Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Common Sins and Struggles" by Joey Morgan - Part 5

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"Common Sins and Struggles" by Joey Morgan - Part 5 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Well, good morning, everyone.
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So last Sunday we started our study of the common sin and struggle of pride, which is
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this class is common sins and struggles, and again, we're looking at it mostly at how Christians
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commonly deal with these things, not that the world doesn't.
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All these are the same way with that as well.
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So last Sunday we started by defining pride, which is to swell up, to think highly of oneself,
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to be arrogant, etc.
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I guess if I had to put my own definition on it, I see it as you put yourself in a place
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where you don't belong in a sense of how you feel about yourself, whatever it might be.
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Essentially, it's an inflated view of oneself.
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And then we talked about how it shows itself in three typical ways, not that these are
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the only three ways, but it's three typical ways.
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One is an exaggeration of your sense of worth, mainly you view yourself as worth more than
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maybe somebody else for whatever reasons that might be, your wealth, your intelligence,
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whatever your occupation.
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You think basically that you're better than others, that everything about you makes you
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more or worth more.
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Then we talked about pride and possessions, so that is what you have is what makes you
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better than others.
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And then pride and self-sufficiency, proud enough to think that everything about you
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has come solely from you, yourself, and from your own efforts, and think that you are within
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yourself self-sufficient.
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So then we started talking about, so those were the three ways, we kind of defined what
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those were, and then we started talking about why these three things are sinful.
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And we covered the problem with the exaggeration of your self-worth is when someone will only
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see themselves as good, and you see others as bad, because if you see yourself as better
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than everybody else, then you're only going to see yourself as good, and everybody else
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and what they are are bad.
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Well the problem with that is, if you always think that you're good, you're never going
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to realize that you're bad, and we're all a mix of both sometimes.
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We might do some good things, but we also do bad things, so that person is less likely
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to come to repentance for the things that they do that are bad.
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So now we're going to start this class with the second, pride and possessions.
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So when it comes to pride based on how we value our possessions, why is that sinful?
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If we put our value in the things that we have, what makes that sinful?
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Yep, that's part of it.
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There's no value in doing it, so it's a bad place to put your value, but if I base my
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worth on some things that I have, what am I doing with those things?
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I'm putting them in the position of God, which is where my value should come from.
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So if I feel like my whole worth, my whole being is based upon this that I have, then
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I'm going to do whatever I can do to elevate this stuff that I have to make myself feel
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like I'm worth more, whatever it might be.
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So that sin basically is idolatry.
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If our pride is in our possessions and our things, we are actually practicing idolatry
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at that point.
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That's what we're doing.
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When we draw our value and personal worth from the things we own, we are giving these
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things the credit for who we are, when in all reality we should be giving God that credit.
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It shouldn't be the things that we have.
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So it's a form of worship, and if a person does this, their self-worth and value is in
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something else other than God.
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If my car or anything else that is what makes me who I am, then that car, for me, is taking
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the place of God.
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That's where I should draw those things from.
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So the worship of an idol is not only confined to a little statue or bowing down before something
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else or whatever it might be.
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It includes us making God out of things that don't deserve to be that, whether it's something
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that we acquire or pursue.
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If that's what we think makes us who we are, that's the place that we're putting those
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things in.
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Psalmist said over in Psalm 52.7, behold the man who would not make God his refuge, you
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might have strength in your translation, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and
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was strong in his evil desire.
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Again, disclaimer with this, that's not to say that we can't have satisfaction from the
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things that we have or the accomplishments that we make or anything along those lines.
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That's kind of normal.
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But when those things become what we trust in, they become our refuge, they become our
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strength, they become everything that God should be for us, that's where this pride
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problem comes into play.
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Our pride has given these things what really only God deserves.
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So that's why pride and possessions can become sinful.
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So now we'll talk about the third one, pride and self-sufficiency, why is it sinful?
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And then again, we'll talk about how we can deal with each one of these three things if
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it's something that we're struggling with.
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And I think self-sufficiency, as I mentioned last week, is the type of pride that is most
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probably condemned in the Bible because this sin is shown in the type of attitude of really
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denying God what is due to him, what only his power is allowed to give us.
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So this is similar really to the pride of possessions, except now instead of things
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and possessions is what brings us our worth.
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If it's pride and self-sufficiency, where's our worth coming from?
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Our own selves.
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So now if our possessions were put in the place of God, and pride and possessions, and
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if pride and self-sufficiency, now it's us, what's that mean?
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We're making ourselves.
