marriage part 3 — Daniel 1-4

0:00 We'd like to deal with a subject that no one has a problem with. No one's heard of. Pride. It's funny when you talk with people about things of this nature. The only person who doesn't believe they're prideful is the one that's prideful in the meeting.

0:23 That's an unusual phenomenon, isn't it? Usually we can say, oh yeah, I'm selfish or oh yeah. But those who suffer from the battle of pride, I being one of them, many times fail to recognize that I'm the very one who's prideful. I'm just too prideful to admit it. Right?

0:43 So many years ago, one of the first series God had me to study was something called Pride versus Brokenness. And that study ended up expanding itself intermittently over the last twenty five years. And it's been a very convicting study. It's been one that's hard. What I found in my marriage is that I've done more damage through my pride in my marriage than any other fleshly attitude.

1:15 Pride is very closely related to self centeredness, obviously so. I mean you are thinking about your self superiority so it lends itself to its sister self centeredness. But pride is specifically, specifically touted by the Lord, by the scriptures as being something of the devil. We'll see it later on, but in the qualifications for the elder, that is one of the spiritual leaders of the church, it says this, and not a novice, lest he be lifted up with pride and fall into the same condemnation of who? The devil.

2:03 Anytime your name and the devil's name are listed in the same line, that's not good. That's very bad. So what we're gonna do this evening is we're gonna look at pride and I'm gonna trace it through the scriptures for you and then we're going to relate it at the end to our marriages, okay? And specifically it's identification and specifically it's how should we say it's surgical removal. I say that word because it tends to be painful when the Lord cuts out pride of your life.

2:41 Okay? All right, let's get started. There's a couple of opening statements that come from the word of God, and this is one of them. By pride comes nothing but strife. Don't you think that's true with this picture, right?

2:59 Now, when you read it, it's in the Proverbs of course thirteen ten. What that means is this, if you see strife, you have to ask yourself, where's the pride? Now there are other causes of strife in the bible. There's the foolish person who is actually prideful too and he makes statements with his words and that causes strife, usually blows. There is the self centered person that can produce strife.

3:32 There are other causes of strife but it seems that pride causes the majority of strife. So if you're in a situation where there's tension, where there's strife, where there's disagreement, it is natural and normal to ask yourself the question, where is pride in this equation? Now if you're suffering from pride and you don't realize it, usually you ask the question this way. I wonder if the other person's being prideful here. Right?

4:09 You see the prideful person doesn't actually think they have the problem, but they're very capable in their mind to diagnose it in someone else's life. That's a warning sign. Remember, what you generally see in your spouse's life is most likely resonating with you because it's in your own life. That's a real proverb that we should put in Proverbs chapter 32, but spirit of God doesn't allow that. Now in this kind of dynamic, I want you to see this other facet of pride And it goes like this, pride goes before destruction, Proverbs sixteen eighteen.

4:55 So one symptom of pride is strife, the other is absolute, you know, things fell apart. So you have to ask yourself if you're in a situation or been through situations where there's been total disintegration of the relationship, total breakdown of communication, total what appears to be irreparable damage, you have to ask yourself this question, was pride involved? See my purpose at this point is to probe you, get you to think this way because I'm pretty sure every one of us have had situations disintegrate in front of us. Arguing about things we're not sure what we're arguing about, but we're arguing as if our life depended upon it. Where is pride in that situation?

5:42 We have tension. We have strife. Where is pride in that situation? And more importantly, where is your pride in this situation? So one more I have as we introduce this.

6:20 But Nebuchadnezzar is interesting because in the book of Daniel, it's very colorful. We have testimony of faithful four men. Then we have a section that actually is the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar. Then we have from chapter six onto the end, a bunch of prophetical material, which is really helpful when you look at the plan of God for the future. Too bad we can't get into that tonight, but if we could, it would be thrilling.

6:50 But we're gonna focus on Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel. Now, if you will, let me give you some background. Nebuchadnezzar was... Excuse me, Babylon was established around six hundred BC, and Nebuchadnezzar was significantly involved with that. If you don't know anything about him, he was in in this region of the world and in about six zero five BC, he was subduing the Egyptian people for a rebellion, but his father dies back over in Babylon and he rushes home in three weeks to claim the throne.

