Pride Part 2

Good morning. What a blessing to be able to fellowship together again this morning. Thank you all for putting God first this morning.

Wasn’t it great to sing some hymns this morning? The last Sunday of every month here at CCC is hymn Sunday where Barb and Monte lead us in hymns. What a blessing.

The last Sunday is also Worship Night followed by a fellowship meal. The meal tonight is MEXICAN!!!!!!! Bring your favorite Mexican dish or side or dessert.

Worship night starts at 6 pm. This will be the first worship night with Eli and Tony joining us and tonight will be all live worship. If God lays a testimony or short devotion on your heart that you would like to share tonight please see me after the service this morning.

I have printed the serving schedule for August-October

You will notice that we have added greeters to the schedule. We would like for two people to sign up for each week. One in the back of the sanctuary and one in the fellowship hall. Greeting people, answering questions, directing them to where they need to go. The sanctuary greeter would leave Sunday School about 10:15 am to get to the back of the sanctuary and the fellowship hall would greet people as they entered during Sunday School. It is important to point people to bulletins and notes and communion and if new explain how we do communion. Also if new handing them a visitors card to fill out would be awesome.

If you did not get a chance to sign up for Children’s Church for August through October it is in the fellowship hall on the tables along the north wall. Once that is filled out I will print and post that schedule as well.

Also men, Men’s Encounter is coming up Friday Sept 15th through Sunday Sept 17th. I plan to go and serve and pray that if you have never attended Men’s Encounter you will pray about attending and if you have attended in the past you would pray about going and serving. I would love to take a van full! Sign ups will be posted on Christ Church of Oronogo’s website in the next couple of weeks. I will announce when they are up and ready for you to sign up.

Let’s pray

START OBS

Last week we started our discussion on Pride by looking at the first 3 forms of pride. Today we will look at the remaining 3

I put the first 3 back in your notes to remind you. Hopefully you spent time this week digging into the three we looked at last Sunday

1. Pride Gives Credit To Self

2. Pride Seeks Credit From Others

3. Pride Seeks Credit From God Himself

Notice these three were seeking credit or usually present when one succeeds.

Today we are going to look at the final 3 forms of pride and they show up in an unusual place.

Failure

This is one area of your life that you may not expect to see pride

When you fail you feel many emotions but most would not point to pride as one of them

However it is still there

Maybe the most difficult to overcome because it is so subtle and unexpected

The final 3 forms all happen or can be present in failure

4. Tearing yourself down is prideful

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You may be thinking how is that prideful

How is tearing yourself down or

beating yourself up prideful?

Because you are self-absorbed when you do that

You think only of yourself

your feelings

your emotions

how it is impacting you

what you are losing

what it cost you

how others will see or feel about you

self-absorbed with you

Matthew 6:25-33

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English Standard Version Chapter 6

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

I was drawn here for verse 33 but felt led to read the entire section of scripture here this morning.

Verse 33 is powerful on it’s own but in context even more powerful

Jesus is talking here about perspective

He is talking about lifestyle

He is talking about heart relationship

To sum it up for all my fellow meatheads in the room and online Jesus is saying

Bro. Why you worried about what you will eat and what clothes you will wear? God knows you need to eat

God knows you need clothes

If you don’t believe me look at the birds and flowers. God takes care of them and they are here today gone tomorrow.

He sent Me to die for you, so aren’t you worth so much more to Him than the birds and flowers?

You see you must seek God and He will provide everything you need.

God provides.

Not sure if anyone knows this or not but God is still in the business of providing for His children.

He is not a dead beat dad

He is not a dad who just sends a check every month

He is not a dad who is present but absent, disengaged, uninterested in being a good father

God provides perfectly because He is present in your life!

Sometimes He actually provides the food and clothing

Sometimes He lays it on His children’s hearts to provide the food and clothing

Have you ever been to the store and saw someone and God says help them

Buy their groceries

Maybe God says call so and so

Go see so and so and by calling or going you find a need that needs met and you meet it.

That is God’s provision

With that said if you are in need of help reach out. We have a team that looks at needs and meets them. They can’t help if they do not know there is a need.

Suffering in silence used to be a sign of strength.....no it is really a sign of pride

Most of the time when someone chooses not share their needs it sounds like this in their heads

I don’t need charity

I will figure it out myself

I got myself into the mess I will get myself out of it

Pride

In addition to pride you are stealing someone else’s opportunity to serve and do the work of God

Humility says

I can’t do it

I am not able to do or say or think so I must fully seek God and God alone and He will provide

The problem is you are so self-absorbed that you fail to seek God at all

For most coming here is not truly seeking God but an act of obligation

Well it is Sunday I better go to church

That pastor Josh will text me or follow up with me if I don’t go so I better go

I am a Christian so I have to go to church

Nothing else to do, no football, no lake, no kids sports, I guess I will go to church

Some came here today truly seeking God.