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We're putting ourself in the God position instead of the things that maybe that we own.
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So when our pride tells us we are the most important, we are the self-made people, we
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need no one else, if I say I don't need anybody else, what's that mean?
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I don't need who?
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Because that's who I think that I am.
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And again, none of us would probably ever come out and verbally express that and say,
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well, I think I'm just as qualified as God to make all the right decisions in my life.
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I think I'm just as qualified as God to provide myself with the things that I need on a day-to-day
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basis.
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We probably would never come out and say that because we know better than to say that verbally
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because we'd say, man, that's going to make me look bad.
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But sometimes we might live that way, and we're not honest with ourselves that we make
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decisions in that way.
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But as far as my world is concerned, if you have this pride, you are your own God.
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And the danger, this dangerous sin is condemned vigorously throughout scripture.
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For example, over in Psalm 10-4, the wicked in the haughtiness, remember that was one
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of the words that we talked about how you maybe won't see the word pride, but there's
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several words out there that's basically the same thing.
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The wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him.
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All his thoughts are there is no God.
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In the haughtiness of someone's countenance, they'll come to the conclusion there's no
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God.
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But that's because of pride.
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You have this pride that says I don't need him because I think I can do it on my own.
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There are six things.
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I think Russell brought this one up last week.
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There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven, which are an abomination to him.
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Haughty eyes, again, there's the word haughty, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
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Proverbs 6, 16 and 17.
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There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness, Proverbs
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30, 12.
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So here's someone who is pure in his own eyes, again, I think that I'm it.
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I think that I'm the most important.
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I think I'm the best.
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I don't need anybody else, definitely wouldn't need God, but yet he's not washed from his
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filthiness and that's the problem with this pride is you're not going to come to the realization
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of who you really are because you think that you're good.
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Therefore let him who stands take heed that he does not fall, 1 Corinthians 10, 12, again,
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someone who has this sort of pride is maybe not going to take heed.
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That's a warning there.
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You're going to fall because you're not paying attention.
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Turn over to James chapter 4, I think this pride to me is kind of explained very well
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in what James says over in James chapter 4, which that whole chapter really is about the
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dangers of pride and judging and presuming things and things along that nature.
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But I think that this little set from verse 13 and 16, these three verses here to me is
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kind of explaining this in a way for you to be able to get it.
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It says verse 13, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a
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city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit, whereas you do not know what
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will happen tomorrow, for what is your life?
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It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
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Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and we will do this or that,
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but now you boast in your arrogance.
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All such boasting is evil.
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What's James telling us here about these, those who say today or tomorrow I'm going
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to go and do this, I'm going to go and do that.
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This is what's going to end up happening too whenever I do that.
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I already know what's going to happen.
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This is what's going to happen.
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I'm going to buy, I'm going to sell, I'm going to make a profit.
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I've got my plans all laid out exactly to a tee, this is what's going to happen.
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That's what these people think.
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So what are they saying they have?
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Yeah, because they're thinking they control everything, don't they?
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We might think today I'm going to get up and I'm going to go do this, and that's going
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to lead me to this, and this is going to do this, and again, nothing wrong with making
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plans.
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I mean, we all don't just get up and randomly do stuff.
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We kind of got an idea what we might be doing, but we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking
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that we actually have some control of what's going to happen.
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We might have an idea of what might happen, but we have zero control.
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It's really crazy if you start to think about how much little control that we actually have
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in our day-to-day life.
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We have plans sometimes, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen.
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But James is saying when you think you're in control, when you think that you're in
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control, you're not correctly thinking about who is in control.
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You never even ponder that God is in control if you have this kind of pride, the pride
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and self-sufficiency, because you think that you actually are the reason behind everything
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that happens in your life is because of you.
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It's not because of God.
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He has no role in it, and again, some of the things that happen to you are because of you,
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but again, we have zero control over what's going to happen today for the most part in
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the big scheme of things.
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I'm not saying you can't decide I'm going to go out and get in my car and drive.
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That's a decision that you're making, but you still have no idea what's going to happen
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today.
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None of us do.
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And that's why he says you should be thinking if the Lord wills, I'm going to go do these
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things, because whenever you say those words, if the Lord wills, what's that saying?
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God, I understand who's really in control here, and it's not me.
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I understand that it's you.
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That's humility, right?
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That's the opposite of pride.
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It's you understanding even though I might think that I'm somebody, I'm really nobody
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because I don't have control like what you have, because you're God.
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I'm the creation.
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You're the creator.
