The message is, you know, I don't even
know if I should say this title.
The Deception of Pride.
And I often say that I am a
prideful man working on humility, often.
I think it's healthy to admit that because
pride can rise up in the best of
us.
And we can start to think a little
bit more highly of ourselves than we should.
And God will begin to humble us when
that happens because He loves His children.
And pride is deadly.
What I'm going to talk about is pretty
serious.
Because pride leads to deception.
Pride leads to rebellion.
Pride leads to spiritual blindness.
Pride leads to quarrels.
Pride leads to confusion.
Pride leads to anxiety and depression.
And pride leads to false worship.
That's not a good list.
Because it's dangerous.
And it can really sidetrack us.
So if you have your Bibles, it's James
4, chapter 4, verse 13.
And James is saying something interesting here.
At first it might seem like something that
doesn't make a lot of sense.
But I'm hoping to unpack that.
And I did a little bit last Wednesday.
James says this, He
says, They were boasting in their arrogance.
They were boasting in their self-confidence.
All such boasting is evil.
Therefore, to him who knows to do good
and does not do it, to him it
is sin.
In other words, he's saying, you know now
the boasting is evil.
And because you know it, if you continue
in that pattern, it's going to be sinning.
You will be caught in a sinful lifestyle.
And boasting, the word means to talk with
excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements,
possessions, or abilities.
It's excessive pride.
Have you ever been around those people where
it's just like, I can't be around you
much longer.
It's just terrible.
Go down and take a trip to Hollywood
and listen to those guys.
Or sports, often athletes, or people who are
successful in a different thing.
They just want to tell you, I'm so
successful in this area, and look at my
achievements, look at what I've accomplished.
It's just arrogance, because even our breath is
from God.
I think we forget that.
Even that breath we're taking, that wonderful gift
of life, is from God.
Everything.
Our money, our accomplishments.
If somebody accomplishes something, it's because he's given
you the gifting and the ability to accomplish
it.
That's why he gets all the glory and
all the credit.
That's why I love that song, Hallelujah.
That word, Hallelujah, is a praise to God
for what he's done.
And so when we boast and we say,
well here's what I'm going to do.
And there's nothing wrong with planning.
This isn't about somebody saying, you know what,
next year I'd like to do this.
I'd like to move here.
My plan is to be here at work
and retire at this age.
By next year I want to hopefully have
a raise, and we want to have our
car paid off.
That's not boasting.
That's planning.
When you say, God, here's what I'm planning,
what is your plan?
I want to come alongside of your plan,
versus saying, God, here's what I'm doing, now
bless it.
And we do that, don't we?
We steamroll ahead.
I'm not really concerned with what God's saying.
I'm just going to do this.
And that's boasting, and that's arrogance, thinking we're
going to accomplish something without the Lord's help.
So that's really what he's talking about here.
What happens is pride knocks us off track.
A prideful person cannot be led of the
Lord.
It knocks us off track.
We make bad decisions, we have the wrong
focus, it wastes time, it wastes money, it
wastes energy, and we actually drift away from
God.
Now, this is probably, I'm sure, a group
of believers.
We love the Lord.
But the sad fact also is that pride
ultimately leads to damnation.
A fool has said in his heart, there
is no God.
And when somebody rejects God, they die in
that state of rejection.
It's because pride played the biggest role.
I've got people in my own life, which
I'm sure you do too, who I'm trying
to get to, friends in high school, other
people that I'm trying to get to, but
you know what's preventing it?
Not humility.
They're not humble and teachable.
They're prideful and they're arrogant.
You know, that's good for you, Shane.
That's good for you.
I'm glad you found religion.
Like I'm some little kid who needs to
be appeased.
But this isn't for me.
Why is it for me?
Because it's pride.
And pride will lead to damnation.
Satan said, I will be like the most
high God.
And he was cast down.
It was pride.
It's pride.
The Bible, if you're ever wondering where the
enemy is coming at you, it's just three
areas.
That's all.
That's all you have to worry about.
Three?
That's all?
Just three.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the boastful pride of life.
That's where he comes.
And it's interesting.
You watch.
You start to do good at work and
money is coming in.
Do you get more humble?
No.
We get what?
Sometimes prideful.
Things are going our way.
Things are going good.
Do we get humble or do we get
prideful?
Now walking around, it seems like everywhere we
go, people are like, I've heard of that
church.
It's out there.
It's growing so much.
Puff up the chest.
Yes.
Prideful.
Or no.
Humility.
And that's why God keeps it in check.
It's his work.
I mean for anybody to think that anybody
is orchestrating all this and look at what
we've done is ridiculous.
It's God bringing people from all over.
But see the pride of life can rise
up in success.
And then we often have failure to humble
us.
And we get prideful in success and then
we get humbled.
So that's what's happening here.
Pride is a very destructive thing.
And it has to be dealt with often
on a daily basis or at least a
weekly basis or taking it to the Lord
saying, okay, Lord, this week I'm getting prideful
in these areas.
And you might be thinking, what does prideful
mean?
Well, boasting is accomplishing.
Look at what I've accomplished.
Look at what I've done.
It manifests itself in a lot of different
ways.
One way is you're not teachable.
You're always right.