7:25 See, and that's the point back in those days. If you weren't there, you might not claim the throne. Somebody else might claim the throne and you would have to either fight for it or go find your own throne. So Nebuchadnezzar has a very sort of colorful beginning and you would say that he would sound like a self made man, a man that went to other foreign powers, exercised his own authority. He then went back, claimed the throne, ruled with a really fist of iron, if you will.

7:57 Now enter in to that timeline, Israel. If you're unfamiliar, it was told by the prophets of God. They said that as God's spokesman, they said to the to the tribes of Judah, the lower southern tribes in in Israel, that God was going to... It says this, whistle for Nebuchadnezzar to come. And he would come and be used as a hammer of judgment against the children of Israel, specifically the tribe of Judah and their associates, and judge them for their unfaithfulness.

8:35 Whether whether you realize it or not, Israel, well, ever since they left Egypt around 1400, fifteen hundred BC, they were always infatuated with other gods. When you read their history, the history of Israel, and you trace that through this direction, they're always worshiping Baal and and Archimash, which was the Moabite god and and and the the Edomite god and so they're always enamored with some of their gods and I realized Egypt had tons of gods and that's what the plagues were about. The plagues were meant to show how Egyptian gods were nothing and that Yahweh was really the god of all the earth. But the Israelites had an attachment, an affection, almost like adulterous affairs with other gods. So that started, we'll say roughly 1,500 BC, and it went all the way through the history of Israel when David was king and on down Solomon and on down through all the king's history so that the northern kings, those 10 tribes up north, they were taken away by the king of Assyria.

9:50 Now then the southern kings, which was David's tribes, they were taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. It was after that exile of roughly seventy years when the children of Israel came back to the land of Israel from Nebuchadnezzar's regime that they finally did away with other gods. A thousand plus years of being in love with foreign gods. So Nebuchadnezzar was part and parcel of that whole arm of God. Now, it should tell you that God is very good at taking nations who think they're sovereign and mighty and can do whatever they want and using them to accomplish his purposes.

10:37 In this case, in the book of Daniel, God is able to break through Nebuchadnezzar's prideful, I can do whatever I want, and recognize that Yahweh, the Lord, is God over all. Okay, so that's the context, okay? Now, what you find is that he brought back in 06/2004 several people from the land of Israel and Daniel and his friends were some of them. And in Daniel chapter one verses four and five, we find that these prisoners who were brought back, sorry for this is a little bit of redundant review for some, these ones that he brought back were committed to follow the ways of the bible, the ways of the old testament, even if it put them at risk for losing their life. And we have this famous story where the the individuals who did that, Daniel being one of them, did not eat the king's food because it would be violate the Old Testament laws, and when he did that, he made an agreement with the watchman over the eunuchs, and he was made a eunuch.

11:49 He the surgery after he arrived at Babylon. He said, listen, let me eat the food that I can according to the word of god and and let the others eat your king's food. See if we still look healthy at the end of this trial period and the answer was, of course, they looked healthier and the Lord elevated these men. Daniel being one of them with his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now you move on and then you get into Daniel chapter two, and I'm summarizing some of this because of the time allotment.

12:41 That was by understand... Daniel interpreted that to be Babylon. The next kingdom of the earth would be the Medes of the Persians and that's the arms made of silver. And then we get into the bronze of middle section, the girdle was made of bronze and that would have been the time of Alexander the Great. The legs were made of iron and if you know anything about Roman history, they were the age of iron that is they used iron in everything such as their military warfare.

13:15 And then we have the the feet which were made of iron and clay and this is sort of indicating a kingdom to come that is sort of involved with the Roman Empire and not involved with the Roman Empire. And some today, including myself, feel that that's a prophecy of our time. That's something yet to be fulfilled. Now, why do I go over this dream with you? Because Nebuchadnezzar made a statue, but he didn't make it of gold and silver and bronze and iron.

13:49 He made it a 100% gold. It was thought to be 90 feet tall and as you recall, he would make music so that at the right time, people would bow down before this image of him and worship him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they did not. And our little cartoon figure, they would not do this. Now the story goes like this.