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You're the one who controls all things.
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It's not me.
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So why such a big problem?
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So those are, we've talked about the three reasons what they are, how they kind of show
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themselves, why are they sinful, why is this one such a big problem, why is this one so
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condemned by God, the pride of self-sufficiency?
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Because remember, sins are sins for a reason.
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They are things that separate us from him.
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If we're a prideful person and we have what we feel like are, we're self-sufficient, we're
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better than others, we see ourselves as better than others, whether it's because of attributes
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within ourselves, whether it's our possessions, whatever it might be.
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Why is pride such a problem?
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For a lot of it is, yes.
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It's behind a lot of things.
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I've got here and it's kind of along those lines.
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I've got several things, but pride can lead us to, pride not can lead us, will lead us
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to spiritual blindness.
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If we think that we're great and we can do no wrong or we're better, we don't need God
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because we're self-sufficient, all those things, we're never going to see my shortcomings,
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I'm never going to see my flaws, I'm never going to see the things that I do where I
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need to improve myself, whatever it might be.
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I'm going to have a lack of self-awareness of who I truly am because, again, it doesn't
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matter how many great things that you've done that gives you that pride, you've also done
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some bad things.
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Is there anybody in here that's not done a bad thing in their life?
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It's a trick question, the answer is no.
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There's no one in here that hasn't.
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But if I don't ever look at myself in that way, I'm never going to see it, I'm going
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to be spiritually blind.
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I'm not going to look for opportunities to grow in my faith.
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I'm going to feel like maybe I've already arrived if I'm prideful.
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I'm the best Christian ever.
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I do all sorts of great works and I attend every single time that doors open, I'm in
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here and I'm way better than anybody else that doesn't do all the same things I do.
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That puts me up there, I'm great.
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So that's the other side of it, you may not see the bad things but you're also not going
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to improve yourself in maybe the ways that you should because you're not getting the
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real picture of yourself.
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You're going to see yourself as maybe not needing to make any more improvement in your
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spiritual life.
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Think about Paul over in Philippians 3 if you want to turn there.
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You know, even Paul near the end of his life, after all the work that he's done and his
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cause for Christ, he acknowledged even then still that his faith was an ongoing process.
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He's not one who says, you know, I've done this and I've done that, I've arrived, I'm
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as good as you can get.
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Beginning in verse 12 of Philippians chapter 3, he says not that I have already attained
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or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus
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has also laid hold of me.
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Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forget those things which
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are behind and reach forward towards the things which are ahead.
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I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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We need to be humble enough to realize that there's always improvements for us.
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There's always a place for us to grow and mature in Christ.
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He says not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but see a prideful person
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is going to think that they're already perfected.
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I'm already there.
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I'm at the level in which everyone else should be at where I'm at because I'm that good.
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And that's a problem.
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But we've got to realize, we've got to be humble enough to realize there's always room
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to grow.
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We can always learn more.
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There's always things that we could be doing better in our walk with Christ.
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But again, we have to be able to put away pride if we want to see those things, to understand
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that I need to do better.
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I need to be better.
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Pride's going to make us think that we're already perfected.
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Humility will cause us to seek and press on to be perfected.
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Pride will keep us from making changes that we need to make in our life because we're
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going to think that I don't need to change anything.
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I'm already there.
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I'm where I need to be.
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You know, a prideful person can be a stubborn person who struggles to listen or refuses
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to listen to other people, whether it's advice of any kind or anything like that.
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Anybody know anybody like that?
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A pretty prideful person that doesn't matter what you tell them, they know better.
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They don't even want your advice because they feel like they're above you, whatever it might
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be.
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So now apply that to yourself and ask yourself the question, am I that way sometimes?
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Again, it's bad enough if we do it with one another because there might be somebody in
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this room that's trying to help you to grow into what you need to be.
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But the worst thing is for you to say that to God whenever something is clearly given
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to you in scripture and hits you point blank in the face and you say, I know better.
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That doesn't apply to me.
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I've got that down pat.
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He's not talking to me here.
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He's talking to so and so.
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A prideful person is a stubborn person.
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And sometimes we are that stubborn person.
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Because again, the spiritual application of this is much more serious than the physical
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aspect of us just being prideful amongst each other, coworkers, whatever it might be.
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That's bad enough to do it in your own personal life.
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But the spiritual application is much worse because if you don't change, what's the fancy
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word for change?
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When we know we should be doing something and we're not, or when we know we're not supposed
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to be doing something and we're not, and we're supposed to change, what's the fancy word
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that we know that starts with an R?