You've got to get the last word in.
Can I say amen on that one?
No amens on that one?
You're going to leave me hanging, right?
I have to do this too sometimes.
You're just not going to get prideful.
And we don't want to be challenged.
We don't want to be, you know, it's
just this pride rises up in us because
it's thinking of ourselves more highly than we
should.
And Paul says you should not think of
yourself more highly than you should.
So let's get into this for a minute.
The key is don't plan for it.
It says not to boast.
Well, I should reiterate that.
The key is plan for things, but don't
boast in them.
Plan what I talked about earlier.
Lord, is this part of your plan?
What do you want me to do?
God, bless my plans, is what we often
say, rather than God, what is your plan?
So the right way that we should handle
this planning for tomorrow is, Lord, here's what
we would like to do, what we feel
you're calling us to do, but would you
direct us?
I mean, I've got plans.
I'd love to pay off bills at some
point.
I have plans for this church.
You know, we'd love to see two services
here.
We'd love to see two services full.
We'd love to see the Kids Connection building
full.
We want to make a kids area there.
But, Lord, would you show us what is
best?
Would you guide us?
And it's good to make plans, but you
better be very flexible because often we make
our plans a certain way, but things happen.
Life happens.
People get sick.
They get hurt.
We've got to take care of certain family
members we didn't plan on.
Things are shifted.
This isn't what I thought.
This is what I didn't plan on.
As I talked about Sunday, you've got to
learn to trust in God's sovereignty.
He can deliver you, but even if He
doesn't, He's still sovereign.
Like those three Hebrew boys that were caught
in that fire.
And they said, right before they went to
the fire, they told the king, and I'm
reiterating, I know some of you have heard
this, but I think it's an important point,
is they told the king that we are
not going to bow down to your image.
Our God is able to deliver us.
But even if He doesn't, we're still not
going to bow to you.
And I've noticed that sometimes we can get
on the other side of, you know, God's
going to heal this person or me.
God's going to do this, and God's going
to get me through this.
He's going to take me over it, and
I'm not going to have to deal with
it.
I didn't know I was going to have
to go through it.
And we have these plans, and when God
doesn't fulfill the plan like we thought, if
we're not careful, it can lead to bitterness.
There's a lot of people angry at God.
There's a lot of people.
A lot of times what I deal with
when I'm talking with atheists, I'm going back
and forth with a few online, and I've
had lunch with them, I've shared that before,
and other people at the hospital homes sometimes,
is they're angry at God.
They're mad.
Why did God allow this?
How could a loving God, and we forget
that He is sovereign in the good times
and the bad times.
We trust Him regardless of what things look
like, and that will make life much easier
because you're not fighting against God.
Yes, it's challenging.
I'm not trying to minimize challenges.
Please don't misunderstand.
We don't like the curveballs that life throws
to us, but I'd rather live trusting God
and saying, Lord, You're sovereign.
You'll get me through this, and humbling myself
instead of getting prideful.
And how could you?
Okay, I'll play this game, but on my
terms.
And that never works.
So this is an interesting area.
That's the right way to do it.
Lord, here's what I would like to do,
but what do You want to do?
The wrong way, arrogantly assume that this is
what You're going to do.
Arrogance is self-willed.
Being self-willed is not God-centered.
Being self-willed is, here's what my will
wants, here's what I'm going to do.
Dobson wrote a book many years ago, The
Strong-Willed Child.
Oh, man.
Do you have any strong-willed children, or
is it just me?
I think I got all four.
All four.
Just mine.
No.
Even the little three-year-old today, she's
like, stupid, mean.
She's strong.
I want that, and I want it now.
And that's how we're raised.
I want it now.
I want my crackers now.
I want to eat now.
I don't want to go to bed now.
And that's an interesting part, too, because I
tell my kids, if I wish Morgan would
come home and tell me it's nap time,
I would love to take a nap.
Let's go to bed.
I'd love to just go to bed.
I'm tired.
What's wrong with you guys?
You just want to stay up even when
you're exhausted, and they're so self-willed.
That's pride.
So what parenting does is you actually, over
the course of parenting, is you break that
pride out of them by helping them humble
themselves and talking and saying, that's not right.
We don't allow that.
You're not going to act like that.
And I really, about six months ago, I
had quite an experience with my son.
He was not acting good in school, and
I know that because I went through that.
When you don't like something, you don't want
to read something, you don't want to learn
it.
And it realized, I took him in his
room, and I was, you know, this is,
you're not going to talk to mom like
that.
You're not going to throw fits like this.
It's not acceptable.
It's not going to happen.
And I finally realized, he looked at me
and said, Dad, I'm trying.
I don't want to, but I don't know
how.
I don't know.
And I realized, oh, he's like me.
He's struggling.
He wants to be a good son, but
Dad, I don't know how.
And he's crying.
I want to, but I don't know.
So I saw the struggle.
Ah, I know that struggle.
You know, here we think we can raise
him like little drill sergeants.
Yes, sir.
No, sir.
And they're just perfect little kids.
But he's struggling.
I want to treat mom good, but it's
hard.
I want to treat you good, but it's
hard.
And so I went and got a prayer
journal with him at the store, and we're
walking through prayer, and we're praying.