Truly seeking His provision

Truly seeking to serve God and others

Some came seeking Jesus as they have never accepted Him and are lost. God led them here to meet Jesus and enter into a relationship with Him this morning.

Some cam truly seeking to be fed and to feed others by the Holy Spirit

The question is which are you?

I beg you this week to truly allow God to show you where you stand

Do you come here because of God or to check a box?

Do you seek God first or are you tearing yourself down because you are so focused on you and you alone

5. Comparing yourself to others is prideful

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We have all done it

We will all be tempted to do it again

Man If I was like so and so

Compared to them I am a loser

I suck

I am so below them

Woe is me

That is a pity party and that is pride

Here is what you have to be careful about

As Christians you are called to put others above or higher than yourself

Matthew 22:36-40

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““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

Love God with every fiber of your being

Above all else you love God

Nothing between you and God

Nothing before God in your life

He is your 1st love and top priority!

That is expected by the way

You shouldn’t expect a cookie for putting God 1st

You shouldn’t expect your pastor or elders to call you up and say boy you sure do a good job of putting God first

Not you put God first because He put you first when He sent Jesus to live and die and be rose from the dead to offer you salvation when you deserved hell

You put God first because He saved you

That is the minimum response to salvation....God 1st

What you should expect is to sacrifice to put God 1st

Because you will have to not go to things in order to put God first.

The older I get and the more I study God’s Word the more important church becomes.

If you cannot consistently put God first on Sunday mornings and you claim to be saved, I believe, you better be praying to God to confirm

You don’t come to church to earn God’s favor you come to church because you already have God’s favor

You don’t come to church to earn salvation you come to church because of your salvation

You don’t come to church to be seen by men you come to church because you have been seen by God

That will take sacrifice.

You will need to get up and come when you don’t feel like it

That is when you need to be here the most by the way

You will have to remove some people from your circle of influence who lead you away from God

You will have to choose not to participate in some things

It goes beyond church however

You must choose to fill your mind and heart and soul with God’s Word not wordly filth and sin

You must choose to respond the way God says to respond to people not your way or the world’s way

You must choose prayer over worry,

God’s peace over anxiety

Just to name a few things

Putting God first in your life takes maximum effort on your part but is the minimum expectation on God’s part!

In fact you will never be able to truly put God first without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

The 2nd that Jesus mentions is love your neighbor as yourself

This is just as costly

Feed them

Clothe them

Provide for them

Spend time with them

Put them before yourself

The problem with comparing yourself to others,

remember things like I am so inferior to them is that it is usually not driven by humility and love but pride and hurt ego

We see this played out in justification of our failures or sins

No wonder I failed, I just don’t have what they have

I grew up in a broken home with an absent father how can I be successful

You just don’t understand me

I have always failed and I always will fail

They have a wonderful support system I am all alone

As a Christian you are never alone

Jesus is always with you

The Holy Spirit lives inside of you

When you are so self-absorbed in your failure you fail to realize you failed because you did it.

You didn’t seek God first

You didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit

You didn’t surrender and allow Jesus to do it through you.

The final form of pride we are going to look at is

6. Condemning Yourself is Prideful

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I have said many times as a Christian you are to no longer have expectations

Your only expectation is God is God and He will do all He says He will do

Fully trusting in God

You condemn yourself when you fail to meet your expectations

You set them

You decide them

You failed to reach them

You condemn yourself

You become the judge, jury and executioner

There is a problem with that thinking.

Remember

Matthew 6:27

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“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

How in the world can you set expectations when you can’t even add a single hour to your life span?

Proverbs 14:12

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“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Your expectations lead to death.

They seem right to you but the lead you away from God

Remember the difference between conviction and condemnation

Conviction leads you to God because it is from God

You make a mistake,

you sin,

you feel that sorrow for sinning against God.

You run to God and ask forgiveness and to be cleansed of all unrighteousness so you can be in right relationship with God again

Condemnation says you are a failure

Who could love you

God won’t accept you with all your sins and mistakes

God won’t forgive you, you have done this too many times

This plays out in so many areas of our lives

I didn’t get the yard mowed today like Joe over there, man I am a loser

My house is a mess, I am a failure as a wife and mother

I didn’t do this

I didn’t do that

You set so many expectations on yourself and then when you fail to meet them, which most are completely unrealistic that you could never meet them, you condemn yourself

STOP

You are not God

Your way seems right to you but leads to death

You can’t add a single hour to your life.