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I can't even say it.
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I'm trying to think of how I could say it without saying the R, but it ends with E-penance,
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I guess.
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I'm trying to do the Hiram.
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Yeah, if we're not going to come to repentance.
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That's why it's a big problem.
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We don't want to be people who are resistant to repentance.
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If God's word points out something that we need to correct, we don't need to be resistant
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to that.
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And pride's going to stand in the way.
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Remember another example over in James chapter 1, 22 through 24, he says, but be doers of
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the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
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For anyone who is a hearer of the word, not a doer, is like a man observing his natural
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face in the mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind
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of man that he is.
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James using the example of someone who sees himself in the mirror, sees something that
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they need to change, whether it's your hair's out of place, you know, you've got something
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in your teeth, whatever it is, you see something in your normal walk of life.
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And you just say, I'm not changing that.
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You just walk off and forget it, forget all about it.
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That seems silly.
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None of you probably would do that in the morning.
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If you looked in the mirror and you saw something that you needed to change your appearance
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or you might get made fun of the rest of the day or whatever it might be, you'd go ahead
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and do that.
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Well, it's no different than us looking into God's word and seeing something that's point
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blank telling you, you need to do something.
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Whether it's you need to do more of this or you need to do less of this.
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If you see it and it point blank comes to you and you say, that's me, but then you just
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say, eh, and walk off and don't change a thing about yourself, well, it just doesn't make
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any sense.
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If you're doing that with your physical appearance, why are you doing that with your spiritual
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things as well?
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That's something that a prideful person, again, is going to hear God's word maybe, but they're
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going to say, that's not for me.
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They're not going to end up being a doer of whatever that is.
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Nobody likes correction, but what does Hebrews 12, 6 tell us?
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Anybody know that one in their memory bank, Hebrews 12, 6?
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For whom the Lord loves, he chastens.
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See correction from God is for one reason only, because he loves you.
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It's no different than how you've been with, if you've had children or grandchildren or
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loved ones or whatever it might be, the people that are closest to you that you're willing
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to say maybe some hard stuff to because you love them and you want what's best for them.
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That's no different than God.
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The Lord loves whom he chastens.
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Don't let pride make you resistant to change, resistant to correction from a father who
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loves you.
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Let humility allow you to see yourself as who you are, that you've messed up, that you
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know that God knows what's best, and let that be the reason why you end up changing.
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So pride is going to lead you into believing that you're self-sufficient, even though you
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couldn't be farther from it.
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Pride is going to lead you being arrogant and believe that you're better than you really
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are, and pride is going to lead you in believing that you are already perfect, just as you're
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sitting there, and that you don't need to change a single thing, and that's why it's
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so bad.
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Yeah, Miller?
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Mm-hmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Yeah, that's also a thing where we're not listening to what God has told us to do, because he's told us to confess our sins and to talk to one another, bear one another's burdens, be there for one another.
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All the things that we're supposed to be doing as the church with one another, but we can't very well do it if we don't know about it.
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And the devil uses the tactic to keep us from talking to one another. That pride sin comes in, and now we've, oh, they're going to think bad of me if I do this, and I talk, if I mention it, if I say anything to anybody, and I want to just keep it to myself.
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Mm-hmm.
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Well, now let's talk about the fix.
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So if this is your issue, if this is a thing that you're dealing with, and again, everything that we cover, we all are probably dealing with it in some form or fashion, whether it's the ones we've covered prior to this, the ones we're about to cover, but all of us struggle in different ways.
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Some of us maybe more so with one, maybe more so with another.
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But what is the obvious answer if I said, what do you need to be more of if you're a prideful person?
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Humble.
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You need to have more humility, and Jesus gives us the perfect example of it.
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If anyone should have any of the kind of pride that we've talked about, if anyone should have that, it would be Jesus.
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He humbled himself, though, being obedient to the will of the Father.
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Go over to Philippians chapter 2.
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Paul talks about the humbled and exalted Christ.
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He says, let this mind, beginning in verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
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So everything that we're about to read, it's let this mind, that I'm about to tell you, this is the mind that Jesus had.
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This is the kind of mind that you need to have.
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Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God,
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but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.
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Being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross.
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So if we look at pride of my self-worth, or I feel like I'm above other people in the form of God, can you get much bigger than that?
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So if anybody could have that pride, it should be Jesus.
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What about pride in possessions?
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We read last week where Jesus in all things consists, he is in all things, all the all statements that we had.