And that seemed to calm everything down, and
spiritual warfare.
Okay, devil, you want to play this game?
Yes, let's play this game.
We're going to get into prayer.
We're going to get into seeking.
We're going to train them.
But understanding his struggle, too, I didn't get
as upset.
I became a lot more compassionate.
But kids are strong-willed.
They are very strong-willed.
And what we are parents are supposed to
do is help them break that will.
What's the old saying?
Break their will, but not their spirit.
You show them, and that's part of training.
Teach a child.
I believe when the Bible says, teach a
child in the way that he should go
when he was older, he will not depart
from it.
That teaching is a molding, shaping, humbling process.
Because I want to take my kids to
the hospital homes.
I want to show them what it looks
like to feed a homeless person.
I want them to be humble.
Did I do that, Dennis?
There we go.
Might need a new microphone again.
Okay, so back to self-willed.
Now, this whole topic of pride, the deception
of pride, I know it doesn't apply to
anybody in this room, right?
Just get a CD, on your way out,
get a CD, and there's people we know
who we can give this CD to.
But just sit and listen, then, if this
doesn't apply to you.
If it doesn't apply to you, that means
it does apply to you, right?
Leads to deception.
Let's look at the first point.
Leads to deception.
The pride of your heart has deceived you.
Obadiah 1.3. It's interesting, these prophets Obadiah
and Micah and Nahum and Habakkuk and Zephaniah
and Zechariah, and these minor prophets, it's interesting,
God would call them at certain points in
Israel's history because His people had become prideful.
And they would often say, you stiffed-necked
people.
You don't listen to God.
Or this, the pride of your heart has
deceived you.
Here's the danger with pride.
When we don't stay humble, we don't stay
teachable.
And when we're not teachable, we think we're
doing God's will and we think we're spiritual
and we think we're on God's side when
in reality, deception has crept in.
And I see it, and I'm not talking
about anybody in this room, so don't think
I am, but I see it a lot.
I used to in marriage counseling.
I don't do it as much.
My mom's helped out a lot in that
area because she's a marriage family therapist who's
helped when the church really started to grow.
But I would see really angry men and
looking.
You know when you look at something from
the outside, you can see clearly, but they
can't see clearly?
And I'm like, if you talked to me
that way at home too, I would be,
you know.
But they were so prideful.
They were like, the Bible says this, they
need to submit to me, and I'm the
man of this house, and I make all
the money, and God, you know, I get
my kids there.
And they're just so prideful, but that pride
has deceived him.
They're like, why is my wife upset at
me?
Why are we having marriage problems?
Why can't I see it?
Because pride deceives.
That's the deception element of it.
We think we're holy and spiritual and in
tune with the things of the Spirit when
really it's deception.
Because pride, you can't see clearly.
You can't see clearly spiritually.
And pride begins to puff up, and we
begin to think even we're righter.
Is that a word?
I don't know.
But we're right, and others are wrong.
So what will happen, it leads into deception.
Those who are humble are led by the
Lord.
Shane, do you have a scripture for that?
Yeah.
The humble, he teaches his way.
So as we humble ourselves, and what that
looks like, Lord, I was prideful today.
I was prideful today.
I was arrogant.
I didn't treat somebody the right way.
And you humble yourself, and you begin to
see clearly again.
But if you don't, and that pride begins
to build and build and build, and you
live in this bubble of deception, even as
a Christian.
That's why a Christian can continue in some
horrendous sins and not really see anything wrong
with it, and justify it because of pride.
Because of pride, it leads to deception.
It also leads to rebellion.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
So when a person is stubborn, they are
rebellious to God.
And when we're stubborn about certain things, and
we know who we are, we know when
those things happen, and the stubbornness leads to
rebellion against God.
And rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
You might say, well, Shane, how is that
rebellion?
Very easy.
God says, I humble yourself, and I will
lift you up.
The humble he teaches his way, the humble
shall inherit the earth, the humble will know
my will.
And so as we're not humbling ourselves, and
we are doing things our way, we are
in rebellion against God.
We rebel against his clear-cut commandments for
us.
And as a result, deception, rebellion, it leads
to spiritual blindness.
Isaiah 610, Make the heart of this people
dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and return and be healed.
Now, some people say, well, why is God
making their heart?
Make the heart of this people dull, and
their ears heavy.
Often you'll see in this case, and other
cases, with Pharaoh was a good example, when
a person begins to continually rebel against God,
and hardens their heart, and hardens their heart,
God basically says, you want it, you got
it.
And then he would make their heart dull,
and their ears heavy, and they could not
hear.
So that's what pride will do.
It will lead to spiritual blindness.
You can't see clearly when you're prideful.
You can't read the Bible very well, and
you sure can't pray.
How can a prideful person pray?
Well, we have an example in the New
Testament, don't we?
Jesus gave an example.
Can you believe that person came up, I
think it was one of the religious leaders,
or somebody wealthy in the city, and said,
God, I thank you, I'm not like that
tax collector.
I'm not a sinner.
He's telling God, he gives.
I give 10%, I do all these things.
And this other sinner beats his chest and
said, Lord, have mercy on me, a tax
collector.
Have mercy on me, a sinner, actually.