14:12 Oh, by the way, look at the comparison. This was the dream. This was his interpretation. What is he saying? Well, if I'm the goal, I'm just going to make the whole thing go because pretty much everything depends upon me.

14:25 Do you hear his pride in it? You see the pride, how he reinterpreted the word of god to make him the head of all things forevermore? That's what he was doing. Now, as I mentioned to you, dad Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three of his friends and and and the king was told that they were not bowing down to his idol, his image. And so he went to them, and if you know anything about King Nebuchadnezzar, he struggled with anger problems.

14:55 I mean, severe. And what happened there was he said, now maybe you didn't hear, but when the music plays, you're supposed to bow down. So I'm gonna give you one more chance. That's kind, right? I mean normally you just take your head off.

15:13 And so they go, Oh king, you do not need to give us another chance because we already know we're not going to bow down. Isn't that impressive? Mightiest man on the earth and you're taking him on. Now, our God can deliver us from your fiery furnace of judgment if that's what he chooses to do. But if he chooses not to do it, let it be known, oh king, that we're not bowing down.

15:43 You know what we call that? Either crazy or brave, but I'm thinking I'd like to do that. He, they, they just said, we are committed to our god even if it costs our life whether he chooses to rescue us from the fire or not, we are willing to lay down our lives for our god, not you as god. Nebuchadnezzar is going crazy. He is so stinking mad.

16:12 He heats up the furnace seven times. Somebody told me that was around 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. He throws them in and the people that threw him in, the guards, became incinerated. Now I don't know if you've ever been to a campfire that's a little out of control and you start to roast your marshmallow and you're kind of like this. Because it's starting to melt your fingernails.

16:38 Right? That's the idea of how hot it was and what happened to these particular guards. Now, when Nebuchadnezzar looked in, he noticed something. He noticed that there were not three people that he had thrown into the fire, but there was a fourth one. That's why you see four people here and that he noticed that they were not burned, or excuse me, they were not burned but the men of valor were burned.

17:04 These guys were not being incinerated, consumed, combustible. That's by the way, that's what happens to the human body. Gets so hot, the liquids inside the body boil and burst. Sorry to make that so graphic. Now, he looked in the fire and he was absolutely bewildered.

17:22 He said, you know, I thought we threw three in there, but I see four and the fourth one looks like the son of God, son of a man, son of an angel, right? That idea of unique. So Nebuchadnezzar says, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I command you to come out. And guess what? They did.

17:45 I couldn't believe it. They just walked out. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that their God is unique. And you can read that with me in chapter three verse 28. And it says this, Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and saved his servants who put their trust in him, violating, excuse me, the king's word and gave up their bodies so as not to serve and not to worship any God except their own God.

18:22 Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that says anything offenses against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb. See how this guy is? I mean, he's really ruthless. I'm just gonna tear you apart and your house reduced to rubble in as much as there is no other god who could deliver in this way. And the king called Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego to succeed in the province of Babylon.

18:50 Now if you notice, what the king did is he acknowledged the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but he did not accept their God as his god. In Nebuchadnezzar's mind, he's still the reigning dude, the deity of all. He's just acknowledging there's another deity that should not be spoken evil of. Now we enter chapter four. Chapter four is a very interesting chapter because as you get in there, there is another dream.

20:18 That's important too. And out in the wild, let that tree be with a stump bound. It'll be wet and you will be driven to the field until. So what he's saying is is that part of the dream was that the tree would be knocked off and if he was the if he was the tree in the dream, that means he would be knocked off. He would be in isolated in a field and he would be under the dew of heaven wet as it were.

20:44 And what Daniel said was, Nebuchadnezzar, may this be to your enemies, but it's really applied to you. You are the tree. You will reach your height of glory. God will make a decree and chop you down, but he's not going to totally destroy you. He'll leave you there and after a season of time, you will come back.

21:07 That was a warning to Nebuchadnezzar. So about a year goes by and one night, the king Nebuchadnezzar is watch looking over the city. He's admiring the city. He built it. His father helped built it.