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Is there anybody that has more than Jesus when everything is his?
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No.
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So if anybody should have pride about that, it should be him.
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What about pride in self-sufficiency?
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Does Jesus need anything?
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He is actually self-sufficient.
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So if anybody should have that pride, it should be him.
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But yet it says, but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance of men,
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he humbled himself and became obedient, even to the death on the cross.
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So no matter how high we might think that we are, whether it's our self-worth, whether it's the things that we have, whether it's how we think that we're the ones who are in control of things,
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we're not even in the same stratosphere remotely as God or Christ.
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I think the spirit of the church as a whole can become prideful.
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It can come in many forms, in every aspect of our life, in a sense, too, as well.
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But there's no one who is higher up there than him, and yet he humbled himself to die,
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came from the Father, didn't have to, wouldn't have had to, chose to, became a servant whenever he's as high as you could possibly get.
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So no matter how high that you think that you are, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.
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No one higher than him, and yet we might think that way about ourselves and start to feel good about ourselves for whatever it might be.
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There's no reason for us to brag. There's nothing for us to brag about within ourselves in comparison to Jesus.
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So let his humility always bring you back to where you need to be.
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Because if we have pride as an exaggerated sense of worth, we'll go through the three things again and how we can deal with those things.
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There's ways that we can deal with that as well.
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Many times we may do things or say things to raise ourselves up that comes from an incorrect view of our own self.
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We glory, basically, in our own selves.
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Solomon says in Proverbs 25-27 that it's not good to eat much honey, and so to seek one's own glory is not glory.
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What's Solomon saying in that verse?
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It's not good to eat much honey, but to seek one's own glory is not glory.
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Yeah, Dale. Oh, you got something.
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I have a fear. I try not to ever say I'm proud of you. I try to say I'm thankful for this.
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You must be really proud of yourself for doing well in the Lord rather than asking for people.
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Instead of saying I'm proud of you, say I'm thankful for you.
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Be happy about it.
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But the mindset of someone who says that they're thankful, it's the mindset of why you're proud is the key thing to get.
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Why are you proud about it?
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Is it proud because you think you were the only one who played a role in it?
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Or are you proud about it because you're thankful enough that you were able to have whatever has happened in your life through whatever means?
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Yeah.
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But what is Solomon saying about glory here?
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It's not good to eat much honey, and so to seek one's own glory is not glory.
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Because if you have an exaggerated sense of your self-worth, that means you are glorifying yourself in a way that is being pretty proudful.
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The glory you choose for yourself doesn't really matter, does it?
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I can sit up and tell somebody how great I am all day long.
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But if nobody else thinks it, what's it matter?
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I mean, I can sit there and tell you how great I am, all the things I do, and how great that I think that those things are compared to other people.
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But if nobody else actually thinks that about it, then to seek one's own glory, as Solomon says, that's not real glory.
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Glory really only comes from what other people see about it.
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You can't really glorify yourself in a way like that.
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The fix is actually better. Solomon says in Proverbs 27, 2,
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Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips.
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That's a more legitimate assessment of your worth, right?
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Because we're always going to see ourselves in a different way when we look at ourselves.
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Because we twist stuff in our own minds about why we do things, what we do.
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But if the total assessment of what everybody else thinks about me versus what I think about me is totally different,
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then maybe I should maybe understand that I'm not really who I think that I am.
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If everybody else is seeing it a totally different way, it doesn't matter that I glorify myself and I think of myself as who I think that I am.
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If no one else sees that, then that's a totally different thing.
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It's like saying I'm the most humble man in the room.
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But we need to make sure if we have a pride of exaggerated self-worth,
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a fix to that is to understand that don't look at your own self as the determiner of who you are sometimes.
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Let other people ultimately take advice on things.
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If someone tells you something and you're like, that's not me,
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and then someone else tells you the same thing and you're like, that's not me,
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and then someone else tells you the same exact thing,
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you've got to come to the conclusion sometimes that maybe I do need to work on whatever this is,
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whatever that might be.
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2 Corinthians 10, Paul I think truly gets to the issue of self-worth and perspective,
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beginning in verse 12.
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He says,
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We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us,
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a sphere which especially includes you.
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For we are not overextending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you.
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For it was to you that we come to the gospel of Christ,
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not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors,
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but having hope that as your faith is increased,
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we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere,
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to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you,
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and not boast in another man's sphere or accomplishment.
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But then verse 17 and 18, he says,
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But he who glorifies, let him glory in the Lord,
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for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
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That's the two verses that I wanted you to pay attention to.