See, the humility and the pride.
So the pride led to spiritual blindness.
This guy actually thinks he's going to come
before God and say, I'm glad I'm not
like him, and I give to you.
Aren't I spiritual?
And he was blinded spiritually.
And wouldn't Jesus rebuke the religious leaders more
often than not for their blindness?
You blind guides.
You're leading blind, you're leading people astray.
You are blind guides.
You're a whitewashed tombs.
You don't know the things of God.
You're stiff-necked people.
You draw nigh unto me with your lips,
but your hearts are far from me.
So that's what sat, I believe, for the
religious leaders, in my opinion.
They were deceived because of pride, and they
had spiritual blindness because of pride, and they
actually thought they were God's representative.
They did not know that they were going
to spend eternity in hell because of pride.
Isn't that deadly?
Isn't that dangerous?
And here's an interesting thing with pride.
You need to abort it quickly.
That's a good kind of abortion.
You see it coming up, you have to
get rid of it because pride grows.
It starts little, and it begins to grow,
and begins to grow, and begins to grow,
and overtakes us.
The deception is that you think God is
on your side because you're going through the
motions.
That's what these religious leaders did.
That's what people do.
They go through the motions.
I'm talking about spiritual people now.
They'll go to church.
They'll even read their Bible.
They'll even do things spiritually, and they think
because of that they're on God's side without
looking at the condition of their heart.
Now, it also leads to quarrels.
Don't we know that?
Oh, goodness, how many house fights could we
stop if we would humble ourselves?
Oh, no amens on that one.
Oh, that's right.
We don't need this message.
We're going to give out the CDs.
We're going to give out the CDs to
people that we know.
Leads to quarrels.
I don't like what you said.
You challenged me.
Where there is strife, there is pride.
But wisdom is found in those who take
advice.
Isn't that interesting?
Proverbs 13.10. I always look to this
when I'm struggling in this area.
Where there is strife, there is pride.
Now, it doesn't mean that there's always, anytime
there's strife, there's always pride because now, let
me qualify that.
Not necessarily on your part.
You could be loving and nurturing and trying
to keep your family together.
Here comes Christmas.
There's strife.
What's going on?
It's pride in the other people often.
The pride will always lead to strife because,
remember, self-willed.
And as soon as I don't get my
way, what happens?
Strife.
And then he goes on to say, but
wisdom, wisdom and humility are always often interchangeable
or linked together.
Knowledge, wisdom, humility.
It's all this.
The wise are humble.
The humble use wisdom.
It's used together.
But wisdom is found in those who take
advice.
This is interesting.
This is one reason I try to be,
note the word try, teachable.
Teachable.
You want to learn.
It's another reason why, personally, I read a
lot of books.
I don't have that approach where I'm just
not going to read a lot of books.
I read a lot of different authors, a
lot of different theologians, and I've learned so
much.
I wouldn't trade that for the world.
I'm able to get different views, different perspectives
on different things in theology and church history.
And you look at things, and you want
to be teachable from looking at the experiences
of others, and especially those who have came
before us and those who have succeeded.
So one aspect of pride, to avoid quarrels
in your house, at your job, with your
family, is to humble yourself.
You don't always have to get the last
word in.
You challenged me.
I'm upset.
Do you ever feel that way?
Somebody's challenging you, and you're like, well, yeah.
And you go back and forth, and here
comes the strife.
Where did that come from?
Humility?
No.
It came from pride.
Pride.
And that's what we're trying to do in
this church, and that's why I brought the
team on Sunday, is I so appreciate all
these people, because I could truly say that
we're trying to work on humility.
We're trying to say, Lord, what teach us?
Help us work together, and humble ourselves, and
not get prideful, and well, I want to
do it this way, or I want to
do it this way.
And it's a process, and it hurts sometimes.
It hurts to humble ourselves.
It hurts the flesh.
The Spirit loves it, but the flesh does
not like when we humble ourselves.
So it leads to deception, leads to rebellion,
leads to spiritual blindness, leads to quarrels, and
it leads to confusion.
Proverbs 22, 4.
The reward for humility and fear of the
Lord is riches and honor and life.
In this word life there, he's talking about
like when Jesus said, you shall have life.
It's abundant life.
It's life overfilling.
It's life where it's not confusion.
A lot of times, pride brings in confusion
because you know there's something missing there.
You're walking that fence.
I know I need to be pleasing God
and humble, but I'm so confused in life,
and that confusion sometimes makes us even more
prideful.
So one thing we have to watch out
for with pride is if life is very
confusing, there are seasons, but if it's always
confusing, and there's all this drama, pride might
be in there somewhere.
If there's tons of drama, tons of confusion,
what's going on, this is chaotic, and there
could be pride at work there because that's
a part of quarrels.
Leads to anxiety and depression.
Each one should test their own actions.
Then they can take pride in themselves alone
without comparing themselves to someone else.
Galatians 6.40 Each one should test their
own actions.
Then they can take pride in themselves alone
without comparing themselves to someone else.
Humble yourself before God, and He will lift
you up.
James 4.10 So here's anxiety and depression,
oftentimes are the result of pride and trying
to get our way, being anxious, being depressed
about things.