21:25 He was admiring it. Now Babylon was known to have the hanging Garden, so one of the many wonders of the world and you think, what's so impressive about hanging gardens? It's in the desert. It has no natural irrigation. You had to pipe it in and you had to channel it in such a way that it would irrigate to produce green in a desert environment and maintain it three hundred and sixty five days a year.

21:51 That's what made it so spectacular. Now, he looks over that and he says, is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling? If you look in the text, says that in verse 30 of chapter four, oops, I need to switch pages. And the king answered, is this not Babylon the great which I have built as a royal house by the strength of my power for the glory of my majesty? Now, remember this dream a year ago told that the tree stump...

22:24 The tree would be cut down at the stump, and here's what happens. While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven. Remember the dream said, and a voice said from heaven, cut down the tree, came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is said, the kingdom has been removed from you and you will be driven away from mankind just like that prophecy and your place of habitation will be with the beasts of the field. You'll go out to the field, you will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time, that's seven years, will pass over you until you know that the most high is the powerful ruler over the kingdom of mankind, in other words, not you, and give it to whomever he wishes. Immediately, the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was accomplished and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven Just like it said he would be wet until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws.

23:28 Alright, let's just stop for a minute. I pointed out to you Nebuchadnezzar's history, how he built Babylon, he was ruling, he was conquering the world. He brings other nations, namely these Jewish boys in the town, and he commands them to bow down before him. They refuse and God shows himself to be strong. That should have stopped Nebuchadnezzar.

23:51 You'll find that Nebuchadnezzar was actually prideful because he confesses it in in the end of chapter four. So, what the first thing you learn is that pride refuses to acknowledge god even if you have unmistakable evidence of his superiority or standing right in front of you. Now now I'm gonna say this to the men, but it can be applied to the women too. Gentlemen, you and I tend to have the greatest problem with this and God can make himself very real, very clear and you will turn to God and maybe give him a little credit but not surrender. I tell you that because that is the number one problem I see in counseling.

25:33 I was young in my doctoring career and I was working a lot of night shifts. I hate night shifts, I'm not a night shift person, don't ask me to be up at night, I'm grouchy and I was driving home one day and I just bought a new car because after all my old one was old and I thought to myself, I better I better slow down because the truck in front of me had a loose piece of plywood and was flapping. And about the time I said, I better slow down just like as the word was still in Nebuchadnezzar's mouth, That plywood went up in the air 30 feet and came right down on the hood of my car. Brand spanking new car. The truck that it came from didn't even know it, drove on away and I was almost killed.

26:29 But you know what I was upset about? That he wrecked my car. Not that I almost lost my life. Three more feet, been in my windshield, I would have been decapitated. I didn't actually wake up to that fact until a year later.

26:46 And I realized that that was God showing up and saying, you need to surrender to me but you're too prideful to even recognize that you came that close to dying and I spared you. Now I'm telling you my story because at this juncture of our talk about pride, it's about recognition. And if you are in a position where God is systematically and strategically placed events in your life that are designed to gather your attention solely to put God in his proper place and you haven't, my friend, this is the hour where that madness must stop. Now I say that with all the kindness of my heart because I would be the charter member of Prideful Anonymous. My name is Steve Price.

27:49 I am a prideful person. It's been exactly five point three five minutes since I was last prideful. It's very real, isn't it? I tell you that because it's destroying our marriages. It's destroying us as a culture of Christians.

28:19 Pride is the number one killer of Christianity. We say in medicine, well what's the number one killer in North America? Heart disease, cancer. Well we have those statistics in Christianity and pride leads the number one cause. So Nebuchadnezzar didn't listen to that.

28:48 He moves forward in history and God speaks to him again, gives him a dream. He doesn't respond to it. He still kept pride in his heart so that one year later, God not forgetting, he speaks the very things that announce his arrogance and immediately that very hour he has run off into the wild. And what happens in the wild? Well, he becomes like an animal.

29:19 He eats grass, so he walks around on all fours. He doesn't bathe. He doesn't act in any sort of human way. And what you find is that he would be clinically insane. That's the second point about pride.

29:41 Pride left unchecked drives you to spiritual insanity. You call right wrong. You call wrong right. You are unable to let a problem go. You must have the final word.