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He's talking about several things there, about people comparing themselves and things like that.
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But he says,
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He who glories, let him glory in who?
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The Lord.
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For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
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So what's that last verse say?
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Whose opinion really matters?
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Is it your opinion about yourself that matters?
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No.
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It's who the Lord commends.
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So if you are stuck in a position of pride where you keep commending your own self,
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keep exaggerating your own self of sense worth,
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or own sense of worth,
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and you put yourself on a higher pedestal than you ought to be,
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then to seek your own glory is foolish, is what Solomon said.
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And then what Paul is saying here is,
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there's only one thing that matters.
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And it's the Lord's opinion of you.
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Not your opinion of you.
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And even though I was just saying,
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if other people come up to you and say something,
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or a multitude of people have an opinion of you that's different than the one of yourselves,
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in a sense, that's a way for you to understand maybe that your view is incorrect.
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But ultimately, what we need to be doing,
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if this is our sense of pride,
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is instead of looking to our own self,
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commending ourselves, glorifying ourselves,
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we need to be going and saying,
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what does God think about me?
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That's the opinion that matters.
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In other words, if the Lord approves of you,
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you are as worthy and as valuable as you can ever become.
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That's really all that matters.
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And as a matter of fact, for the Christian,
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the only legitimate boasting is to boast about what Christ has accomplished in you.
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And to be thankful for what God has accomplished in you.
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Be thankful for the things that God has put you in the position to be.
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Be thankful for the things and the possessions that God has given you.
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So if boasting or bragging is the form of pride that you struggle with,
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maybe remember that others are never really impressed with that.
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And the only legitimate boast is how much that God has done for you.
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So if you struggle with pride of life and possessions in our nation,
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I think this form of pride, like I said,
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this class is primarily from the Christian perspective,
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but this is probably the form of pride that affects the most individuals in the world.
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We live in a very materialistic society where there's always a great big pressure
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to judge people based upon the things that they have, the things that they value,
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whether it's what they wear, what they drive, where they live, all those kinds of things.
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So we can't leave this society and go live in a monastery or a cave or something like that.
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We're still living in this society, but we don't have to be like this society.
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In fact, that's what we're not supposed to be, like what this society is.
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We're to be in the world but not of the world.
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Well, how do we do that?
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I think we have to keep our priorities in order if we're dealing with this.
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Matthew 6.33, I'll go through these fast since we're running out of time,
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but in order to keep our priorities in order, Matthew 6.33 says what?
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That should be a memory verse for you all too.
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Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
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All these things will be added to you.
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He just talked about the material things of life,
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all the things that you need for life and all those kinds of things.
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So, yes, do we need things?
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All of us need things.
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We all have to have things to live in this world.
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But there's a greater purpose and a greater priority, or there should be for us,
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than accumulating and obtaining things, and that be what our worth is in.
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It should be the spiritual things.
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And then the next thing would be contentment.
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In order, if this is a pride thing that you struggle with,
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with the possessions and things like that,
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sometimes you might need to work on your commitment as well,
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and then also perspective.
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The parable of the rich fool in Luke 12.13-21
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kind of reminds me of what she just mentioned.
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Anybody remember what was told to him?
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Thou fool, what if this night these things,
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what if your life is taken from you tonight?
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Whose things are these going to be?
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If you don't have the right perspective about things,
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then you're liable to be more prideful in them.
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But if you understand all these things are temporary,
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all these things are going to be nothing eventually,
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then why would you put your worth in them?
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There's no sense in that.
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So, finally then, how do we overcome the self-sufficiency problem in pride?
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I mentioned it last week.
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We all have to come to the conclusion,
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if you're here as a Christian,
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you've already came to this conclusion,
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you need God.
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There is no such thing as self-sufficiency.
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God is something that we need
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because everything that we have is from him.
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Everything that is important to us is because of him.
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We're in a bad shape without him.
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Until you come to that realization,
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it's very hard to knock out that pride of self-sufficiency.
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Humility comes through having the same mind as Christ,
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who came to this earth,
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didn't count it robbery,
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gave himself on the cross,
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and became a servant.
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Somebody mentioned it last week in this general area,
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but he's not here today.
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The opposite, the more we become like a servant,
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the more humble that we are,
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the less prideful we will be.
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But we're out of time, I think,
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so I appreciate y'all's comments.
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Next week, we'll talk about swearing and gossip,
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are really the things that you say.
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So, go home and discuss with your people that are around you
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who you think are the worst gossips.