All these emotions sometimes are centered around not
getting our way, and things not going the
way we want, and pride, we start to
become prideful and angry.
And we also compare ourselves with one another.
Don't we?
We compare.
Why don't I have that?
Why aren't they going through what I'm going
through?
And as a result, we become prideful, and
lifted up, and arrogant.
That's why I like James 4.10. Humble
yourself before the Lord, and He will lift
you up.
Here's how you have to humble yourself.
Well, maybe I'll wait till I get to
the end.
I won't give you too much right now.
Then next, leads to false worship.
This is scary.
This is very scary.
Matthew 15.
Jesus said, You've made the commandment of God
of no effect by your tradition, hypocrites.
Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These
people draw near to me with their mouth,
and honor me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me.
In other words, they were saying the right
thing.
Sound familiar?
What does this mean?
Quoting scripture.
Appearing godly.
Saying the right thing.
But Jesus said, Your heart, your heart is
far from me.
And that's my concern for a lot of
people, is they can say the right thing,
but their heart is so far from God.
And in vain they worship me.
So a prideful person, when they come to
church, it doesn't happen here again, but other
churches, they'll come in, and they'll be judging
already.
They'll be judging from the lobby.
They'll be judging what people are wearing.
They'll be judging certain things.
And they come in with this sense of
pride.
And God has given them this gift of
discernment.
Really, it's not a gift of discernment.
It's a prideful, arrogant feeling.
And they come in, and oh brother, and
I'm spiritual, and I've, gosh, I spent 14
hours in this this weekend.
And I'm just, you know, and just boasting
and gloating.
And then they'll come to church, and they'll
sing a few songs.
And they'll sing, and they'll participate.
But they are worshiping God in vain.
Vain means, it's pointless.
Why are you doing that?
I don't desire sacrifice and mercy.
I desire a broken and contrite heart, sayeth
the Lord.
So these people were, their hearts were far
from Him.
They were worshiping God in vain.
They were teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men.
Another sign of pride is you start to
put a lot of rules on things.
Now there's nothing wrong with rules.
Thank God that God has given us a
lot of rules.
Do this.
Obey this.
Stop that.
Do this.
Take on this.
Put on that.
You know, all these things.
But we start to make all these rules
as a form of spirituality and pride.
See, I can, I can, it's funny, a
prideful person, they'll make these rules, you know,
that, that, I don't even know, tons of
rules, and that you have to meet these
rules in order to be spiritual, but then
they break all these other rules.
You know, they'll say, well, you can't watch
TV, but they're addicted to pornography.
They'll say, you can't go to the movies,
but then they treat their family like garbage.
And they make all these, well, you shouldn't
do that, and this, and this, and they
put all these rules on people, and they're
carrying, that's why the Bible talks about freedom
in Christ.
I believe the closer we get to Christ,
the more we look like Him.
And you're not bound by all these rules
and things because you want to do it
out of love.
It's like saying, it's like your spouse telling
you every week, you better not cheat on
me.
Gosh, I guess not.
Better not this way, you better not cheat.
Like, all right, fine.
What kind of marriage is that?
The true love is saying, I don't want
to do that because I love you.
That would hurt you.
That's not right.
And we do it, that's why with grace,
grace is an interesting thing.
Because of God's grace, we actually live under
a higher standard.
People think because of God's grace, I can
sin more.
Actually, no.
Because of the grace, you want to live
at a higher standard.
You want to obey Him.
You want to love Him.
You want to follow His laws, and His
rules, and His things because of that relationship.
So because of that, it flows out of
a loving relationship.
Joy comes when you follow.
If it's ever difficult and rigid, you've got
all these rules and things, you might want
to reassess what's going on in your heart.
The deception of pride.
We think that we are right when we
are wrong.
That's the deception.
Like the Old Testament prophet Elisha who spoke
on God's behalf, the same plea goes out
today.
How long will we waver between two opinions
if God is God, follow Him.
Here's the thing, you either humble yourself or
God will.
As a Christian, I've noticed God loves us
enough that if we don't humble ourselves, He'll
convict us.
He'll show us.
And if we don't humble ourselves, He will.
I've seen it so many times.
Okay, tough guy, I'm going to take that
job from you.
What?
I'm going to take that vehicle from you.
I'm going to take that source of income.
I'm going to make you just at work
this, or foolishness, or I'm going to humble
you in your marriage.
I'm going to, and God will humble us
if we don't humble ourselves.
Because He loves us.
Because we know it's pride.
Here's why it's deceptive too.
A person who's prideful, they get away with
it for a week, then they get away
with it for a month, then they get
away with it for six months, and then
they think, well, I must be on God's
side.
He's blessing me.
Did you know the devil can bless you?
Take an hour drive that way.
The devil can bless you.
That's Hollywood, LA, Los Angeles, right?
I mean, there's rich, and they're miserable.
They are absolutely miserable.
So just because God is, and people say
that, well, look, Shane, God's blessing me.
Well, the devil could be.
He might be just opening tons of doors
and keeping you in that pride.
Because we often tie blessings into God's favor,
right?
God's opened this tremendous door at work.
I'm making more money.
This is happening.
God must be happy with me.
Not necessarily.
