride

The pharisee stood off by himself because he was too prideful to be with the other people

His prayer was even God thank you I am not a loser like those sinners,

those who steal from people,

those who sleep around,

those drug addicts,

those dirty homeless losers.

Thank you I am better than they are is really what he is praying and what you are praying when you pray the same type of thing

Many will not use those exact words but your heart is exactly the same as that pharisee

When you look around a church

and you do not see the lost

You do not see the addicted

You do not see those struggling with porn

You do not see the broken and afflicted you may have a pharisee problem in your church

You are to seek those,

Not to make yourself feel better

but to introduce them to the Gospel and Jesus

God calls us to have the same heart as the tax collector

He stood afar off because he knew he was guilty

He knew he has sin in his life

He beat his chest and prayed....cried out for God’s mercy

When was the last time you cried out for God’s mercy

Humble yourself

That is really what the altar and invitation are all about each week

Giving you a chance to humble yourself and respond to God’s Word

Respond to God’s Truth

Respond to the conviction that God may be putting on you

Respond to the calling God is placing in your heart

Respond to God Himself

Pride keeps you in your seat

Pride tells you it is okay to stay here

Pride says you don’t have to humble yourself

Pride says you don’t have to listen to God

You must sprint away from that sinful thinking!

Cry out for God’s mercy in your life

If you are struggling with drugs or alcohol......cry out for God’s mercy in your life

Cry out for Jesus as He is the only answer and step you need

He is the only one with the power to deliver you from that addiction

If you are struggling with pride

You know that you look down on people

You know that you compare yourself to others in order to help you feel better about yourself

You know that you seek the praise of men

You know that you depend upon your self-esteem and abilities

You know that you have the heart of the pharisee

Come

Humble yourself

Bring it to God on your knees here at the altar.

This has nothing to do with anyone else in this room including me

I will pray with you

I will talk to you

Let me know when you come up that you want to talk

Otherwise I will come up and put a hand on you and pray whatever God lays on my heart

This time is for you to get with God

To cry out for His mercy

To bring to Him whatever it is that He is asking for this morning.

I encourage you to talk to me or an elder about it

If satan loses the battle and you come to the altar he wants to steal that away from you by having you keep it to yourself

I don’t, the elders, Tommie and Gary, don’t want you to tell us because we are nosey

No we know the enemy wants you to not grow

to not be accountable

to not get into the Word

To not be discipled

When you keep it to yourself that is exactly what happens 99% of the time

I would love to meet with you

spend time together over a coffee and talk about God

Talk about whatever it is you are struggling with

Get into God’s Word together

Pray together

Walk the path together

I can’t do that if you never talk to me about it

Tommie

Gary and myself are called to shepherd the flock

Called to support you

Called to pray with you.....we all pray for you everyday

Called to encourage you

Called to rebuke you

Called to disciple you

We can’t do that if you keep everything to yourself

If you have never accepted Jesus and you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to accept Him this morning come. We will talk

We will pray

God will move!

Come

There is freedom in surrender

Pride will tell you to sit there and ignore God and leave in chains

Jesus says come to me all who are burdened

come to me those who are broken

those in chains

I WILL SET YOU FREE

Come get your freedom in Christ today!

I choose this video and song because it is a wonderful testimony to the other side of the altar

The power of Jesus to set you free

Pride says stay in chains

Stay in prison

Stay enslaved to sin

Jesus says come to me and I will give you life!

The choice is yours

Invitation song