30:00 You are unable to show compassion because your pride would say I would never do that. You are incapable of showing mercy for pride does not show mercy, pride triumphs over its victims. Pride becomes the one thing that distorts your ability to be spiritually discerning. So you're over harsh on some things and the things you should be firm on you're not. Everything gets upside down.

31:10 We've lost jobs over it. Maybe we've lost marriages over it. We've lost children over it. We've lost friends over it. We've lost so many things, but pride does this to the human soul.

31:24 Let me give you some examples. There was a fella that was talking with me and he was making claims about other people. So I talked to those other people. There was probably 50 other voices and after I talked to them I came back to the original person who was making such claims and I said, you know I've talked to all 50 people that you're talking about and you maintain that you're right. And he goes, I certainly am.

32:03 I said, so that means all these other people have to be wrong for you to be right. He goes, yes. And he was a bit of a scientist so said, what is the statistical probability of you being totally right and the masses being totally wrong? What is that in the bell shaped curve? And if you know anything about mathematics, that's like their language.

32:32 And I said, I think the p value of that would be lower than really low, don't you think? In other words, it would be totally improbable for you to be totally right and all these other people to be totally wrong. I thought it was a really great argument personally. I was very prideful about that. It didn't go well.

32:55 I was using his science against him and he knew it and yet the point was still true. See, that's how pride works. You are absolutely sickened in your mind and you cannot discern between what is holy and what is unholy. And God has to do a tremendous work in your life in order to reset that compass. And part of that work is coming to a meeting like this, where we talk about pride and we identify what it is doing to your spiritual faculties.

33:29 And my friend, if that's what's happening to you, I plead with you. Confess it before God and ask him to take it from you. It is so much worse. It'll kill people. It'll destroy relationships.

33:42 Many of them will be unrepairable until Christ comes back. Pride is the greatest killer. Can you see that? I ask that you do. Now in this case, Nebuchadnezzar comes to his senses and this is where we want to read more specifically.

34:05 Look in your scripture texts in Daniel chapter four and verse 29 if you have it on your phones. Daniel chapter four and verse 29. And at the end of twelve months, sorry, that's not what I want. Verse 34, and at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, see it's his personal testimony, lifted my eyes toward heaven and my knowledge returned me. So in Hebrew when it says, lifted my eyes towards heaven, it doesn't mean like a, hey, is that a shooting star?

34:45 It means that I've I've acknowledged God as superior. And my knowledge returned to me. See, once you put God in his proper place, now you can start to think clearly. And I bless the most high and praised and honor him. Only someone less than a deity would praise the one superior to him who lives forever.

35:07 See, it's Nebuchadnezzar who thought he would go on forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. In other words, not mine. And his kingdom endures from generation to generation, not mine. And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, but he does according to his will.

35:25 He holds all sovereignty in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can strike against his hand or say to him, what have you done? See that verse 35 there? This is the imagery of it. It's very, it's almost like a Jewish thing. No one can stand and say, God, what are you doing?

35:45 But I'm pretty sure some of us in this room have said those words and we call God out. I was talking to one lady one day and she said to me, God, I have a few questions for God and I'd like to get a few answers from him. That's Nebuchadnezzar. That's him saying, no one can strike their hand, shake their fist and say, leave me alone. You have no right.

36:23 You owe me an explanation. I'm gonna say something that will startle you right now. Some of us entered this room tonight, bitter people. All bitterness will eventually land against God at some point in its evolution. All bitterness will eventually accuse God of what are you doing at some point in its evolution.

36:57 That's what pride does. And Nebuchadnezzar figured that out. Why? Because he acknowledged the most high. That was an act of humility.

37:07 And then his faculties returned and then he could see clearly. Now read the rest of his testimony And at that time, my knowledge returned to me and my majesty and splendor returned to me for the glory of my, excuse me, my kingdom and my high officials and my nobles began to seek me out. Now before there was... He was too crazy to do that. And so I established my kingdom and and extraordinary greatness was added to me.

37:33 Now here's testimony, verse 37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven for all his works are true and his ways are just. And here it is. Ready? And he is able to humble those who walk in pride.