Because then it doesn't follow that if somebody's
going through sickness or hardship or tough time,
that God doesn't love them, and He's frowning
upon them.
He actually uses the valleys as well as
the mountaintop experiences.
It's the valleys where we appreciate the mountaintop
experiences.
It's the valleys where we learn to trust
in God.
When you don't have that job, when you're
relying on Him, and I've shared this before.
I don't know if I have here, but
I did at Lancaster a few different times.
But He took me through so many things.
When I recommitted my life, I would say
I just had a come to Jesus moment
in 1999, 2000, right in there.
I was at 24 Hour Fitness making a
lot of money, well over six figures in
my 20s, built a custom house in Quartz
Hill, big Dodge truck all lifted up with
the big motor, and this prideful boy.
Looking back, I'm like, oh, goodness gracious, Lord,
you are so graceful.
Man, you're just so prideful.
And then He began to take those things
away.
And I was like the number one salesman
in all the area of California, different things,
tons of awards, and different things.
And then what happens though with corporations, you
have to beat last year's numbers.
I have to increase same store growth by
6% and all these budgets, and I'm
beating myself every year.
Like, I can't keep this up.
And I got demoted to run just one
gym in Santa Clarita, the 24 Hour Fitness
of Villa Princesa.
It was a demotion.
So I go from all these gems, money,
and now down to this, and that's when
God really started to humble me.
And it was a humbling process.
And then after I left there, I moved
back home with my mom, barely got by.
I had to go work with my brother
digging ditches.
Basically, he paid me $100 a day, just
dug ditches, and was very happy.
But God, it was this refining process.
So people would look and say, Oh, Shane,
you're living back home with your mom, and
you can barely even pay your bills at
$100 a day.
And, oh man, God, you must have really
missed it.
Not at all.
That was a refining fire.
That's what God used.
And it was a wonderful experience, but very
humiliating.
Very humiliating.
I would be at houses in these areas
digging up certain lines for him.
He did underground work.
And I would just, you know, go from
six figures a year to this.
But God was humbling and humbling and humbling.
And then working my way back into construction,
I eventually started my own construction company and
owned some heavy equipment and was making really
good money and used that season to save
and save and save and save.
And then guess what happened in 2008?
Bye-bye market.
Yep.
Oh, goodness gracious.
And then we're living off that savings for
like a year and a half.
And we're down to our last, I think
it was like $5,000.
That's it.
That's all we had.
And there was no work.
Like, oh, what just happened?
Everything went bye-bye.
But people would look and say, well, he
must not be following God.
No, I was following God wholeheartedly.
We were giving.
We were helping the church.
But it was just a difficult season.
And I said, well, I've got, and that's
when I got into real estate real quick.
And God just blessed that tremendously.
And then right when I get into real
estate, I felt a need to plant a
church.
I'm like, how's this gonna work?
But he used that income.
Then the church just grew.
And we were fine financially from the get
-go.
And how he used those seasons of abundance
and then lack.
And then abundance and then lack.
And you're trusting God.
You're trusting in God and what he does.
And whether the valley or the mountaintop.
So just be careful.
We can't rate it on blessings alone.
You have to look at, is my life
conforming to the image of Christ?
Am I obedient?
Am I trying to be humble and gracious
and loving?
Am I filled with the fruit of the
Spirit?
Am I spending time in his word and
worship and prayer?
And then what comes, what comes?
You don't gauge it off abundance.
No, God brings blessings.
Thank God for it.
You go with the flow, right?
It was interesting.
I don't know if you remember this.
I think I shared it.
Sorry if I repeat things sometimes.
But I think it's relevant.
But when I was helping with Grace Fest
two years ago.
That big Christian festival.
I was able to have a booth and
brought like 1,500 books.
Like all of, just about every one I
had.
Out of storage.
And I got there the night before.
And then the sprinklers came on.
So I get there in the morning.
And they're like, Shane, we got to talk
to you.
We are so sorry.
Everything's ruined.
I'm like, okay.
I just had a good attitude.
Like, Lord, you're going to do something.
You know, this is, well, okay.
Had I not went through all that, I
wouldn't have been prepared for this.
But then the city walked around.
They said, oh, just fill out this form.
We have insurance for this.
We'll just cover them all.
Like, really?
I wouldn't even, how did that happen within
an hour?
You know, it went from this terrible like,
my goodness, to, oh, that's pretty nice.
That's a good blessing.
But you can look at that, because God
used that to test me too, I believe.
And to just, you know, the disappointments in
life.
And I wish to say I always pass
the test well, but I don't.
There's, you know, you get upset.
You grumble.
You complain.
And God works through that.
So I said all that to say, you
cannot rate where you're at with God based
on blessings.
And you cannot rate it on where God
is maybe withdrawing things.
Why am I going through this, these health
issues or these financial issues?
Why?
You can't base it on that alone.
However, God will use challenging times sometimes to
spank us spiritually.
We can't discount that.
People, the Bible's clear that if God will
discipline His children, He will begin to take
away things and take away things.
I've seen pastors who were caught in sin
and would never admit it.
Their church dwindled from large to smaller to
smaller to smaller and smaller and they lost
it.
Or people in business, you know, that God's,
you know, why am I going through this?
And they don't humble themselves and seek God.