I want to close with

Titus 3:1-9

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1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. 9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless”

Man there is so much going on here

Again I am not going to totally break this down

I do challenge you to dig into this scripture this week in your secret place time

What I want you to see is true humility

You are to be submissive to rulers. As long as what they ask doesn’t violate God’s Word you are to submit

I don’t care how you feel about the leader

I don’t care if you agree with the leader

God sets up kings, God sets up leaders Daniel 2

You submit unless they go against God’s Word then you stand against it

Vs 2-3 really shows humility

Speak no evil of anyone

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That is tough.

Our society says speak whatever you want about anyone

If you believe it to be true then it is true so speaking evil about someone is justified

God just said differently

Speak no evil of anyone

Evil comes from Greek verb blasphēmeō.

Sound familiar…yep the word we get blaspheme from…means speak evil, blaspheme, vilify, defame

Speak no evil of anyone

Avoid Quarreling

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KJV uses no brawlers.

God cares about your relationships

Avoid quarreling

Do not be brawlers

Stay out of fights.

I have news for you it always takes two to fight and quarrel

If only one person fights it is an attack not a fight

If only one person argues it is an attack not a quarrel

We will always speak truth

We will always confront lies with scripture but we will not engage in quarreling

You can discuss

You can engage in conversation but quarreling takes it a step further

You are emotional

They are emotional

There are probably raised voices

There are definitely hurt feelings

It takes two to quarrel

Don’t engage in quarreling

This includes behind their backs, speak no evil

Let it go

If it has nothing to do with salvation let it go

Pray about it

Seek God first

Allow God to handle it....He is big enough

Be Gentle

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Gentle comes from a Greek adjective that means mild, moderation, patient

You have all met and know gentle people

There whole demeanor is gentle

They wouldn’t hurt a fly is said about these people

This gentle however is different

Jesus was gentle

When someone has an encounter with Jesus they are changed forever

If something or someone or a religion whatever it is violates God’s law.....God’s Word you are to stand.

You are to not accept it

You however are not to attack people but the enemy

I can hear some of you now....Jesus got angry

Jesus drove people out of the temple

Jesus flipped over tables

You are referring to

Matthew 21:12-13

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“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.””

Jesus took action because His Father’s house was being turned into a den of thieves

People were profiting off of God

People were taking advantage of others

People were not making sacrifices but going through the motions

That should make you upset

That should make you drive out those who refuse to return to God

That should drive you to action

Today’s church is a den of thieves many times

The problem is everyone is okay with it

If something doesn’t match the Bible then it should be thrown out

I don’t care how loved the tradition is

I don’t care how long it has been around

I don’t care who will be offended

If something is being done in God’s house that is not inline with His Word then you must take action as His children

The problem is most miss verse 14

Matthew 21:14

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“And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.”

Jesus just drove the people out and flipped the tables and what happens

The blind came

The lame came

They came to the temple and He healed them

Does that sound like someone who is not gentle.

He took action as should we but He still drew in those who needed healing.........so should we

Be gentle

Show Perfect Courtesy To ALL People

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If be gentle didn’t get you this one will

Show perfect courtesy to all people

The KJV uses all meekness here that word is from a Greek noun that means gentleness, meekness, humility

Humans are pretty good and being what we need to be when we need to be it

For an hour or two on Sunday we can bee pretty meek

We can show perfect courtesy in our actions but not our hearts

This is all day everyday church

ALL people

Those who lie about you

Those who abuse you

Those who take advantage of you

Those who hurt you

Those who steal from you

The addicted

The lost

The dirty

The homeless

The greedy

The prideful

ALL PEOPLE!

Why

Why are we to speak no evil

Why are we to avoid quarreling

Why are we to be gentle

Why are we to show perfect courtesy to all people

Why are we to be humble instead of prideful

Vs 3 tells us

You lived just like them

You were once lost

You were once loud

You were once abrasive

You once used foul language

You once drank

You once lied

You once stole

You once cheated

You once lived a life of willful sin

God saved you

God loves you

Because of that

you love them

that is humility

You can’t do that or any of the rest of Titus without the Holy Spirit

You didn’t earn salvation

God gave it to you because of HIS love and mercy

You can’t tear yourself down

You can’t compare yourself to others

You can’t condemn yourself

You can’t do those things when you have been washed and regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit in salvation!

You are new

You are a new creation

You are not who you once were

You are now totally dependent upon God and His provision and His mercy

You are humble

Because of your sin you deserve hell

but get salvation

You deserve to be rejected

but get adopted

You deserved to be hated

but are loved!

You deserve God’s Wrath

but you get His mercy

All because of Jesus

That is why you are to be humble.

I don’t know where you are this morning.

You do

God does

And that is all that matters.

We are entering our time of invitation and again this is between you and God

I will be glad to meet you here

To talk with you

To pray with you

As you come forward come to me

Or

I will be happy to put a hand on you

and pray whatever God lays on my heart as you cry out to God

I want to meet you where you are

God is waiting, won’t you come

STOP OBS

Invitation