37:52 The very last line of Nebuchadnezzar's conclusion of his testimony was that he was prideful and I was the one he humbled. Now this is very satan esque. You find in the scriptures this rendition of Satan's testimony, Isaiah fourteen twelve through 15, where he is he he is described as the chief cherub. So a cherub, which is the singular cherubim is plural. They were like the guardians of Buckingham Palace.

39:16 I will ascend into heaven. I'll read, I will exalt myself above him. I will sit on throne. I will sit ascend above the throne. I will be like the most high God.

39:27 See that? One, two, three, four, five. Okay? Ironically enough, God uses seven I wills in the book of Hebrews to describe how he forgives man of his sins. Satan uses those to talk about how he'll exalt himself.

39:46 The reason why he did that as I just mentioned was because of his pride. In Ezekiel 28, it says your heart was lifted up, you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. In other words, how beautiful you were. I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings. All knew that you were cast out in the angelic realm.

40:06 Jesus Christ even said, I saw Satan fall from heaven like a lightning bolt. By the way, if you're one of those Marvel fans, they stole that from the Bible, I might add. You see the point that I'm making is this is how God feels about pride. Now, Satan did not act on his pride. He only fought it in his heart and that was enough being the omniscient God for him to have to execute justice for that attitude of pride and the one who was meant to defend the throne against all breaches of of of righteousness was now committing the unrighteousness of pride and therefore cut down as you were and deposited it out of heaven to this earth.

40:52 Now I say that to you because this is what pride is. This is how it thinks. This is the kind of pride that we tend to have. And being puffed up with pride, we fall into the same condemnation of the devil. So let me summarize what I've been saying.

41:12 It is my contention that pride is the number one killer of all relationships, especially marriage. It produces strife, right? It produces destruction. Those are the two proverbs. How does it do that?

41:29 Well number one, God will come to you and try to reason with you like he did Nebuchadnezzar with his first three friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but were too prideful to acknowledge. We'll say, okay, you got you got some clout, but not over me. So God continues to talk with you and he gives you another opportunity and he sends you his word like Daniel, the word of God, explain it appealing to the king. Don't be like this. And the king could only remember it for twelve months because that's what pride does.

42:05 You just default to yourself. And then over those twelve and that twelve months later, he lifted himself up, said what he said and he ends up in the field. Pride drives you insane. And maybe that's where you are tonight. What's the third thing I'm saying?

42:20 The third thing I'm saying is this, humility reverses the curse. He humbled himself, acknowledged God most high and he even confessed I was the prideful guy. And in that pride, I would raise up my hand and I would say, you can't touch me. And that's what pride is and that's exactly what's... Point number four, that's exactly what Satan did.

42:47 I will be like you. And it's the same words he tempted Eve. So pride is not just a five letter word. It is an abomination to God. And his people should not even mess with it.

43:10 But I find that's not the case. I find in my own life I so adore it, And there are times in which I will just think prideful thoughts. I will think, boy you nailed that one Steve. I will think that to my wife that I think I can win this argument and I'll weave and dodge and box through the argument. She even actually said to me one day, I can't joust with you over words, you'll win every time.

43:43 And I literally said, got that right. How do we fix it? Well, that's just it. A person that's prideful isn't interested in fixing anything. So what does God do?

44:35 You see, I think that pride can't be dealt with by human means. You need a higher power. You need one with more credibility, more strength, more authority. And God will have to orchestrate that for you. If you are that prideful person.

44:57 Now I want you to know something. If you are married to that prideful person and God has to humble that person, guess who goes through that humiliation process also? The spouse. And if you are that prideful person, you want to stop for a minute and recognize that your pride will cause somebody else to suffer as God begins to chasten and discipline you. Are you ready for that?

45:27 Man, that should make you fear. That should make you run to the mercy of God's throne and beg for it. That should make you humble yourself. You are putting your wife or your spouse, your children in that same category of collateral discipline. And maybe they're not even prideful.

45:48 Recognize it has far reaching effects. The third... The second thing that should help you is this, the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance, two Hebrew words which are very similar in meaning. So you have to ask yourself, what is the fear of the lord?

46:09 To mean every time I walk outside, I'm going to be hit by a lightning bolt? No. Does it mean that I am going to contract some terrible disease and I have to fear god so I don't get, you know, diabetes? No. The fear of the Lord is an attitude and a thinking pattern that put God puts God in his proper place.