So sometimes He will use sickness.
Sometimes He will use a lack of.
Sometimes He will use losing a job.
He disciplines them.
How does He discipline us?
There's not a big wooden paddle up in
the sky that comes down and disciplines us.
That happened in grade school.
I just told somebody this week when I
went to Bethel Baptist.
I was one of the first students there.
You know that church on Avenue K?
In that school?
Many years ago.
And they would paddle you.
And I got paddled three times for chewing
gum.
You just lean on the desk and they
get this big paddle with holes in it.
I'm like, what are the holes for?
So the wind can blow through it and
it goes quicker.
It's just, bam, bam.
Why discipline?
Do you ever think I chewed gum again?
Never again.
It took years.
And I would chew gum.
I would chew gum a couple times.
I think they caught me four times and
it resulted in paddling.
And now I think in the public school
system, it went from chewing gums to rape
and robbery and assault.
The top three public school problems when I
was a kid was chewing gum, making too
much noise, and fooling around.
Boy, have we drifted.
But that's how God will often discipline us
too.
So I don't want to discount that.
And sometimes people get mad when I talk
about this.
But God will discipline His children.
He will take things slowly.
I'm taking that income.
I'm taking that thing.
I'm taking that.
And maybe sickness sometimes can be a result.
We had time.
We look at, as we get into James
and different passages, where sickness, some of you
are sick and dying because you're taking communion
and mocking the cross and because you're continuing
in the sin.
So it's very, and people say, well, how
do I know?
It's easy.
You take it to the Lord.
If you take it to the Lord, you
confess, you repent, you're working on things, and
you're filled with the Spirit of God and
you know that you've removed besetting sins and
you're seeking God and things are happening, then
you push through.
But if you know, oh, this could be
possibly the result of my sinful choices and
my sinful habits, then I need to repent.
I need to get back on track and
God can rebuild and rebuild.
But He will often use those things because
how else will we change?
I don't know if I would have changed
to 24-hour fitness had I not went
through all that.
I don't think I would have.
I mean, I hope I would have, but
it's those hard times that make me think,
uh-oh, God, I need you.
That's why ministering in the hospital homes is
what I call very easy compared to an
atheist or compared to somebody who doesn't want
to hear about God because they're now ready
to hear about God.
They're ready.
Okay, here's where I ended up here.
I don't know if I'm getting out.
God, I need you.
And that's really a loving father will get
a person to a point of finally surrendering.
I'd rather he get somebody to a point
of brokenness and possibly dying in six months
so they can spend eternity in heaven than
allow them to continue in a very destructive
lifestyle and say nothing.
And I often wonder, I don't joke about,
I mean, I joke about Hollywood a lot,
but my heart breaks for like Britney Spears
and Katy Perry and even Madonna now.
I guess she can't sleep because Trump was
elected, you know.
And like, what's going to happen, Madonna?
I mean, golly.
You know, it's like, but I have a,
because that depression, that anxiety, that Robin Williams
taking his own, it's because they need God.
And those riches will keep them away from
God.
Shane, how do you know that?
Because Jesus said it.
It's hard for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Why is it hard?
Because riches contend for that.
When we have it all, you don't see
a need for God.
And that's why mission field, in the mission
field, they're so receptive.
The humble will inherit the earth.
The meek will inherit the earth.
Humble, broken in spirit.
Those who are no God.
So don't get too excited about riches because
those, I've seen that drive many people away
from the Lord, from serving Him.
On fire for God in their 20s, working,
you know, for the Lord, and then God
just, whatever happened, invest.
I know guys right now, they're probably have
at least, and they're my age, at least
a million and a half each in stocks
and gold and silver.
And they're, I mean, they could retire now,
but they're chasing those things.
They used to teach the Bible.
They used to love God.
They used to be involved in church.
And those things have, because it becomes an
addiction, a passion that, that I have to
chase this almighty dollar.
Riches will keep people from the kingdom.
And it's pride, it's pride that's doing it.
One of the best ways to get rid
of, if that's your area, is to give
it away.
You know, you save, you get, but you
start to, Lord, thank you for this.
And let me give some away.
Thank you for this.
Let me give some away.
Thank you for this.
Let me give, and you get rid of
that.
You get rid of that, that bondage when
you're bound.
And ironically, these two people are, are the
church that they go to now.
And then they, they, they, they have been
known to be just as tight as, as
somebody run a tight, tight budget.
Like they don't do it.
They're just so tight.
They're misers, right?
You've seen the, isn't it funny?
The richest people are often the ones that
are the, they'll, they'll argue with a waiter,
waiter on 50 cents.
I'm not giving you a tip over a
dollar.
You didn't do anything.
And they're a millionaire.
What does it happen?
Pride, pride.
So you might get now asking the question,
okay, but how do I humble myself?
How do I humble myself?
Well, you go through the seven points again
and apply the truth.
Everything we just talked about.
See now, if we go, ah, that makes
sense.
That's what I have to do.
That doesn't do it.
I talk to people all the time.
Oh, that makes sense.
That's what I have to do.
Doesn't matter if you don't do it.
So in this area of deception is the
pride of your heart has deceived you.
Humble yourself.
Are you in rebellion against God?