46:34 King of kings, Lord of lords. And you will bow to that position that he has, not only in the public setting, but in the privacy of your own little moment where no one would know. And God will still be in his proper place. You will therefore take your life, your decisions, and you will have to leave some things behind because you want to flee from the evil that God hates. And you will have to pursue the things that God loves because the non prideful person pursues righteousness.

47:17 So there's some things you'll leave behind, some things you'll pursue, but it all is under this overwhelming umbrella of my proper attitude that puts God in his place. And you know what? You'll be tested on that. You'll be tested. Yesterday, yesterday Saturday, Thursday, I had hurt my finger and, it was just a little fingernail injury.

47:45 Wasn't much, but it hurt. You ever had one of those? But somebody was coming over to just visit us and I was trying to put away a table and my finger got caught in the little, the one that I hurt, got caught in the little leg. And in that moment, spontaneously, spontaneous moment in my mind, in my heart, unmentionable expletives came to my head. Does anybody have that happen to you?

48:17 No, just me. This morning I was praying about that. It was 353. I was saying Lord, I'm still prideful so that without when I'm not looking, I will raise my fist at you and say, why'd you do that? What's wrong with you?

48:41 I wouldn't do that to my friend. Pride is there. So yes, I need the fear of the Lord. And I've been studying it. I've been trying to think it and meditate on it and have my right attitude towards God and I think I got it all in place and and then suddenly boom, something is a little fingernail.

49:04 Well, show my real colors. And maybe that's for you too. What do you do? Funny thing about God, he writes things and they don't change. For example this, if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of each and every unrighteousness.

49:34 I remember one time I was reading that verse and it was as if the spirit of God prompted me, go read it again. And I read it again. And I said, it didn't change from yesterday. The thought came into my head and it hasn't changed for two thousand years. You'll read that verse every way or every time the same way all the time because that's how I treat your pride.

50:02 I take it away. And I got on my hands and knees this morning or I got before God this morning and I said Lord, there's my pride again. Please take it away. So I ask you before you get to the destructive phase, come to your God and deal with your pride. I don't think there's another way to deal with it, right?

50:37 God will put you into a situation where you must face it. You have one choice. You either respond or not. There's no other formula. There's no other magic.

50:50 There's no other thing the scripture says. You either respond or not. May I plead with you? Humble yourself. Now how does that affect a marriage?

51:01 Well just imagine. You know, humility cures all ills, right? And you're in a situation and you're ready to fight about it and then you just humble yourself and there's nothing to fight. You see I was being prideful with one of my sons and he wanted to take me on. And he came to me and he said, dad, you're doing this.

51:30 He's expecting me to defend myself. The Lord had already convicted me and I said, you're right. I'm wrong. He went like this literally. Okay then.

51:48 Okay. Good talk. Good talk. That's what we're after. That's it.

52:26 Maybe we can pray together as you pray. My father, I I am so ashamed of my pride. There are times father I I think it's put to rest and dead in the grave and boy it just doesn't take much where I stub my big toe and there it is again. I'm so grateful that you are patient and that you wrote a text in the word of God that every time I fail, you apply that text to me. Father, I feel like we're a room full of folks that maybe have our fair share of hall of shame moments.

53:13 Father, you gotta fix this. We really can't fix ourselves. We tried and it just doesn't work. You're just gonna have to change us. You're gonna have to give us a new heart.

53:23 You're gonna have to give us a new perspective. You're gonna have to give us the spirit, the power that comes through and of the spirit of God. And maybe it begins tonight by somebody putting their faith and the one who changed the whole narrative by becoming our redeemer. And maybe it's those who have been redeemed freshly visiting the cross of Christ and understanding the humility of the savior. I don't know.

53:50 All I know is is that the spirit of God has to do what we cannot humanly do. And yet I pray to the God who says this, with man all things are impossible, but with God all things are possible. Would you do that work in our souls and our lives? Lead ones to Christ, those who know Christ to be transformed into the humility image of Jesus. And this pride that is so desperately destructive would be buried in the grave.

54:26 We ask in Jesus name. Amen.