Humble yourself.
If people have a problem with authority and
rebellion, they're just, they just don't like authority.
They're in rebellion against God.
Humble yourself and admit it.
If you're being led spiritually and you're blind
to the things of God, you're spiritually blind.
Humble yourself.
If you're, if you're fostering quarrels and arguments,
if you're an argumentative person, do you know
who those people are?
They want to debate everything.
They just want to, hey, they bring it
up just to debate.
They, they argument.
They want to argue.
I'm tired of arguing.
Repent.
Humble yourself.
Anxiety and depression because we're out of God's
will.
Humble yourself and get back in the center
of God's will.
Leads to false worship.
Have you been drawing nigh unto God?
Have you been drawing near unto God with
your words and acting spiritual like these people?
Yes, I go to church.
Yes, I'll come to the Wednesday study.
I mean, the Wednesday studies, obviously, you're more
spiritual than the Sunday people.
Right?
I want to answer that one.
Right.
Normally, though, the midweek study, you get people
who are serious and you, you really wonder
who's serious.
Come to the prayer meeting before the service.
And that's what we'll, that, that will show
you a lot of, of, of where people
are at spiritually.
But let me get back to this.
That's what we have to do.
This false worship.
If you're drawing nigh to God with your
lips, you say the right things, but your
heart's not broken and humble before him.
Here's a good test.
A prideful person usually, usually doesn't cry or,
or weep or something for, for family members
or friends or a nation.
They don't care.
They could care less.
They don't care about visiting people at the
hospitals.
They don't care about people in need.
They're prideful and they're arrogant.
A humble heart is a broken heart.
Your heart breaks for the things that God's
heart breaks for.
You're, you're humble and you want to go
and help.
You want to make a difference.
The heart needs to break.
That's what I talk about all the time.
A prideful heart doesn't.
And I can tell, I watch some famous
pastors that I look up to sometimes and
I wonder if they ever even cried over
a sermon.
If they've even, even shed a tear over
the lost people that, that are on their
way to hell in their own church.
I mean, boy, do they got their theology,
their theology down, but their heart's not right.
I mean, they can, they can pull apart
the Greek and the Hebrew, but their heart's
not right.
They're not weeping over their message.
Their heart's not broken and therefore being poured
out to others.
That's a sure sign of pride if you
have no compassion.
If there's no compassion, you have no, you
have no humility.
It goes together.
If, if, if we could, I mean, there's
a huge list we could go down.
But if there's not a brokenness for others
or just when you hear about something like
somebody in the church, man, they just lost
this.
Oh, that's too bad.
Oh, well, we need people to hospital homes.
Oh, well, who cares?
I'll get over it.
It's just, but they're going in church.
They're prideful.
Humility always has a broken heart.
And I just want to close with this,
the power of the made up mind.
I've read a book on fasting before.
I forget the author's name, but he talked,
he had a chapter about the power of
the made up mind.
When your mind is made up that you're
going to humble yourself, you can do it.
When you ask God, God, help me.
God, I need you.
Don't, please don't humble me.
Let me humble.
Let me humble myself.
You don't need to take everything away from
me until I cry mercy.
Let me, Lord, help me humble myself.
I humble myself before you.
I've been wrong in this area.
I've been wrong in my marriage.
I've been wrong in my walk with you.
I've been playing church.
God, I'm humbling myself before you.
And he will answer that prayer.
I'm going to have Brant come back up.
We've got about, we've got a little bit
of time.
We're going to end a little bit early.
But what I'd like to do, we're going
to do two songs and I'll be available
for prayer.
I always say I'll be up front or
back wherever.
If you need prayer, come and see me.
But even afterwards, we want to encourage fellowship.
It's okay.
Some churches make you get in circles and
pray and most of the time people are
like, oh, don't do that.
I don't want to do that.
I don't know these people.
So I'm not going to do that.
But I would encourage you afterwards to talk
to somebody you don't know and if it
feels right, say, how can I pray for
you?
Or how can I pray for you?
And I think there's power in that.
That's people coming together.
We're not just going to go home and
eat.
How can I pray for you in this
area?
And it builds camaraderie.
It builds fellowship.
Where two or three are gathered, there I
am, Jesus said.
So instead of just chatting about the Broncos,
are they playing still?
Or let's try to say, can I pray
for you about something?
And if it doesn't feel comfortable, that's okay.
But it needs to start getting in that
direction where it feels comfortable to pray with
people.
So Brad's going to do two songs and
then as we leave, we'll just have fellowship
and I'll be up here and I'll pray
with you for whatever you'd like.
I've seen God answer tremendous prayers.
I've seen the court system going to take
kids out of the home, actually stop and
not put the kids in the home.
I've seen people almost be fined or go
to jail and God intervenes.
I've seen marriages falling apart and God intervenes
and breaks one of the spouses.
They meet somebody, they read a book, or
they hear a sermon, they come back home.
I've seen God answer so many things when
His people pray.
This is the most important part.
Just sitting in the pew going, mm-hmm,
God made some good points today.
That really accomplishes nothing.
Actually, it doesn't accomplish anything if I don't
change and you don't change.
If we don't apply what God's Word says,
we are actually living in deception because we're
prideful.